A two-day workshop will be held in November 2016 with the aim of further elaborating the outcomes and process of the project with ideas and insights from experienced peacebuilding and development practitioners. The focus of the workshop will be to review, discuss and fine-tune the proposed process plan for the project, revisit its aims and justification, identify the relevant interlocutors and process to get them on board, and explore funding options for the project. A number of issues regarding how to drive such a global transformative agenda including how to secure ownership both from the center of the systems of development assistance and peacebuilding and from key stakeholders in conflict affected countries will be explored including: what will be the profiles of those involved in the project; how will collaboration work; how to pitch it at an appropriate level in terms of maximum impact; how to make this (also) a bottom up process; how to ensure ownership at the local level (governments, NGOs, beneficiaries of development aid or peacebuilding efforts); etc.
The host of the workshop is the Centre for the Resolution of International Conflicts at the University of Copenhagen. The participants in the workshop are 15 critical thinkers on peacebuilding and development, directors of NGOs with the objective of promoting peace and with a focus on the aims of this project, high-level representatives of multi-lateral and bilateral organisations, as well as drivers of other related processes of systemic transformation. Participants include Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari (Savannah Foundation, previously UNAMID and Government of Nigeria), Mille Bojer (Reos Partners), Mariama Conteh (peacebuilding practitioner, previously Conciliation Resources), Bjørn Førde (Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy), Sigrid Gruener (Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation), Firoze Manji (Daraja Press, previously CODESRIA and Fahamu), Michelle Parlevliet (University of Amsterdam, previously Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town), Gay Rosenblum-Kumar (peacebuilding practitioner, previously UN), Chris Spies (peacebuilding practitioner, previously UNDP), George Varughese (Asia Foundation), Peter Woodrow (CDA Collaborative Learning Projects), Ole Wæver (Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC), University of Copenhagen) and Mie Roesdahl (CRIC and Conducive Space for Peace).