By Guido Lanfranchi.
The Paris Peace Forum was born with the idea that “we have to do something”. This strong practical focus has led the organizers to concretely support innovative projects aimed at promoting good governance and sustainable peace. As this intense two-days gathering ends, the projects supported by the Forum will hopefully continue to have an impact across the globe.
The focus on practicality, actions, and solutions has been one of the defining characteristics of the Paris Peace Forum. Debates and exchanges of views are crucial – the organizers say – but at the same time there is also a strong need to go a step further. There is a need to devise solutions, as well as to implement them – “to do something”, as simply put by the Forum’s Director-General Justin Vaisse.
This practical spirit had already been a main feature of the Forum’s first edition in November 2018, when the organizers selected ten projects [GL1] and supported their implementation for the following 12 months. The scope and nature of these projects were varied, ranging from innovative community-led social healing programs[GL2] , to calls for multilateral cooperation to protect the Antarctic waters[GL3] .
The 2019 edition remained strongly committed to this practical approach. On November 13th, during the Forum’s closing ceremony, the organizers unveiled the new ten projects that will receive support over the next year. These projects were selected among the over 700 submissions received by the Forum’s organizers – Trisha Shetty, the Steering Committee’s President, explained.
Over a hundred of these projects were selected to be present at the Forum, and 10 of them were further selected to benefit from the Forum’s support over the next twelve months. The selection process took into account the projects’ values in terms of innovation, scalability, as well as potential effects – Stefano Manservisi, President of the Forum’s Jury, explained.
These projects are rather different in nature, as they touch upon diverse themes such as security, economy, culture, education – and often a mix of these things. For instance, the project “Festival à ciel ouvert” promotes the development of rural communities in Senegal by means of cultural activities. The “Sada’s Women in Cooperative” focuses instead on women’s empowerment and on employing refugees in the Turkish town of Gaziantep. The “Sustainable city program” comes instead from Brazil, focusing on the potential to improve service delivery in over 250 small towns, while the “Ultra-poor graduation initiative” aims at identifying and unlocking the constraints faced by extremely poor people in Bangladesh. More exhaustive descriptions of all the ten projects can be found on the Paris Peace Forum’s website[GL4] .
As the 2019 edition is drawing to an end, the organizers are already fully focused on the Forum’s next edition, which will take place at La Grande Halle de la Villette on 11-13 November 2020. The focus on devising and implementing practical solutions is set to be even stronger – Mr. Vaisse explained – as the organizers will try to create a Trust Fund aimed at providing direct financial support to selected projects.
The 2019 edition of the Paris Peace Forum is over. Hopefully, its projects will continue to make an impact.
[GL1]https://parispeaceforum.org/scale-up-projects/#projects
[GL2]https://parispeaceforum.org/place/kumekucha-its-a-new-dawn/
[GL3]https://parispeaceforum.org/place/antarctica-2020/
[GL4]https://parispeaceforum.org/
Pictures by Lidia Gallanti.
About the author:
Guido Lanfranchi is a student and young professional in the field of international affairs. He has pursued his studies both at Leiden University and Sciences Po Paris, where he is currently enrolled. In parallel, he has been gaining professional experience through internships (first at the Council of the European Union, and currently at Clingendael Institute), as well as by working as reporter and associate editor for Diplomat Magazine The Netherlands. His research and work focus on the Middle East and Africa, and especially on conflict situations in these regions.
