EFTA01087593.pdf

Grant Proposal Cover Page Date 9 September 2013 I Project Title Polio Eradication and Peace and Health _Organization Name International Peace Institute (LPI) Project Duration (months) 12 months (2013) Institutional official authorized to submit and accept grants on behalf of the organization: Prefix Ms. First Name Andrea Surname Pfanzelter Suffix Title Director, IPI Vienna Address Fre 3 / 1010 Vienna / Austria Telephone Fax Email Web Site Project Director/Primary Contact: Prefix Ms. First Name Andrea I Surname Pfanzelter Suffix Title Director, IPI Vienna Address Freyung 3 / 1010 Vienna / Austria Telephone Fax Email Web Site www.ipinst.org Total Cost Amount Requested of Project from Foundation in in Dollars Dollars (U.S.) $5,000,000 (U.S.) $5,000,000 Organization's revenue from last Organization's audited Financials Fiscal Year- in Dollars (U.S.) $9,151,315 End Date December 31, 2012 U.S. Tax Status (see Tax Status Definitions) 501(c)(3) Public Charity Geographic Location(s) of Project Field work: Pakistan, Nigeria, Somalia IPI Offices: New York, Vienna INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 1 EFTA01087593 IPI PROPOSAL: POLIO ERADICATION AND PEACE AND HEALTH I. PROPOSAL OVERVIEW: IPI's proposal to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) consists of two parts: IPI's new model project aimed at reducing the security threats related to polio eradication in the few specific localities where it is still prevalent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Somalia); and a longer-term, overarching initiative on peace and health designed to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience by alleviating the disease and poor health that threaten stability, and conversely, mitigating the sources of instability that threaten health. This proposal reflects activities undertaken in 2013, which will serve as the development period of the peace and health initiative. In its initial stage, the initiative will build on the Institute's existing work on conflict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding, and humanitarian affairs, but IPI will now explore how these tools can be used to reduce the impact of conflict on health and development, particularly in fragile states. The polio eradication component, which IPI began work on in 2013, is the first major new initiative under the work stream, and will serve as a pilot project for future work. Going forward, IPI plans to launch a series of projects that relate to the link between peace and health, including: natural disasters (and humanitarian affairs); development; sustainable urbanization; food and water security; and conflict prevention. In the long-term IPI envisions that the peace and health initiative will be an essential new piece in IPI's work to promote the prevention and settlement of conflict and to reduce risk and vulnerability. This multi-year initiative will position IPI to expand its work to build the capacity of international institutions—a core component of IPI's mission—to address peace and health issues also. Polio Eradication A primary goal of the BMGF is to eradicate polio worldwide. Thanks to a highly successful global campaign over the past decade, polio has been successfully eradicated in 99.9 percent of the world. However, polio remains endemic in three locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. In fact, 100% of the polio cases in 2012 were found in 54 districts in these three countries. Recently, new cases have been identified in Somalia. Therefore, eradicating polio globally and permanently has come down to the last "golden millimeter"—reaching a few thousand children in a handful of isolated, unstable, inaccessible, and inhospitable communities. The areas in which polio is still a problem are geographically dispersed, but they share some significant characteristics: they are comparatively small and difficult to access due to insecurity, insurgency, or conflict; and the lack of state authority or control has enabled local power brokers to shape the discourse. In all of these regions, public health is being used as a tool in misinformation campaigns, whether intentionally or as a by-product of a broader political or ideological agenda, which has put the health of children at risk. Health workers are also at risk. Several health workers involved in the polio eradication 2 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 EFTA01087594 campaign were recently killed in Nigeria and Pakistan. In August 2013 Medecins Sons Frontieres announced it is closing all its programs in Somalia after a 22-year presence due to attacks on its staff. IPI therefore proposes to assist the BMGF to better understand the local conditions, identify the drivers that (or who) can turn the situation around, and provide advice on what steps can be taken to improve the chances of eradicating polio in the remaining few localities where it is still present. IPI's work will involve, inter alia, providing situation assessments of the vulnerable communities, carrying out and/or analyzing quantitative surveys of the affected communities, facilitating access to these communities, and (based on the knowledge of the local conditions) assisting in the development of communications strategies to eradicate polio. Peace and Health As stated in the World Health Organization's Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986), peace is a primary condition for health. Instability makes people and communities more vulnerable to disease, and prevents them from living healthy and productive lives. For example, polio is proving hardest to eradicate in regions of some of the world's most unstable countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Somalia. Conversely, stability fosters an environment conducive to providing humanitarian and development assistance. Therefore, IPI is launching a major initiative to better understand the links between peace and health, and to generate policy support to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to health-related problems that contribute to instability, and conversely, to mitigate sources of instability that threaten health. The peace and health initiative aims to become a thought and policy leader on the link between health and stability— understanding the links and their negative aspects, and promoting remedial solutions. This is vital since peace and health interact in many different ways. The most significant, and malign, link is the fact that people are killed, injured, disabled, abused, or traumatized due to armed conflict. Conflict prevention, mediation, and peacebuilding are therefore vital for saving lives. In addition, armed conflict has indirect effects on global health. These include: 1) impeding access of health professionals and humanitarian agencies to populations in need (conflict-affected countries have on average less than one health professional per 10,000 people); 2) "flight" of health professionals from conflict zones for safety issues (health workers are often targeted by government security forces as well) as we are currently witnessing in Syria and Somalia; 3) lack of supplies and basic equipment in hospitals and clinics in conflict zones, as well as difficult and unsafe access to health facilities for populations in need, also due to deterioration of infrastructure and transportation; 4) decrease in government expenditure on healthcare; 5) food shortages due to damaged agricultural structures, collapse of the economy, aid deliberately withheld, and disruption of the family unit; 6) three to four times higher under-5 child mortality rates in conflict zones than in the rest of the world; 7) sharp decline in basic childhood immunization in conflict zones; INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 3 EFTA01087595  8) highest rates of maternal deaths due to childbirth complications and other debilitating conditions in conflict-ridden or post-conflict states; 9) increased incidents of sexual violence towards women and children, with greater numbers of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as physical and psychological trauma; and 10) increased incidence of infectious diseases (malaria, cholera, measles) during conflict due to malnutrition, unsanitary conditions, lack of clean water, etc. These factors create a vicious cycle; greater instability endangers health, while greater vulnerability (including disease) breeds instability. Indeed, states characterized as fragile or failed (including those that have high rates of polio) tend to have far worse population health indicators than states at comparable levels of development. As of today, for example, no low-income fragile or conflict-affected country has yet achieved a single one of the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs). Poor health indicators are a product of inadequate governance and service development. Moreover, fragile states tend to be affected by humanitarian crises that endure for years. In other words, a context of continuing crises and emergencies, combined with weak or non-existent local and national institutions, can undermine health improvements or nullify health investments and programs in the long-term. While armed conflict and instability undermine health goals, the opposite is also true. Investments in health, conflict resolution, and statebuilding can be mutually reinforcing. Conflict resolution and peacebuilding measures can help prevent or lessen the impact of the above negative outcomes of armed conflict on public health. At the same time, the position of medical professionals in society, given their neutrality, credibility, and equality, can be a precious resource during negotiations, as are health-related cease-fires. The fact that health issues are of interest to all warring parties can contribute to this advantage. Moreover, health investment can contribute to statebuilding and legitimacy of institutions. In the long term, stronger healthcare systems can improve the health of the population, leading to greater productivity, stronger economies, less violence, and state stability. Evidence also indicates that improved health services can increase trust in state institutions, thus contributing to the authority and legitimacy of the government. In short, while poor health and instability have a negative impact on each other, peace and health are mutually beneficial. It is therefore necessary to promote peace as a primary condition for health, and to improve health as a way of promoting peace and development. That is the objective of IPI's work on peace and health. Since this is an ambitious objective that will require significant time, money, and knowledge, IPI intends to mobilize resources to launch and develop an institutionalframework for monitoring globally the link among peace, security, and health, being mindful that these issues are increasingly interconnected as starkly illustrated by the situation in Syria and neighboring countries. IPI has recently convened several high-level meetings on the humanitarian crisis in Syria (see Annex). II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Polio Eradication 4 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 EFTA01087596 1. Context The effort to eradicate polio globally and permanently has come down to the ability to ensure the effective treatment of children in just a handful of districts in the three countries where polio remains endemic. The remaining locations of polio cases are highly concentrated in a relatively small number of districts where the central government is unable to provide public security and public-health services. For example, 23% of all global polio cases in 2012 were reported in just three Local Government Areas of Nigeria: Katsina and Batsari in Katsina State and Minjibar in Kano State. In Pakistan, two regions of North and South Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) account for over 40% of Pakistan's polio cases. The vast majority of remaining cases are found in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where parents are 40% more likely to refuse treatment than in any other part of the country. Nigeria Nigeria has the highest rates of polio, with the north of the country the main source of polio infections. The country accounts for over half of global cases and is the only country with ongoing transmission of all three serotypes of the polio virus. Nigeria also has the highest rates of children missed in vaccination campaigns and the highest rate of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. Going back more than a decade, polio vaccination campaigns in Nigeria have suffered from targeted misinformation strategies and attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram, weak social mobilization campaigns, and lack of commitment by some local leaders. Some strategies have also backfired. For example, the tactic of awarding higher salaries and bonuses to polio workers in order to encourage health workers to carry out vaccinations has not worked. Low-paid healthcare workers are offered extra cash for helping with the campaign, and as a result the primary healthcare system in Nigeria, which is very weak, is emptied out for days nearly every month. Additionally, it may not help that workers are paid according to how many children they reach, with it being reported some vaccinators refuse to accept cards showing children have already been vaccinated. The percentage of Nigeria's budget spent on social mobilization is less than 5%, significantly smaller than that spent on social mobilization in Pakistan. It is reported that even basic community efforts, such as polio posters and banners, are conspicuous in their absence. This is a point of concern as Nigeria has the highest noncompliance (refusal) rates of any country where polio persists. Refusal to take medicine stems from a fear of Westerners and Western medicine, as there is the perception in some communities the vaccination campaign is a Western plot to kill Muslim Africans or to make Muslim children sterile. In 2013, IPI will conduct a situation assessment in Nigeria, determining the local conditions, particularly those that make the affected communities vulnerable and will conduct survey work in the country. This work will lay the foundation for continued work in 2014, including facilitation and outreach and creating a communication strategy to "turn" opinion in favor of anti-polio vaccinations. Pakistan A new polio outbreak has occurred recently in North Waziristan, Pakistan, near the frontier with Afghanistan. It is in an area where a warlord banned polio vaccinations after it was disclosed that the C.I.A. had staged a hepatitis vaccination campaign in its hunt for Osama bin Laden. The warlord, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, has banned all efforts until American drone strikes end. This is a significant setback to the Pakistan campaign, which has persistently continued its efforts despite the killing of 9 vaccinators in December 2012, which has been attributed to the Taliban. INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 5 EFTA01087597 As a result of massive international and national efforts and funding, Pakistan was on the verge of complete polio eradication. However, a number of factors conspired to complicate the situation and increase resistance to the eradication campaign. These included external circumstances like political- military instability, terrorism, drone attacks and resulting anti-US sentiment, a Taliban-imposed ban on the polio-eradication program, and the May 2013 elections which led to changes in government and staff. There were also internal factors, including religion-based and traditional factors, as well as corruption, poor infrastructure, mis- or under-reporting, and rivalries and jealousies over how polio- related funds were to be allocated. In light of this, IPI's work focuses mainly on non-medical and non- technical aspects of the problems IPI identifies and proposes solutions to, within the framework of its cooperation with BMGF. In Pakistan, IPI has completed a situation assessment and, through fieldwork in the country, has initiated facilitation work in the country. No survey work was undertaken in Pakistan, as IPI believes the country has already been over-surveyed on polio. The Institute has planned for an additional field trip in late 2013 to focus on continued facilitation and outreach (eg. how to get the Taliban ban lifted, where and how the Pakistan Armed Forces can help in "danger zones", and monitoring concrete measures taken by government authorities to improve weak areas already identified). While Pakistan has an adequate national communications plan, IPI will also suggest areas of improvement for 2014, based on the research findings. Afghanistan Afghanistan's quest to eradicate polio is inextricably linked to that of neighboring Pakistan. Genetic analysis shows clear chains of transmission between the two countries. There are three chains of polio transmission in Afghanistan: two are from Pakistan, and the third is indigenous to Afghanistan, making the country endemic in its own right. Due to this closely intertwined relationship, future efforts to eradicate polio will likely require Pakistani and Afghani vaccination teams on either side of the border to coordinate strategy so that no child goes missing in between. As of now, vaccination coverage data suggest little improvement in the number of children reached with vaccination and there are indications that coverage levels in some districts are falling. Inaccessibility is a challenge in implementing vaccination campaigns; however, the main challenge antipolio initiatives face in the country are basic leadership and management problems that are not properly addressed. In May 2012 it was reported that an Inter-Ministerial Task Force had been formed and would direct a whole-of-government approach to polio eradication. Five months later, this Task Force had yet to meet. At the same time, the President's launch of Afghanistan's Emergency Action Plan is welcome, but the slow pace of implementation is concerning. Additionally, District EPI Management Teams (DEMTs) need further strengthening and NGOs implementing the Basic Package of Health Services need to be held accountable for achieving higher coverage rates of routine immunization, including polio. Permanent Polio Teams in southern Afghanistan have long been credited as the program's flagship innovation. They have provided polio drops to 146,000 children, including almost 9,000 who had never previously received a dose of the vaccine. Key to their success is their low visibility and step-wise introduction. However, their geographic coverage is limited, and they are active in only five of the 13 high-risk districts of southern Afghanistan. 6 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 EFTA01087598 IPI's initial focus is on the Pakistan-Afghanistan cross-border aspects, with transmission and re- transmission since countless children move regularly via unofficial crossings are missing out on scheduled anti-polio immunization on both sides of the border. Afghanistan's anti-polio programme is proceeding well, with a go-ahead from the Afghan Taliban's Mullah Omar; the Taliban provide a safe passage document for health teams (with the condition that no foreigners be involved). However, a very important factor is how the post-2014 situation develops after the withdrawal of US/NATO troops and what impact this will have on polio eradication. In 2013, IPI will monitor the situation to assess post-2014 threats. A mapping exercise will be carried out in 2014. Somalia Somalia is highly prone to public-health crises, including outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, malaria, and measles. Recently the country has seen an outbreak of polio, which as of the end of July 2013 had paralyzed 105 children, where previously a case of polio had not been recorded in more than five years. Somalia is one of the countries in the "wild poliovirus importation belt"—a band of countries stretching from west Africa to central Africa and the Horn of Africa, which are recurrently re-infected with imported polio virus. Although the situation varies across Somalia, parts of the country have been torn apart by decades of conflict, chronic poverty, inequality, food insecurity, and public-health challenges. It was ranked 165th out of 170 in the 2012 Human Development Index in 2010, with 74% living on less than US$2 per day. Life expectancy across the country is a mere 50 years and the youth population of Somalia (14-29 years) is a disproportionately high 42% of the population. The country is highly prone to humanitarian emergencies, particularly drought and famine, due to very low rainfall, the on-going conflict, and increasing deforestation. It is likely that the greatest challenge in implementing the polio vaccination campaign will be security concerns, as foreign aid organizations are unable to access parts of the country still prone to conflict or under Al-Shabaab control. Somalia is navigating the most promising landscape for peace and stability that the country has seen in more than two decades, but Al-Shabaab remains a major spoiler to all peacebuilding and development initiatives in the country. Al-Shabaab has splintered following a "coup" which resulted in the killing of one of the group's co-founders, Ibrahim al-Afghani, an Al Quaeda—trained fighter who also fought in Afghanistan, and two further leaders have been forced to flee in recent months. The splintering of the group has triggered a wave of fresh violence as different factions fight for control of power and territory. The recent spate of violence in Mogadishu, the June car-bombing of the UN compound, and the shooting at a Swedish diplomat in August are all examples of the risk posed by the group. The constant threat has a very real impact on aid and development efforts in the country; for example, Medecins Sans Frontieres announced in August 2013 it is closing all its programs in the country after a 22-year presence due to attacks on staff. In 2013, IPI will conduct a situation assessment in Somalia, determining the local conditions, particularly those that make the affected communities vulnerable and will conduct survey work in the country to better understand attitudes towards polio eradication. This work will lay the foundation for continued work in 2014, including facilitation and creating a communication strategy to "turn" opinion in favor of anti-polio vaccinations. Common Themes INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 7 EFTA01087599 The areas in which polio has been found may be geographically dispersed, but they share some significant common characteristics: they are comparatively small, difficult to access, and with little or no presence of the state that has allowed local power brokers to define the debate. These regions have been subject to longstanding misinformation campaigns, whether intentionally or a by-product of a broader political or ideological agenda, and this has resulted in the health of children being put at risk. Local governments have been unwilling or unable to provide for the public health of their citizens. Non-state actors (i.e. religious, tribal, or community leaders, as well as armed groups) are filling this vacuum in a malign way, including by misinforming communities on the dangers of polio and the benefit of vaccination campaigns. In turn, in all of the regions families are seen avoiding or refusing to have their children vaccinated for polio. Additionally, polio workers have been the targets of violence in these areas. In some cases, suspicion and misinformation are causing aggression, violence, and murder against those delivering vaccines. Other drivers of the violence stem from groups that profit (politically) from the instability created by going after "soft" targets, i.e. health workers. While polio is limited to these select regions, their environments are not unique, which highlights vulnerabilities that might be exploited in other regions, e.g. the Sahel, by groups benefitting from instability and insecurity. 2. Rationale Specific Need For future polio vaccination initiatives to be successful in these regions, it is necessary to identify entry points that will find support among the affected communities. While short-term intervention strategies might provide the surge required to impact the polio eradication campaign, in the long-term there needs to be a change in the perceptions that are triggering the resistance to the campaign. As such, it is essential to identify entry points that will change social paradigms, breaking down misperceptions and misinformation and circumventing security risks. Why this project is an effective means to address this need In order to move forward, a nuanced understanding of the perceptions and sources of long-term miscommunications that have led to families' failure to protect their children from polio is essential in identifying project entry points. A number of initiatives have been undertaken in the affected regions, but with limited success, and sometimes unforeseen results—as demonstrated by the award of bonuses to healthcare workers in Nigeria. Lessons learned from eradicating polio in other countries have demonstrated that a prerequisite to a successful campaign is public information, communications, and community-level advocacy. This is also true in the remaining communities, but the messaging and delivery need to be adapted and customized to the prevailing misconceptions and the sources of those misperceptions in the specific communities. To be successful, it is essential to have a nuanced understanding of the local conditions, as well as the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of the affected population. Intervention at state level and with central government ministries or authorities is necessary but not sufficient to reach these communities and to change their views towards polio eradication. In encouraging a positive response to anti-polio campaigns, it is essential to understand why people are 8 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 EFTA01087600 reacting negatively to the anti-polio campaign, and to take steps to get them to support it and participate in it. In the process, it is essential to de-link the polio issues from all others, and thereby "depoliticize" it. Thus, a bottom-up approach is required. Without a better understanding of what the people in these communities believe about polio and an analysis of social and political dynamics in the target communities, it will be impossible to have impact. By understanding the perceptions, it should be possible to change perceptions, creating an environment more conducive to the successful implementation of the polio eradication campaign. Understandperception% target insecurities Conflict, Long-term, Fear, mistrust, insecurity, localised misjudgment absence of state misinformation Buildconfidence, show results, achieve change Geographic locations & the direct beneficiaries Geographic locations will be limited to very specific ones in Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, identified through the situation assessments. It should be noted that within these countries, the danger of polio transmission exists not only in remote areas with inadequate health facilities but also in urban slums and "catchment" areas. Direct beneficiaries will be mostly those children who are, for various reasons, currently excluded from cycles of polio-eradication programs: as a result of conflict and /or security issues which block access of health teams to the children; use of religion-based bans on anti-polio vaccines as part of larger security and development issues; remote areas which are difficult to access; under- or misreporting of immunization coverage; and corruption issues which affect parts of the chain which makes up the direct and correct delivery of anti-polio vaccines. Secondary beneficiaries would be all members of the affected communities who would benefit by greater stability, development, and better health. Peace and Health Instability and insecurity make people and communities more vulnerable to disease, and prevents them from living healthy and productive lives. Conversely, stability and peace foster an environment conducive to providing humanitarian and development assistance. IPI's peace and health initiative seeks to better understand the links between peace and health, and to generate policy support to reduce vulnerability, mitigate risks, and increase resilience to health-related problems that contribute to instability, and conversely, to mitigate sources of instability that threaten health. In addition to the polio eradication project, IPI's work on peace and health in 2013 includes: INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 9 EFTA01087601 Humanitarian Issues Over the last two decades, the humanitarian sector has expanded considerably, in terms of the number and diversity of actors, staffing, funding, and scope of action. While the humanitarian system is growing and becoming increasingly complex, so are the needs of populations and the challenges the system faces due to global warming, population growth, increased economic and social disparities, geopolitical changes, and the global economic crisis. The humanitarian sector has also taken a more central role in world affairs. The interconnected nature of challenges and threats in a globalized world requires integrated solutions. Although the specificities of a principled humanitarian action have to be carefully safeguarded, the humanitarian system cannot work in isolation from other fields such as development, peace and security, statebuilding, and human rights. The importance of humanitarian affairs in global governance is underscored in the UN Secretary-General's 2012 Five-Year Action Agenda which gives, among other priority areas, a prominent place to building a more global, accountable, and robust humanitarian system. IPI works to better inform the debate on humanitarian issues and to help build consensus toward policy development. IPI's Humanitarian Affairs Program provides a broad platform for the humanitarian community to exchange views outside of official fora, focusing in particular on engaging countries and humanitarian actors from the Global South, including practitioners, in reflections and discussions on humanitarian aid, thereby contributing to a more inclusive and universal system. Following the publication of the program's flagship paper, Rethinking Humanitarianism: Adapting to 21st Century Challenges, published in late 2012, IPI has engaged experts in a conversation on how the field of humanitarian affairs has evolved and what principles, institutions, and policies need to be updated. The program's Humanitarian Coordinators Series is the only program that hosts the UN humanitarian coordinators from the most troubled spots on the globe for an exchange with the New York-based UN community. So far in 2013, IPI has hosted Panos Moumtzis, UNHCR Regional Refugee Coordinator for Syrian Refugees; Antonio Donini, editor of The Golden Fleece, Manipulation and independence in Humanitarian Action; and Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Series will host Ali Al-Za'tari, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, in October and Philippe Lazarini, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia, in November. IPI's Middle East in Transition project aims to address issues regarding the current humanitarian situation on the ground in and around Syria. As the Syrian conflict enters its third year, the enormous humanitarian crisis continues. New diseases or diseases that had long been eradicated, such as Leishmaniasis (a vector-borne disease that causes welts on the skin), and Scabies, are now developing; emergency vaccinations campaigns have been required, given the risk of measles and polio. Furthermore, these diseases are starting to spill across borders with the flow of refugees. Longer-term health consequences are potentially huge as well, with the conflict taking a heavy toll on mental health and causing permanent physical disabilities. Humanitarian agencies have begun taking preventive measures in response to these health risks. However, bureaucratic hurdles and difficulties in gaining access to populations in Syria, particularly in terms of delivering food, water and health programs, have led to an ever-widening gap between needs and resources. The Middle East in Transition project seeks to address the pressing need, expressed by humanitarian organizations, for a space to share information, 1 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 0 EFTA01087602 improve co-ordination, and think strategically in non-operational terms with senior actors amongst Syria's neighbors, the region and the international community. IPI has conducted extensive consultations with senior government officials and representatives of international organizations, published a "lessons learned" paper on regionalism and regionalization in the Middle East, and held an expert-level retreat at the Greentree Estate in New York. In April, foreign ministers and heads or regional and humanitarian organizations were briefed of the findings at a Middle East dinner held in Luxembourg on April 21. A follow-up retreat was held in Geneva, Switzerland in June, and the findings will be presented to ministers in September, during a ministerial dinner in New York. Conflict Management and Resolution The field of international conflict management has greatly changed over the past ten years. New conflict drivers, such as terrorism, transnational organized crime, and climate change, have emerged alongside an increasingly crowded field of mediators and peacebuilders with specialized skills. These factors demand increasing attention in peace processes and coordinated engagement across a wider range of interventions. In addition, given the frequent use of proxy forces in contemporary conflict, as well as the transnational nature of today's threats to peace and stability, mediation and peacebuilding processes need to be informed by an understanding of the broader regional context in order to be successful. At present, the mandates and resources for conflict prevention, multilateral mediation, and peace operations are often inadequate to meet these challenges. IPI's work stream in this area aims to strengthen the full spectrum of tools at disposal of the international community to mitigate and resolve armed conflict and bring peace and stability. Peacebuilding and State Fragility IPI's work on peacebuilding and state fragility aims to improve policy, practice, and program implementation to support countries attempting to move out of conflict and achieve statebuilding and peacebuilding goals. As the fragile states debate moves from the aid effectiveness arena into the UN post-conflict intervention, IPI will support key stakeholders in tackling the implementation gap on fragile states. Building upon IPI's previous work in supporting the UN peacebuilding architecture, IPI will continue to address gaps in the UN's own analytical capacity with behind-the-scenes, informal consultations with the UN Peacebuilding Commission's (PBC) member states and chairs, the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), and other relevant UN Secretariat staff to provide confidential advice and assistance, and concise, published analysis. The program maintains flexibility in responding to PBC/PBSO and other UN needs by convening strategically relevant seminars, workshops, and policy retreats. In addition to supporting the UN Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office, in 2013 IPI supported the office of the UN Secretary-General's special adviser on post-2015 development planning, Amina Mohammed, with the organization of a workshop on Conflict, Violence, and Instability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The workshop offered an opportunity for the UN secretariat, agencies, funds and programs, with the assistance of outside experts, to bring together the lessons learned so far on the interrelationship between peace, security, health, and development and to consider strategies for including these issues in the post-2015 development agenda. The workshop also aimed to offer input into the final stages of the deliberations of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post-2015 Development, as well as into the upcoming UN Secretary-General's report on the topic. IPI INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 1 1 EFTA01087603 provided key points from the workshop to the Secretary-General's special adviser and will draft a meeting report to inform the upcoming Secretary-General's report on the post-2015 development framework, as it relates to violence and armed conflict. Policy thinking on fragility has evolved over the past few years. 2011 alone saw the launch of several landmark policy reports, from the OECD DAC's Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility, to the World Bank's World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development— both the culmination of years of academic and practical research. The policy and program ideas embodied in these reports were carried forward by participants in the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, and the "New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States" endorsed by more than 40 countries and organizations at the Fourth High Level Forum for Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, in December 2011. While much work lies ahead to implement the New Deal, it represents a substantial commitment to fresh approaches for tackling the complex challenges posed by state fragility. But translating these policy agreements into actual changes on the ground will be challenging. Both the 2011 independent survey of the Paris Declaration and the Fragile States Principles monitoring survey demonstrated that donors are falling short of their existing commitments. The challenge now is to ensure that the New Deal doesn't fall victim to the same disappointed expectations. Through a combination of analytical products, expert advice, and convening, IPI will assist multilateral and bilateral development organizations, and the g7+ countries themselves, in absorbing, adopting, and implementing the principles generated by these recent policy initiatives. In this work, IPI will also highlight the peace and health link. In 2013, in pursuit of the objectives stated above, IPI will conduct an analysis of United Nations Security Council mandates relating to select g7+ countries. To support key stakeholders in New Deal implementation, including bilateral donors, the research will analyze the evolution of specific Security Council mandates related to g7+ countries and their relationship/synchronization and potential for advancing the five peacebuilding and statebuilding goals of the New Deal. It will highlight examples of synchronization and gaps between existing mission objectives and the guidelines coming out of Busan. Work on this track in 2013 will include desk interviews with relevant New York—based staff in the UN Secretariat, UN agencies, and selected permanent missions on the status, evolution, and impact of the Security Council mandates on statebuilding and peacebuilding goals. A policy brief with recommendations will be produced in 2013. While it is widely acknowledged that local context is a key variable to consider when formulating policies, international policymaking mechanisms have yet to fully take into account existing local knowledge, expertise, and experience. IPI's "Leveraging Local Knowledge for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in Africa" project intends to address this gap by making African local knowledge and experience in peacebuilding more accessible across the continent and to the larger global community. The project will look at what kinds of local knowledge and experience exist—especially in local academic circles, but also within the practitioner community—and to transfer this knowledge and lessons learned from the bottom-up to better inform policy development and decision-making processes. This project also expects to contribute to a better horizontal South-South dissemination of local knowledge at the sub-regional and continental level by highlighting best practices in a given context that may be adapted to other countries. Utilizing local knowledge on peacebuilding and statebuilding could contribute to a wider understanding of the underlying causes of conflict and, ultimately, play a vital preventive role. Creating stronger horizontal and vertical links between scholars, civil society, 1 INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 2 EFTA01087604 practitioners, and policy-makers could enhance the effectiveness of early warning systems and inform the conflict prevention work of regional organizations, thereby contributing to more effective and timely peacebuilding efforts. This broad objective will be achieved through three goals: (1) to facilitate dialogue among African scholars and practitioners on their experiences in peacebuilding and statebuilding on the continent; (2) to promote the dissemination of this local knowledge and experience to subregional and regional African institutions and to the wider global community; and (3) to inform, with these local insights, ongoing policy development and actions at the subregional and regional levels aimed at improving early warning systems and conflict prevention efforts. In 2013, IPI will establish a Virtual Advisory Board comprised of African and international scholars and experts and commission four case studies focusing on (a) women- and youth-targeted initiatives contributing to inclusive peace- and statebuilding; (b) statebuilding and the eroding effect of transnational organized crime; (c) peacebuilding efforts in the aftermath of election-related violence; and (d) the use of new technologies to promote peacebuilding efforts. Now that Resolution 1325 has been in place for more than a decade, it's time to look carefully at what has been accomplished, what has worked and what has not and, most importantly, what needs to be done to further protect women in conflict and support their role in the practices of peacekeeping and peacebuilding. To this end, IPI invites women actively engaged in preventing and resolving conflict to share with the UN community in New York their personal experiences. Speakers include practitioners, scholars, policymakers, and senior officials from international organizations. Transnational Organized Crime IPI's Peace without Crime project focuses on how the United Nations can take a more integrated approach to dealing with the problem of transnational organized crime (TOC). In 2012, the project published "Spotting the Spoilers: A Guide to Analyzing Organized Crime in Fragile States." In 2013, on the basis of this guide, IPI carried out a training course at the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Research in Stadtschlaining, Austria. A longer course is planned during the first two weeks of December 2013 on "Organized Crime as a Spoiler for Lasting Peace." The goal is to develop a prototype training package that can be used for national training courses, as well as specialized induction courses for regional and international organizations. In spring 2013, a second publication of the Peace without Crime project was launched in New York. The report is entitled The Elephant in the Room: How Can Peace Operations Deal with Organized Crime? It looks at the threat posed by organized crime in theatres where the UN has peace operations (including case studies of Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, and Kosovo), examines what the UN is doing to address this threat, and provides recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the international community's preparedness and response. Meetings are planned for the second half of 2013 in Vienna in order to feed the observations and conclusions of the report into relevant policy debates and organs. Furthermore, lessons that have been learned through the project will be applied to the Sahel, particularly Mali, in a study, meeting and report to be prepared in the last quarter of 2013, together with International Alert. A third report will be produced in 2013, entitled "Peace without Crime: Toward a More Integrated Approach to Dealing with Transnational Organized Crime." This report is designed to contribute ideas to, inter alia, the UN Task Force on Transnational Organized Crime. INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 1 3 EFTA01087605 This year, IPI held its annual Vienna Seminar on the theme of "A Dangerous Nexus: Crime, Conflict, and Terrorism in Failing States" focusing on the dangerous nexus between crime, conflict and terrorism, particularly in failing states — a highly relevant topic due to the increased risk posed by organized crime and terrorism, for example in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel region. IPI is also planning to carry out research on counterfeit medicine, as well as lessons learned from international efforts to combat piracy. Furthermore, IPI plans to produce a guidance manual for mediators who are working in environments and with actors impacted by illicit activities. Peace Operations Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. Today's multidimensional peacekeeping operations are called upon not only to maintain peace and security, but also to facilitate the political process, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants; support the organization of elections, protect and promote human rights and assist in restoring the rule of law. In the twenty-first century the UN has deployed an unprecedented number of peacekeepers in increasingly comprehensive and complex missions. But the need to sustain approximately 100,000 uniformed peacekeepers who must perform a wide range of tasks is outstripping the willingness and to some extent the capacity of the UN's Member States. Capacity constraints have forced UN operations to function at well below full strength or deploy troops and police with inadequate skills, training or equipment, imperiling those personnel as well as the goals of the mission. IPI's main activities in the area of peace operations aims to help increase the number and improve the quality of troops and police available for UN peac