Post Conflict Projects

ON THE CONGO RIVER, Democratic Republic of Congo— It begins with shouting. Almost everything here seems to. This time they are shouts of encouragement: “Vite! Vite!” —“Faster! Faster!” But the teenage girl in the pirogue , a type of dugout canoe, is unable to pull alongside the barge, which is making its way down the Congo River at a speed of about 10 miles per hour. Read more http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/life-on-the-congo/

New York, 1 May 2012 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has today released the findings of a two-year analysis of how peacekeeping missions around the world affect, and are affected by, natural resources and the broader environment. In addition to highlighting the utmost importance of reducing the environmental impact of UN Peacekeeping operations, the new report states that the implementation of good practice in this area also has additional benefits, including increased financial savings for missions, and improved safety and security for local communities as well as UN Peacekeeping staff. The 16 missions currently led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and supported by the Department of Field Support (DFS) constitute the largest environmental footprint in the UN system. Entitled Greening the Blue Helmets: Environment, Natural Resources and UN Peacekeeping Operations, the report notes that through the adoption of a 2009 Environmental Po...

February 7th, 2012 Within weeks of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12th, 2010, reports of violence against women in Port-au-Prince's internally displaced camps emerged. EarthSpark immediately focused its efforts to increase public safety in less secure areas by distributing solar lamps. We targeted this distribution to women, who are most vulnerable at night when they walk through the unlit camps to latrines or washing areas. Nearly two years later, EarthSpark and its partners have distributed over 8,000 solar lights to women and their families in camps throughout Port-au-Prince and other affected areas. We partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative, Partners in Health, the Ministry of Womens Affairs, and smaller organizations like KOFAVIV and KONPAY, to distribute lamps to women as individuals and in solidarity groups. Three main distributions of a few thousand lamps each were carried out in April 2010, September 2010 and most recently in December 2011. Tha...

Below is a letter sent by the NGO Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL: www.oursoil.org) to commemorate the first year anniversary of the January 2010 Earthquake in Haiti. --------------- Dear Friends of Haiti, One year ago this morning millions of Haitians rose to greet the cool January sunshine. They walked the streets of Port au Prince, on their way to work, through the damp corridors of the capital. The National Palace towered over Champs Mars and the bells of the National Cathedral greeted the market women who gathered long before sunrise. Thousands of mothers kissed their children goodbye for the day and hundreds of schools throughout the capital echoed with the voices of students eager to learn after the Christmas holiday. The parks of the city smelled of fried food and charcoal smoke. It was Tuesday, it could have been any Tuesday, but for over 200,000 people it would be their last. Twelve hours later as the sun dropped into the bay of Port au Prince the city...

Today marks the first year anniversary of a tragic loss of our friends, family, loved ones and an insurmountable number of others who we may not recognise but would still wish to commemorate. That the memory of the efforts and contributions of our colleagues who perished on that fateful day may spur us on to continue supporting Haiti in its tumultuous struggles to rise from the ashes, we invite you all to observe a brief moment of silence at 1700 hours (5 pm) SDQ time. In the words of MINUSTAH SRSG Edmond Mulet: " While honouring the dead, also honour the living because the challenges ahead are still enormous." http://www.un.org/en/memorial/haiti/

Posted: Wednesday, 10 November 2010, New York Author: Department of Peacekeeping Operations Thirteen focal points for Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) across eight peace operations gathered in New York from 19 to 21 October for the pilot “Quick Impact Project Management for Peacekeepers” training course. As a joint endeavour of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) in the Department of Management, the tailored project management course aimed to strengthen the capacity of QIPs programme managers and focal points in the implementation and oversight of QIPs. Notably, the course also provided a forum to host a policy consultation on the review of the DPKO / DFS Policy Directive on QIPs (2007). First introduced in the 2000 Brahimi Report, QIPs have been included in mission budgets since and are intended as instruments to promote confidence-building in either the mission, the mission mandate or the peace process. For the 2009-2010...

BalkanInsight.com: “Fellowship 2010: Taboo” invites you to a special section where you can find eight articles produced under the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme. This series of reports is the result of the fellows’ four months of investigation, extensive research and travels across the Balkans and the EU. This year, the writers addressed the topic of taboo, tackling rooted beliefs and their transformation under pressures of modernity. The Fellowship programme, initiated by the Robert Bosch Stifting and ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, fosters quality reporting, encourages regional networking amongst journalists and advances in-depth coverage on complex issues that are central to the region as well as to the European Union. As the aim of this programme is to tackle the deficit of information and ensure easier information flow within the Balkans, and between the region and the EU, you are encourage...