Background

From 2016-2020, the Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid (DSH) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed five Dialogue and Dissent Strategic Partnerships, for lobbying and advocacy purposes, together with CARE Nederland, CORDAID, GPPAC, NIMD and PAX. All programs have been evaluated, which led to interesting insights on what the programs delivered, how the partnership worked, and what the challenges have been. A meta-analysis exercise focusing on some relevant findings and conclusions of the evaluations is currently being conducted to find out whether some common lessons can be learned across the programs. The exercise also aims to determine how such lessons can also be used for the new partnerships of DSH under Power of Voices, possible new (SRoL) policies, the Theory of Change and finally for portfolio management. The meta-analysis aims to be a joint exercise of Dialogue and Dissent partner organizations and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the technical facilitation of the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law.

Building from the results of the meta-analysis exercise, a sense-making workshop to discuss key findings will be held on September 15th, 2021. Participants will dive deep into the meta-analysis findings and discuss recommendations and the uptake process for future programming and policy-making.

Please click here to download the full concept note.

Guiding Questions

1. How was learning embedded in the programs (TOC development, learning agenda development, learning agenda implementation)? How and to what extent did this lead to (good practices of) adaptive programming in fragile contexts? What were the challenges and what contribution did adaptive programming have on better results?

2. How did the (strategic nature of the) partnership concept work, with specific attention to the role that MFA HQs and the embassies played?; including on how an enabling environment was created for learning and adaptation.

Registration

In case of questions, please send an email to Giorgio Ferrari at G.Ferrari@kpsrl.org or Messina Laurette MANIRAKIZA at M.Manirakiza@kpsrl.org.

On Monday, June 21^st, the results of desk study on inclusive governance will be presented internally to Dutch policy makers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this meeting. a first draft of the desk study - performed by the European Centre for Development Policy Management – will be presented and its initial recommendations will be discussed. These discussions will feed into a finalized version with recommendations on how The Netherlands can more effectively position itself into the international debate on Inclusive Governance. Once finished, a public version will be available on the KPSRL website.

Sessions & Timetable

Please click here for the Conference timetable and check out all of our sessions!

About the Conference

The Knowledge Platform Annual Conference #KPAC21 is the Platform's signature event that brings together our vibrant community for thought-provoking discussions. This year will be our 9th Annual Conference, and as in previous years, we invite representatives from national and international governments and policy organs, think-thanks, journalists, INGO practitioners, activists, diplomats, and field researchers from around the globe to join us. These diverse actors assemble each year with a singular aim: to present their latest projects and freshest ideas, and engage their peers to learn and improve security and justice policy and programs.

This year's theme is Asymmetric Power. The KPSRL community has become increasingly vocal about seizing this moment of upheaval to redress asymmetric power structures. While the sector has long been preoccupied with inequality and injustice in societies, pressure has been mounting to address unequal power distribution within the peace and development sector itself. Rallying cries have risen around ‘decolonizing aid’, radical flexibility in financing and accountability, and donor commitments to affirm transformative resilience and strengthen the localization of support.

These encouraging aspirations, however, must attend to legacies of exclusion, inequality and asymmetry; not only within societies, but also within SRoL and development partnerships.  

Click here to download the full concept note.

News

To gain access to the KPSRL Annual Conference you will have to show your EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) to demonstrate your vaccination status upon arrival at the venue.
Please make sure that you have the following ready when arriving onsite:
• Your photo ID
• Digital COVID Certificate proof of vaccination, recovery or 24hr negative test result

Please click here for a more detailed description of our COVID-19 safety regulations for KPAC21.

Keynote Speaker

This year, we are honored to welcome Séverine Autesserre to the KPSRL Annual Conference 2021 as our Keynote Speaker. Dr. Autesserre is an award-winning author, peacebuilder, and researcher, as well as a Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. She is the author of The Frontlines of Peace, Peaceland, and The Trouble with the Congo, in addition to articles for publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. 

Please click here to read her full bio.

Background

What do you do when the foxes are guarding the henhouse? In the field of Security & Rule of Law much is known, assumed and discussed about interventions and programs that have been shown to improve justice or reduce violence and increase security. But, what can be done when violence has become part-and-parcel of a state’s political system? And how does a democratic state become increasingly complicit in violence? What can be done to bring societies back from the brink of entrenched violence?  These are some of the questions that Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, set out to explore when writing her book “Savage Order: How the world’s deadliest countries can forge a path to security”. 

In this book, Dr Kleinfeld reminds us that, while the language of “failed” or “fragile” states can provoke despair, there are important examples of societies that have emerged from entrenched violence, becoming stable democracies once again – and sometimes at a surprisingly rapid pace. What lessons can be learned from looking at settings where politically-enabled violence (referred to as “privilege violence” in the book) was eventually de-escalated and societies were able to build back social trust?   
 
The Knowledge Platform is honored to have a discussion with Dr Kleinfeld about her work, and to dig into what her findings might mean for how SRoL policy and practice can be improved, better attuned to realities on the ground. We look forward to discussing how ‘privilege violence’ comes about, how it can be recognized, and how it can be unraveled. The event also provides our community with an opportunity to critically discuss the assumptions underlying inclusive governance policies, civil society strengthening programs, and recent focus on ‘local resilience’ as pathways to stability. 

Speaker

Dr Rachel Kleinfeld, is a Senior Fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CIEP). At CEIP she focuses on issues of rule of law, security, and governance in post-conflict, fragile states, and states in transition. She was the founding CEO of the Truman National Security Project, where she spent close to a decade leading a movement of national security, political, and military leaders working to promote people and policies that strengthen security, stability, rights and human dignity in the world.  

Objectives

• Gain a deeper understanding of how violence may be condoned and enabled by political actors and entrenched in democratic societies 

• Reflect on what can be learned from countries that have emerged from these  patterns of entrenched, state-complicit violence 

• Discuss how current trends in SRoL thinking could be critiqued in light of these findings, and what such critique could offer for improving SRoL policy and programming. 

Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. Please e-mail info@kpsrl.org if you have any questions. You can view the recording of the webinar below.

Join us for our first online kickoff event of a spring webinar series centered on innovative, online working in the time of COVID-19.

As the KPSRL moves its events and sessions online, we want our community to remain active in generating the content and setting the agenda. To help make that transition, we are offering the KPSRL network a 'crash course' in "How to Host a Webinar".

We are very excited to invite Jack Farrell, host of the DME for Peace weekly "M&E Thursday Talks" webinar, who has hosted over 100 live discussions. Jack will offer some tips and tricks to organizing and hosting an effective webinar, including how to structure your webinar, advice on webinar platforms, and how to facilitate online conversations with diverse audiences.

For security purposes, the link to the webinar will only be provided upon registation.

Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. Please e-mail info@kpsrl.org if you have any questions. You can view the recording of the webinar below.

News

We have just released our program!

Download the timetables for the two day-conference here!

Scroll through program more in-depth to learn more about sessions and speakers here!

About the Conference

This year, the Annual Conference is a two-day online event that will bring together our vibrant community for a thought-provoking discussion. As in previous years, the Annual Conference brings together representatives from national and international governments and policy organs, think-thanks, journalists, INGO practitioners, activists, diplomats, and field researchers from around the globe. These diverse actors assemble with a singular aim: to present their latest projects and freshest ideas, and engage their peers to learn and improve security and justice policy and programs.

This year's theme is Harnessing Potential. The KPSRL Secretariat has come to recognize the value of mobilizing around promising ideas, new approaches, and catalytic innovations. Particularly in times when adversity appears to be mounting from every direction, it is essential to seize upon the creativity and ingenuity that difficult circumstances demand (and even inspire). With this in mind, the 2020 Annual Conference will channel our community’s collective energy to focus on those small, emergent possibilities that hold the prospect for large, sweeping changes.
 

Click here to download the full concept note.

Location (online!)

In light of COVID-19 and the implications that the pandemic has had on global health as well as (inter)national travel restrictions, the KPSRL Secretariat is hosting KPAC2020 entirely online this year. Our new virtual venue will allow everyone to navigate the program through one user-friendly interface via your web browser. The virtual venue has functions that recreate the spontaneous networking opportunities of an ‘in-person’ conference. You will be able to see who else is attending, invite direct connections, and even schedule spontaneous video meetings with other attendees. Suffice to say, it’s going to be a new kind of online-conference, and we’re excited to chart this new frontier with you, our SRoL community. 

To access the Quick Guide for our virtual venue, please click here. To read the comprehensive User Guide for our virtual venue, please click here. To watch the Video Tutorial, please click here.

Please click here for our Keynote Speaker & Featured Guests announcement.

Please click here to scroll through our KPAC20 Program.

Check out our welcome tutorial video of the virtual venue below!

Check out the video from last year below!