On the 11 December 2018, the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law will host a workshop on the theme Strengthening Knowledge Absorption: Identified Pathways and Obstacles.

Scope

While both practitioners/researchers and policy-makers strive to improve the delivery of programmes and the effectiveness of policy, they are operating on different “sides” of the evidence system. On the supply-side, practitioners and researchers generate knowledge, and on the demand-side, policy-makers use evidence. Unfortunately, supply-side and demand-side actors often work without a full understanding of the context in which the other operates. There is often a lack of awareness of the technical nature of research and programming work, on the one hand, and the complexities of policy development and implementation on the other hand. This can often lead to misunderstandings and loopholes.  Elaborated strategies to communicate knowledge (on one side), and to increase knowledge uptake capacities (on the other side) are crucial for knowledge absorption. This includes generally purposeful and adaptable approaches covering a set of complementary and interrelated actions, at various levels (context analysis, stakeholder engagement strategy, innovative communication and capacity building…).

Key Questions

Through this workshop, participants will explore conditions for an effective knowledge absorption. Participants will discuss major factors shaping evidence uptake on the two sides of the system(practitioners/researchers and policy-makers).

We will reflect on the following questions:

• How well supply-and-demand factors interact in SRoL policy-making? And who needs to do what to ensure that we make the most of knowledge?
• Do policy-makers demand evidence?
• How well is knowledge communicated to policy makers?
• How well connected are policy makers and practitioners/researchers
• What innovative frameworks and knowledge translation processes have been tested and found to be useful in SRoL field  within fragile settings?
• What methods for evaluating the impact of knowledge on internal decision making and external policy making provide the most useful information for improving learning as well as knowledge uptake

Background

The overarching objective of the KPSRL is to contribute to improving policy making and program implementation in the field of Security and Rule of Law. Knowledge generation and knowledge brokering are at the heart of the KPSRL Secretariat’s work to attain this objective. By investing in research into and debate and engagement about new and emerging insights and issues, lessons learned, and best practices, the aim is to foster the uptake of knowledge in the work of policy makers and practitioner organizations, which in turn is expected to enhance its quality and impact.

The Secretariat has gathered significant experience in brokering and fostering the generation of knowledge in the past years. Reflecting on this work and in seeking to continuously improve it, however, a series of conceptual and practical questions regarding the uptake of knowledge in the security and rule of law field has been identified, which the Secretariat would like to explore further with intensive participation of network stakeholders.

With this aim in mind, the KPSRL has initiated since July 2018, the learning and knowledge uptake in practice workshop series.

The workshop series aims to unpack learning and knowledge uptake practices as well as dynamics of KPSRL’s community members, and to develop strategic approaches for:

• a better use of knowledge and research produced within the community
• the development of a common understanding of pathways to using that knowledge and
  research for policy and program improvement

Outcomes of the series will feed into a scoping study in progress, which builds on initial activities conducted by the Secretariat to better understand the organizational and network learning dynamics of KPSRL members and ways for the KPSRL to foster these. A first scoping study has been carried out in 2017 and it provided the basis for the development of KPSRL Theory of Change. The results of this second study are meant to enable the Secretariat to improve its Theory of Change and thus to enhance the KPSRL’s ability to achieve its overarching objective.

At the same time, the exercise will allow KSPRL’s secretariat to take stock of the extent to which knowledge is currently being incorporated in practice and policy-making within the network and to assess how it could play a better role in supporting these processes.

Two workshops during which, researchers and practitioners unpacked the fundamental concepts related to learning as well as evidence-based policy making, and scrutinized their own (formal and informal) organizational learning approaches and dynamics, were held in July and September 2018.

The KPSRL is pleased to invite you to the 3rd workshop of the series which will take place on the 11th   of December 2018 at Zeestraat 100 (2nd Floor),The Hague.

More information on the thematic scope of this 3rd workshop can be found above, along with other practical details.

Participation: Registration is required.

To register or for any enquiries, please contact Messina Laurette MANIRAKIZA at m.manirakiza@kpsrl.org.

Regular updates on the workshop series programme will be found on the KPSRL’s website. We warmly invite practitioners, researchers as well as policymakers from security and rule of law field to join us in discussing why "uptake" matters and how to foster it.

• a better use of knowledge and research produced within the community
• the development of a common understanding of pathways to using that knowledge and research for policy and program improvement
• How is information generated(at various levels of the organization)?
• Is that information distilled and transformed into knowledge? If yes, how?
• Is that available knowledge used to develop procedures, policies, and particular approaches to work? If yes how?
• Is that knowledge generation a conscious or unconscious exercise? Or both?
• Are the necessary conditions, systems, processes and incentives in place to ensure the uptake of knowledge?(internal as well as external uptake)

What is it all about?

The Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid and The Pathfinders’ Task Force on Justice will convene a public consultation for justice experts from civil society and justice institutions to provide input into the Task Force report, which will be reviewed at The Hague Justice Task Force Conference in February 2019. The consultation will also provide a networking opportunity for justice and rule of law experts, generate interest for the findings and recommendations of the Task Force report, and build momentum towards the February conference.

The consultation, titled The Big Think on Justice, will be held on 15 November in The Hague. 

The day will start with an opening plenary on ‘Making the Case’ for Justice, led by the Pathfinders team, after which the invitees will break out into four thematic working groups, each led by designated partners. In order to solicit input from civil society experts and practitioners that can best be taken up into the Task Force report, break out discussions will be organized around the themes under the ‘What Works’ focus of the Task Force.

• Innovating and Investing in Justice (HiiL)
• Justice for Women (UN Women, IDLO)
• Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
• Justice as Prevention (OHCHR, to be confirmed)

Each participant will be able to join the discussions on two of these four themes, according to their own expertise and preference. For each working group, 2-3 group leaders will be responsible for organizing and moderating the break-out sessions. These leaders will be the authors of the thematic reports, representatives of the organisations leading the working group and high-level thematic experts. The participants will rotate once to a second thematic discussion, while the group leaders will stay with their respective thematic groups.

Registration Process

Due to the very limited number of spaces available for this conference, registration will take place on the basis of selection. Using the form below (click the registration button), applicants can apply for a spot at the Conference. The organizers will collect and review all registrations, and inform those attendees selected to participate by 5 November.

Registration for this event has now closed.

On the 27th of September 2018, the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law will host a workshop on the theme Learning and Knowledge Uptake in Practice: Assumptions, Approaches and Dynamics.

Scope

Knowledge uptake does not happen on ad hoc basis or in an isolated manner. It is part of a genuine learning culture where stakeholders are encouraged to engage on underlying dynamics of learning processes and related application. When organizations reflect regularly on their own learning practices, they are strengthening their own capacity to learn and challenge the status quo. Organizational actors become aware of, and can describe their thinking in a way that allows them to close the gap between what they know and what they need to learn.

It is therefore crucial to question on a regular basis organizational trends likely to positively or negatively influence organizational learning and knowledge uptake. This happens through a thorough scrutiny of both formal learning approaches and processes used within organizations as well as related unconscious dynamics.

Key Questions

Through this workshop, participants are challenged to reflect on their own learning practices and dynamics (both formal and informal ones), and on how their organizations include experience and knowledge generated (theirs and the ones of their field partners) in their institutional structures through policies, procedures and operational systems.

Reflection is made through the following questions:

• How is information generated(at various levels of the organization)?
• Is that information distilled and transformed into knowledge? If yes, how?
• Is that available knowledge used to develop procedures, policies, and particular approaches to work? If yes how?
• Is that knowledge generation a conscious or unconscious exercise? Or both?
• Are the necessary conditions, systems, processes and incentives in place to ensure the uptake of knowledge?(internal as well as external uptake)

Background

The overarching objective of the KPSRL is to contribute to improving policy making and program implementation in the field of Security and Rule of Law. Knowledge generation and knowledge brokering are at the heart of the KPSRL Secretariat’s work to attain this objective. By investing in research into and debate and engagement about new and emerging insights and issues, lessons learned, and best practices, the aim is to foster the uptake of knowledge in the work of policy makers and practitioner organizations, which in turn is expected to enhance its quality and impact.

The Secretariat has gathered significant experience in brokering and fostering the generation of knowledge in the past years. Reflecting on this work and in seeking to continuously improve it, however, a series of conceptual and practical questions regarding the uptake of knowledge in the security and rule of law field has been identified, which the Secretariat would like to explore further with intensive participation of network stakeholders.

With this aim in mind, the KPSRL has initiated since July 2018, the Learning and Knowledge Uptake in Practice workshop series.

The workshop series aims to unpack learning and knowledge uptake practices as well as dynamics of KPSRL’s community members, and to develop strategic approaches for:

• a better use of knowledge and research produced within the community
• the development of a common understanding of pathways to using that knowledge and research for policy and program improvement

A first workshop during which, researchers and practitioners unpacked the fundamental concepts related to learning and evidence-based policy making, and reflected on their own experiences and the relevance of their standards and traditional reference frameworks on knowledge, learning and policy making, was held on the 30th of July 2018.

The KPSRL is pleased to invite you to the 2nd workshop of the series which will take place on the 27th of September 2018 at Zeestraat 100 (2nd Floor), The Hague.

More information on the thematic scope of this 2nd workshop can be found above, along with other practical details. Participation: Registration is required.

To register or for any enquiries, please contact Messina Laurette MANIRAKIZA at m.manirakiza@kpsrl.org.

Regular updates on the workshop series programme will be found on the KPSRL’s website. We warmly invite practitioners, researchers as well as policymakers from security and rule of law field to join us in discussing why "uptake" matters and how to foster it.

• How is information generated(at various levels of the organization)?
• Is that information distilled and transformed into knowledge? If yes, how?
• Is that available knowledge used to develop procedures, policies, and particular approaches to work? If yes how?
• Is that knowledge generation a conscious or unconscious exercise? Or both?
• Are the necessary conditions, systems, processes and incentives in place to ensure the uptake of knowledge?(internal as well as external uptake)

The Annual Conference brings together the brightest minds in the security and rule of law community and beyond to critically engage with the most pressing questions in the field. Through interactive exchanges in workshops, debates and discussions, the Platform aims to extract lessons and best practices that will help to shape security and rule of law policy.

The content of the Annual Conference is split between sessions conceived and organized by the Secretariat and sessions submitted by members of the Platform network.

In 2017, more than 200 people from 20 countries attended the Annual Conference, ranging from academics to policy makers, and from artists to entrepreneurs. The Annual Conference is a platform for you to open yourself to new ideas, connect with peers from across the globe, and help to build a cutting-edge body of knowledge in our field.

Program

Find the program for the Annual Conference here.

Timetable

Find the Timetable of sessions at the Annual Conference here.

Practical information

The Annual Conference will be held at the Bazaar of Ideas (Hoefkade 9, The Hague) on 13 September. The Conference is a full-day event.

Register for the Annual Conference here.

Inequality

Often when we discuss violence and injustice, we find - at its core - it is a story about inequality: unequal protection, unequal access, unequal treatment, unequal opportunity. Inequality in the security sector drives some into violence and others into vulnerability. Inequality in the justice sector undermines the rule of law and dissolves public trust in institutions. Inequality and exclusion in the political sphere has, time and again, left states unprepared to meet the needs and aspirations of all their citizens and leaves them without a say in their future. These imbalances, if left unattended, can tip communities, states and entire regions into long-lasting conflict and fragility. And while inequality is certainly not the only driver of violent conflict, reducing inequality is an essential part of sustainable peace.

This year’s Annual Conference will focus on these many faces and facets of inequality. Discussions around ‘inequality’ often focus on economic inequality, which is only one side of the issue. By shedding light on the broader spectrum of inequality and injustice, we hope to deepen the discussion around, and the commitment to, addressing inequality as a central tenet of strengthening security and rule of law in fragile and conflict affected settings.

Workshop Series

Between July and September 2018, the KPSRL will organize three workshops on institutional dynamics and the creation of an organizational learning culture for a constant knowledge inquiry, sharing and absorption. Practitioners, researchers and policy makers will reflect on the application of new information to adjust ideas, strategies, operating assumptions and/or activities in SRoL policy and programming.

The workshop series aims to unpack learning and knowledge uptake practices as well as dynamics of KPSRL’s community members and to develop strategic approaches for:

• a better use of knowledge and research produced within the community
• the development of a common understanding of pathways to using that knowledge and research for policy and program improvement

The three workshops are scheduled as follows:

1. Understanding and linking knowledge, learning and policymaking in relation to security and rule of law - July 2018
2. Learning and knowledge uptake in practice: Assumptions, Approaches and Dynamics - August 2018
3. Strengthening knowledge absorption: pathways and obstacles identified - September 2018

Read more about the series, the questions and more in the announcement here.

Over the past decade, a marked transformation has taken place in the expectations of companies operating in environments of conflict and fragility, and in the hopes for the roles that they may be able to play. But growing enthusiasm for companies to seek deliberately to “support peace” has been accompanied by surprisingly little concrete, direct evidence of effective practices and approaches for doing so. Instead, contemporary discussions of business and peace have been characterized by unduly broad understandings of what impacts peace, questionable claims about how impacts on peace occur, and a lack of specificity about how companies can act constructively. Appeals to “the private sector” to engage typically present options for corporate peace interventions without any discussion of how those interventions have been, or can be, operationalized at asset-level.

CDA Collaborative Learning Projects (CDA), in partnership with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), and the Africa Center for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch (ACDS), has undertaken a two-year, case-based learning project designed to provide a response to the question: “what can companies do to contribute to peace in fragile and conflict-affected states?” The presentation will be followed by an open discussion, where we will welcome your thoughts, inputs, feedback, and perspectives during a half-day discussion of these issues on Thursday, November 16, 2017 in The Hague.

The future of Yemen is jeopardized if something does not change. A generation of children, young men and women have limited access to education and are lacking proper education. More than 1,600 schools remained closed in Yemen due to conflict-related damages (OCHA).

The Saxion Majlis

Saxion University of Applied Sciences is working with Youth Leadership Development Foundation to deliver education in Yemen. We are faced with the challenges of limited travel, insecurity, border closures, and staff turnover.

Help us on the 2nd of November to design ideas for sustainable impact of (blended learning) education and training arrangements which will empower people & NGO’s in a fragile context. Let’s join forces for change.

Your contribution to continue empowerment trough education in vulnerable parts of the world is of great value. We hope you save the date.

The program for the day can be found here.

The Platform’s 2017 Annual Conference is titled 'Achieving Security and Justice for All: Elephants in the Room', and will explicitly focus on the contentious things we usually ignore when working on peace, security & rule of law. 

What's the big idea?

Talking about these contentious issues means openly discussing how economics, gender, militarism, power, identity, moralism, corruption, religion, silver-bullet solutions, education, capitalism, or the media influence or stifle progress. It means critically asking whether the assumptions that underpin peace, security and justice work need revisiting. And it means collectively envisaging how we can better meet people's needs in ways that are committed to human rights and genuine democracy.

There will be 20 workshops and presentations throughout the day by Ted Talkers, activists, governmental policy makers, UN, EU and AU experts, NGOs, academics, artists, agitators and authors who will interrogate current policies and programs in the security and rule of law field. The sessions will be a mix of debates, workshops and research presentations, with one series of events dedicated to innovation and another to creativity in improving and spreading knowledge in our field of work. Together, and with your input, they will provide a rich body of evidence and ideas to help improve the breadth, depth and quality of the knowledge in our field.

It will be a day that eschews the usual discussions. We know that peace and security work must be context specific, adaptive, conflict sensitive, political, long term, and committed to working from the bottom up as well as the top down. Instead of reconfirming these accepted truths, each session will be given license to acknowledge and discuss the things that usually go unsaid or untouched in our field - things that often prevent us from achieving the kind of security and justice outcomes that we want. Above all, we hope it will be an insightful and entertaining day.

Check out the full program here. The timetable for sessions can be found here.

What kind of questions should we expect?

• Is the current European fixation with migration threatening peace and security here as much as in source and transit countries?
• Are we being tokenistic when we work on gender, ignoring genuine systems of exclusion that sustain insecurity and injustice worldwide?
• Has the normalization of violence in western culture made imagining peace impossible?
• Do democracies always contribute to peace, security and the rule of law? 
• Is SDG16 set up to fail, and how can we make the best use of it? 

It will be a day of honest introspection, provocative debate and radical learning designed to constructively challenge assumptions. Last year's event was attended by 150 government reps, staff from the UN, EU, AU, and the World Bank, journalists, activists, Dutch embassy staff, think tanks, academics, and INGOs. This year, we do hope you can make it as well.

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED! Please keep an eye out for the digital magazine with a recap of the Conference and its most important insights.

Who's speaking? Have a look:

Keynote:

Dr. Henrik Urdal is Director of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), where Prof. Galtung pioneered the field of Peace Studies. Since 2010 he has been editor in chief of the Journal of Peace Research. His recent work has focused on inequality and violence, the findings of which are central to the upcoming World Bank and UN report on conflict prevention. Dr. Urdal holds a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Oslo and was one of the early proponents of the links between demographic pressures ('youth bulges') and violence.

Speakers:

Staffan I. Lindberg is Director of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute and Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg. He is a Wallenberg Academy Scholar, a member of the Young Academy of Sweden, Research Felow at the QoG Institute, and Senior Advisor in the International Law and Policy Institute. He holds a doctorate from the Department of Political Science from Lund University. He is the author of Democracy and Elections in Africa (2006), and the editor of Democratization by Elections: A New Mode of Transition? (2009), and he has published articles on inter alia women’s representation, political clientelism, voting behaviour, party and electoral systems, democratization, popular attitudes, and the Ghanaian legislature and executive-legislative relationships.

Basma Abdel Aziz is a psychiatrist, writer, and sculptor. A long-standing vocal critic of government oppression in Egypt, she is the author of several works of nonfiction. In 2016 she was named one of Foreign Policy's Global Thinkers for her debut novel, The Queue, which was also nominated for the longlist for the 2017 Best Translated Book Award. She lives in Cairo.

Patrick Alley is the co-founder of Global Witness where, since posing as a timber buyer in Global Witness's first investigation into the Thai Khmer Rouge timber trade in 1995, he has taken part in over fifty field investigations in South East Asia, Africa and Europe. Patrick has worked on Global  Witness’s campaigns on conflict resources, notably former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s ‘arms for timber’ trade, the minerals trade in Eastern DRC and more recently the Central African Republic, as well as providing strategic direction for Global Witness’s work on forest issues, especially challenging industrial scale logging and land grabbing in the tropics. Global Witness were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for their campaign to combat 'blood diamonds.'

Fidelma Donlon, the Registrar of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, is a highly experienced senior court administrator and a respected academic and lawyer. As part of her longstanding career in international criminal justice, Dr Donlon has extensive experience as a senior manager at various criminal tribunals as well as significant experience in justice sector reform and judicial capacity building projects. Previously, she served as Deputy Registrar for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and worked extensively on criminal justice and national judicial reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Catherine Marchi-Uhel was appointed Head of the International Impartial Independent Mechanism Investigating Serious Crimes in Syria in July 2017. Catherine has worked for more than 27 years in public service and in the judiciary, including for the United Nations, in the fields of criminal law, transitional justice and human rights. Previously, Marchi-Uhel served as a judge in France, with the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo and at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Shilo Shiv Suleman, an Indian contemporary artist, author, Ted Talker, INK Fellow, and founder and director of the Fearless Collective, an artistic movement formed in response to gender-related issues in India. The Fearless Collective has expanded to provoking dialogue on gender and rights through participative storytelling in fragile and conflict affected areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Tunisia, Lebanon and South Africa amongst other places. Suleman has also designed art installations for conferences and festivals such as Burning Man.

Professor Tilman Brück is the Founder and Director of ISDC. He is also Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Team Leader – Development Economics at IGZ near Berlin, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Research Affiliate of the Institute for Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon, and Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn. Professor Brück is the co-founder and co-director of the „Households in Conflict Network (HiCN)“ and the coordinator of the Marie Curie action “Training and Mobility Network for the Economic Analysis of Conflict“ (TAMNEAC).

Marcel Smits, the European Program Director at the Institute for Economics and Peace. Previously Marcel was the Policy Specialist on Private Sector and Conflict at Oxfam, as well as the Director of the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response, the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting-NL, and the Country Director for the Nonviolent Violent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka during the civil war where he worked with UN agencies and local groups to protect vulnerable groups and negotiate with rebel and paramilitary groups for the release of child soldiers.

Dr. Brad Evans, a critical theorist, political philosopher and author specializing on violence. The author of over ten books and edited volumes, Dr. Evans is a Reader in Political Violence at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. He is the founder and director of the History of Violence project, and also an editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books. Prior to this he ran a series on violence in the New York Times. His inaugural guest appearance on Russell Brand’s podcast show Under the Skin charted at No. 1 on iTunes.

Larry Attree is Head of Policy at Saferworld. He is a globally recognised expert on conflict issues. Drawing on extensive peacebuilding experience in the Balkans, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, he has input extensively into global negotiations on peace and development issues including the 2030 Agenda. His expertise covers aid and conflict, stabilisation, counter-terrorism, governance and statebuilding, arms control and armed violence reduction, reintegration, community security, security and justice sector development and conflict sensitivity. He is the author of many recent Saferworld reports and articles on counter-terror and stabilisation, including new case studies on counter-terror in Kenya on Lamu and Garissa Counties, and the 2017 long-read ‘Shouldn’t you be Countering Violent Extremism?’

Dr. Alastair Reed is Acting Director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. Prior to this he was Research Coordinator and a Research Fellow at ICCT, joining ICCT and Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs in the autumn of 2014. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, where he completed his doctorate on research focused on understanding the processes of escalation and de-escalation in Ethnic Separatist conflicts in India and the Philippines.

And more to be announced! Keep up to date by following our newsletter or by emailing Steven Lanting.