| The Great Lakes Policy Forum (GLPF) is a strategic coalition of governmental, nongovernmental and multilateral organizations, academics, business leadership, and media professionals with the shared goal of building sustainable peace in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The Council on Foreign Relations, Refugees International, the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University,
and Search for Common Ground co-sponsor monthly meetings of the GLPF.
For the past seven years, the GLPF has been the only regular Washington gathering dedicated to the Great Lakes region. Recognizing that coordinated efforts offer the best chance at averting a crisis, the co-sponsors sought to create a space for well informed and interested individuals from a variety of backgrounds to engage in a broad dialogue on solutions at a critical moment in Burundi’s civil conflict. The program quickly assumed a regional focus, seeking solutions for the overlapping conflicts in the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi that impact the environment, the economy, and civic life in those states and their neighbors. Each month, the GLPF assembles a panel of speakers to share perspectives on the conflict, to provide updates from recent work in the region, and to lead a frank discussion of current issues. Participants view the Forum as an essential tool in their work in the Great Lakes. The presentations and interaction at the meetings enhances participants’ understanding of the regional dimension of the conflict and envisioned solutions for sustainable peace. Recent speakers have included: Cindy Courville, Deputy Director of African Affairs, National Security Council Howard Wolpe, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Kikaya bin Karubi, Minister of Communication, DRC Government John Prendergast, Africa Program Director, International Crisis Group Mary Yates, Former U.S. Ambassador to Burundi The Great Lakes Policy Forum has been praised for its success in “creating an atmosphere of dialogue among agencies and organizations that were not used to communicating and collaborating with each other, and which had in fact developed institutional practices which supported their introversion.” Another recent report described the Forum as “a place outside the regular system to gain information, discuss ideas, and get broader perspectives on the crisis than those fostered in an official or bureaucratic milieu… influencing the process by which important actors deal with the conflict and coordinate their actions and interventions”. The GLPF is a space for Great Lakes professionals to interact as a community, and to express their views on the conflict without attribution. The exchange of information, activity reports, and frank discussion that take place at the Forum facilitate a more consistent policy approach and a more complete awareness of the range of work and research currently being conducted in the Great Lakes, and impact decision-making in all sectors. Please direct inquiries and comments about the Great Lakes Policy Forum to Annique Lennon, Program Associate, Search For Common Ground. She can be reached by phone at (202) 777-2246; by fax at (202) 232-6718; or by email at alennon@sfcg.org. January forum report February forum report March forum report April forum report May forum report June forum report |
A PROJECT OF:
Center for Preventive Action Council on Foreign Relations www.cfr.org Bill Nash, Director 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008 T (202) 518-3423 F (202)-986-2984 Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Conflict Management Program www.sais-jhu.edu William Zartman, Director 1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008 T (202) 663-5676 F (202) 663-5683 Search For Common Ground www.sfcg.org John Marks President 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20009 T (202) 265-4300 F (202) 232-6718 Refugees International www.refugeesinternational.org Ken Bacon President 1705 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 T (202) 828-0110 F (202) 828-0819 FOUNDING PARTNER Africa-America Institute www.aaionline.org |
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