PEACEBUILDING DIRECTORY PRESENTED AT THE UN ARMENIA OFFICE

armradio.am
12.11.2009 14:02

Today a peacebuilding portal and a book "The Directory of Peacebuilding
Organizations in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth
of Independent States" were officially launched at the UN Office
in Armenia with participation of Mr. Dirk Boberg, UNDP Deputy
Resident Representative (UNDP DRR) in Armenia, H.E. Hans-Jochen
Schmidt, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Armenia,
and Ms. Dziunik Aghajanian, head of Department of International
Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Armenia.

The peacebuilding portal and the publication of the book is a joint
activity of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)
and UNDP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Germany.

The peacebuilding portal aims to promote collaboration and consultation
among organizations and individuals working in conflict prevention and
peacebuilding. It assists those in civil society, local and national
governments, and the international community with information on a
specific country or conflict theme, such as peacebuilding, conflict
management, gender issues, disarmament, environment, development,
and human rights, in a results based, real time way.

The publication aims to provide newly collected information in English
and in Russian about civil society and national organizations in
the CIS and in CEE working in the field of conflict prevention and
peacebuilding.

Welcoming the participants, Mr. Dirk Boberg, UNDP DRR outlined the
role of the UN system in the field of conflict prevention in general
and highlighted in particular UNDP’s approach to conflict sensitive
development. "UNDP has reaffirmed that crisis prevention should be
integral part of sustainable human development strategies. For UNDP
"peacebuilding" means the integration of conflict prevention into
development programmes, building and accompanying national processes
and institutions for conflict management, and building consensus
through dialogue" Mr. Boberg said.

The UNDP DRR stated that a successful preventive strategy depends on
the cooperation of many actors beyond the UN system and its different
organs, funds and programs. It includes member states, international,
regional, and sub-regional organizations, the private sector,
non-governmental organizations, and other civil society groups who have
an important role to play. In this context the Peacebuilding Portal
will play a pivotal role to facilitate information dissemination,
information exchange, and networking among national and international
stakeholders.