On 20 May, QUNO co-hosted “Prevention and Implications of COVID-19: Learning from Transformative Gender Approaches,” an online discussion that brought together over 40 UN, civil society, and Member State experts as part of the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform’s 2020 discussion series on prevention.  

On 22 May, QUNO was very pleased to partner with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in co-hosting a virtual session on “Inclusion: What Have We Learned?” during the 2020 Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development. The annually held Forum brings together members of the peacebuilding, security, development, and humanitarian communities for interdisciplinary exchanges and dialogue. Aptly, this year’s theme of Sustaining Peace in the Time of COVID-19 fostered lively and productive discussion

On 30 April, QUNO was pleased to co-host “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding: the Role of Young People in Preventing Conflict,” a virtual discussion that brought together over 35 United Nations (UN), civil society, and Member State experts as part of the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform’s 2020 discussion series on prevention. The Platform’s discussions aim to support and contribute to building the collective capacity of the UN community to advance prevention particularly as it relates to the Secretary-General’s vision for prevention. 

On 4 February, the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform (the Platform) held its third annual informal, off the record briefing with Under-Secretary-General (USG) and Senior Policy Advisor, Ms. Ana María Menéndez. Ms. Menéndez has played a central role in Secretary-General António Guterres’s focus on prevention since starting the position in June 2017. 

The UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), launched in 2006 and managed by the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), is the United Nations’ financing tool and investor of first resort in countries emerging from or at risk of descending into violent conflict. Through its programming, the PBF supports peacebuilding processes, addresses crucial gaps to build peace, and provides rapid resources when support may not yet be available from other funding mechanisms.  

Focusing on the theme, “Seizing the Moment for Peace in a Disrupted World,” the annual Alliance for Peacebuilding gathering, Peace Con, provided a timely opportunity for convening the global peacebuilding community to explore a range of issues impacting the field. One such topic that was a reoccurring theme for discussion across sessions was the global closing of civic space and the adverse impact this is having on initiatives to build and sustain peace.

Civil society actors and organizations are an integral part of peacebuilding efforts carried out throughout the world. They often possess localized expertise and institutional knowledge from long-term engagement at a community or country level, which is all too often missing from policy discussions and decision making and carry out a breadth of work that is essential to building peaceful, just and inclusive societies.  

QUNO New York’s Director, Andrew Tomlinson, was pleased to have an interview with fellow Quaker organization, the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Speaking with Chris Kearns-McCoy, a Program Assistant with FCNL’s Communications team, Andrew reflected on Quaker work at the United Nations.