This Week in DPPA: 14 - 20 May 2022

On 18 May, DPPA met with Member States that provide voluntary funding for its work. Over 30 countries were represented.  Markus Bouillon, head of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General, thanked donors for the support they provide through the Multi-Year Appeal (MYA). He said a well-funded MYA – which is calling for $40 million this year - is crucial for the Department to sustain efforts and carry out its mandate. Delegates commended DPPA on its response to the pandemic, including how it was able to adapt its operations. They expressed interest in  DPPA’s contribution towards achieving “Our Common Agenda” as well as in the areas of innovation, new technologies and climate security.

Click here for DPPA’s MYA Annual Report

Security Council

On 17 May, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on key political developments and the Organization’s activities in Iraq since February. She said that there is need for predictable governance rather than constant crisis management, underlining the importance of accountability as a key feature of the State. “The neglect of the population’s most basic needs has gone on for far too long,” she said.

Read full remarks here

Great Lakes region

The third General Assembly of the Regional Women Forum of Great Lakes Africa was held on 18-20 May in Bujumbura, Burundi, in which the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region participated in. In the presence of Burundi’s First Lady Angeline Ndayishimiye, the Assembly agreed to integrate disability and girl-child targeted programs in its strategy and Action Plan. Special Envoy Huang Xia called on Member States to fast track the implementation of the revised Regional Action Plan 1325 and to integrate national plans in budgeting processes.

Somalia

James Swan, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) met on 18 May newly-elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu. The Special Representative congratulated the new President and heard about the new administration’s priorities. They also discussed how the UN can best continue to support Somalia and its people. Earlier on 16 May, the conclusion of Somalia’s presidential election was announced.

Read more here 

Libya

Stephanie Williams, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Libya, participated in the second round of the UN-facilitated Joint Committee this week in Cairo, Egypt. Making the remarks at its launch on 15 May, she reminded members of the High Council of State and the House of Representatives that it is their “role and historical responsibility” in lifting the voices of the people that is “so critical to the unity and stability of your country, and, ultimately, the prosperity of your fellow citizens, and of future generations”.

Her full remarks here

Yemen

Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, concluded in Amman on 19 May a two-day meeting with a diverse group of Yemeni public figures. Participants discussed the implementation and extension of the truce, as well as ways to capitalize on its momentum to initiate a comprehensive political dialogue. In the coming weeks, the Special Envoy will continue his consultations with diverse Yemeni constituencies, including economic experts, civil society, women’s groups and political parties. On 16 May, he briefed the Security Council in closed consultations. Speaking to the press on 17 May, he said that "Yemenis can’t afford to go back to the pre-truce state of perpetual military escalation and political stalemate” and that he will continue to engage the parties to ensure the extension of the truce.

Read more here

Lebanon

Joanna Wronecka, Special Coordinator of the Secretary-General for Lebanon, congratulated Lebanon on the conduct of parliamentary elections on 15 May. She urged the country’s political leaders to put Lebanon’s interests first and engage constructively to ensure there will be no vacuum nor paralysis in much-needed institutional decision-making.

Read more here

Iraq

Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert met on 16 May with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Permanent Representative to the UN and discussed the importance of renewing UNAMI's mandate which currently runs through 27 May 2022. On 18 May, Hennis-Plasschaert was joined by Charge d’affaires Bader AlMunayekh of Kuwait where they discussed Kuwait’s strong support of the work and efforts of UNAMI, and the willingness to strengthen this partnership even further. 

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, and Danielle Bell, Chief of UNAMI’s Human Rights Office jointly facilitated a dialogue on countering hate speech, discrimination and marginalization on 17 May in Baghdad. The event brought together 19 representatives from different communities as well as civil society organizations, journalists, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, the Iraq Bar Association and Communications and Media Commission. 

Read more here

Peacebuilding

To highlight the impact of the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)’s support on climate security, the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) organized a virtual partners “visit” to its climate security project in the Pacific. The meeting chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator in Fiji, included the UN Resident Coordinator for Micronesia, representatives from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Ministers and Vice-Ministers from the Governments of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Republic of Marshall Islands, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat, and local civil society. Representatives from over 15 Member States and PBF donors engaged from their New York and regional offices.  UNDP and IOM are implementing the initiative with $3.2 million in PBF financing, supporting key government departments, including the Office of the President in Kiribati, the Climate Change Directorate in the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the Department of Climate Change in Tuvalu. The project supports inclusive community dialogues on links between climate change and security as well as detailed risk assessments, as the basis for an informed and joint understanding of climate-related issues. The initiative also supports the initiation of pilot community activities to address identified risks. The participants also heard community perspectives with one civil society representative spotlighting how climate-induced relocation resulted in land disputes between family members and is a growing concern in Tuvalu as severe coastal erosion forces families to relocate to safer areas inland thus creating new tensions. Meeting participants emphasized the strategic nature of the support, both in terms of knowledge generation and global awareness, but also in terms of providing concrete pilot solutions to interlinkages between climate change and land, food security and migration-related conflict. Participants called for the continuation and the expansion of the initiative and for further support from the Member States on this issue in the regional and global fora, including through the Peacebuilding Commission.

Learn more about the project here

Training on youth- and gender-responsive peacebuilding in Senegal

This week, PBSO, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNDP jointly organized an in-person training on youth- and gender-responsive peacebuilding programming in Senegal with the funding support of UNFPA. This training focused on a smaller sub-set of eight countries eligible for the Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives (GYPI), including Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone, where the UN Country Teams have been less successful in getting projects approved the past years. The training covered different aspects of the programme cycle to help strengthen both the gender- and youth-responsiveness of projects. Participants also discussed the concept notes for the 2022 GYPI call for proposals and received feedback from peers and facilitators. The deadline for submitting concept notes for this year’s Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives is 6 June.

See details here 

Peacebuilding Commission meeting on Liberia 

During an ambassadorial-level meeting convened by the Chair of the Liberia Configuration of the PBC Anna Karin Eneström on 19 May, the Government of Liberia and international partners discussed priorities for continued support, with a focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including eliminating gender-based violence and promoting women’s political participation in the context of the upcoming presidential and legislative elections in 2023. Following briefings by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, the Minister of Gender, the UN Resident Coordinator, and a civil society representative, the Commission welcomed the adoption of the Revised National Gender Policy and the second National Action Plan on Women and commended Liberia for prioritizing gender equality issues, while also underlining much more needs to be done. The Commission stressed the need for greater representation of women in politics, including the importance of the 30 percent gender quota for candidate listings in the election law. Several members of the Commission made the connection between empowering women and economic development and expressed full support for the implementation of the 2018-2023 Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development, which outlines targets to increase the political participation of women at the national and local levels. Several delegations called for stronger and sustained Government action as well as the continued implementation of the Anti Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Roadmap for 2020-2022. The meeting fed into preparations for a joint visit of the Configuration Chair and the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support to Liberia scheduled for 6-10 June. The recording can be accessed here.  

PBC Chair at the UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research

At the invitation of the UN University (UNU) World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) Conference on "The puzzle of peace – towards inclusive development in fragile contexts" held on 17 May in Helsinki, Finland, PBC Chair Rabab Fatima virtually-delivered remarks during the plenary session on conflict legacies and post-conflict recovery.  In her remarks, she stressed the need for the PBC to remain fit for purpose in the face of increasingly complex challenges to peacebuilding and to enhance its ability to ensure timely and effective responses in support of local peacebuilding priorities. Fatima stressed that adequate, predictable, and sustained financing remained a critical challenge and reiterated the Commission's commitment to further promote coherence, forge partnerships, and mobilize creative peacebuilding financing and non-financial contributions.

See here the full text of the Chair’s remarks

Next Week

On Monday, 23 May, Special Representative James Swan will update the Security Council on the situation in Somalia. The Council will hear from Special Representative Volker Perthes on the situation in Sudan on Tuesday, 24 May. And on Thursday morning, 26 May, a briefing by Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland will update Council members on the situation in the Middle East and efforts to address the rising tensions in and around Jerusalem. In the afternoon, the Council will discuss the situation in Libya. 

The 2022 Thematic Review on Local Peacebuilding, commissioned by PBSO in partnership with the PeaceNexus Foundation and UN Volunteers programme, looks at youth-led primary research in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Kyrgyzstan, and the Western Balkans to explore how ‘local’ peacebuilding is conceptualized and approached, what factors enable or inhibit the effectiveness of local-level peacebuilding interventions, and how the Peacebuilding Fund and other donors can support local actors better.  A virtual launch event of the Review will be held on 24 May from 9 to10 am EST, where a panel of local civil society activists from Central Asia, the Western Balkans and West Africa will talk about what works and does not work in local peacebuilding. Register here.

Learn about the Review’s key findings and recommendations from this animated illustration video in English, Français, and Español.

Subscribe to This Week in DPPA here

Contact DPPA at dppa@un.org