The Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (CSPPS) expands its work scope in collaboration with the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) University of Edinburgh over the course of 2021. This collaboration allows for sharing best practices and challenges.

By offering an opportunity for peer exchange among local peacebuilding practitioners and researchers in Syria, Libya, and Yemen, our session inscribes itself in the thematic context of relating across boundaries.

Main Questions

• How can civil society best contribute to conflict management in fragile and conflict-affected settings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic?

• Can COVID-19 be seen as a tool of conflict or opportunity for peace in these contexts?

• How does one manage and build peace as civil society actors in countries with fragile and/or fragmented institutions and unsafe power structures?

Key Theses, Thoughts and Ideas

In all countries, COVID-19 has added an additional layer to already complex realities, and this is especially true in fragile and conflict affected settings. In these situations, issues of trust and legitimacy have prompted civil society to step in and address governance gaps. COVID-19 has also had a unifying effect in bringing civil society together to enhance coordination and to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic.

However, these actors are often insufficiently resourced. And although civil society has played a key role in awareness raising to combat misinformation and mistrust around COVID-19, the delivery of coherent and consistent discourse by all actors that enjoy trust and confidence is essential.

Speakers reiterated the impacts of COVID-19 on the interplay between peace, conflict, and crisis. They emphasised the need for Triple Nexus programming involving a comprehensive body of actors in order to address multidimensional challenges arising from the pandemic.