Geneva Peace Week - Tackling hunger through a peacebuilding approach

FAO and the independent international peacebuilding organization, Interpeace, have partnered to develop and test tools that will enable more systematic and robust conflict-sensitive programming – while ensuring they are practical and can become embedded in agricultural livelihoods programmes in support of member states. The event helped to further discussion on and highlight policy and programmatic linkages between food, agriculture, natural resources and peacebuilding, in light of FAO’s Corporate Framework on sustainable peace.

The event was co-organized by FAO and Interpeace, with the participation of the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the United Nations and the NGO Le Zébreau from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The objective of the event was to discuss the relationships between food security and agriculture, and conflict, in particular the relatively new area of conflict-sensitive programming, explored by both FAO and Interpeace.

The panel was composed of three speakers:

- Julius Jackson, Technical Officer, Agricultural Development Economics Division, FAO, Rome.

- Gaston Munga Mulongoy, Director, Le Zebreau NGO, Lubumbashi.

- Martina Zapf, Head of Programme Support, Interpeace, Geneva.

And one discussant/moderator: H.E. Ambassador Veronika Bard, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations in Geneva

The panelists shared experiences, research and learnings on how conflict-sensitive food security interventions supporting resilience in rural areas - short, medium and long-term - can contribute to sustainable peace.

Ambassador Bard introduced the discussion with a few words of welcome and presentation. She also provided some context on conflicts and food security to establish the premises of the discussion.

Mr. Jackson presented FAO’s Corporate framework to support sustainable peace in the context of Agenda 2030, as well as its partnership with Interpeace on conflict analysis and conflict-sensitive programming. He illustrated his presentation with examples from Sudan, South Sudan and DR Congo, and introduced the concept of the Dimitra Clubs, a model community participatory approach based on dialogue to resolve problems, implemented notably in DR Congo by the NGO Le Zébreau.

Mr Mulongoy first gave a short introduction on the context in DR Congo and more specifically in Tanganyika Province. He then spoke about the experience of his NGO, Le Zébreau, with the Dimitra Clubs, as a basis for sustinaing peace, resolving conflicts and fostering dialogue. He gave concrete, compelling examples of successes and achievements, as well as lessons learned.

Ms Zapf followed in the discussion to outline the role of humanitarian and development actors in peacebuilding, and explained how Interpeace supports conflict-sensitive programming capacity in organizations such as FAO. She underlined that such work requires a shift in mindsets, and political will that enables a comprehensive capacity development process.

Ambassador Bard then wrapped up the discussion with a few highlighted points and thanked panelists for their thought-provoking presentations, as well as all participants for their attention.

The event was well attended, with over 60 participants more or less equally distributed among four categories: Academia, Permanent Missions, UN Agencies and NGOs. There was good participation from the floor, including several questions that took the discussion further ahead, including for example on issues related to Nutrition, or the role of the private sector.