On July 8-12, the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) in partnership with Initiatives of Change Switzerland will hold “Towards and Inclusive Peace: Integrated Approaches to Prevention” at the 2019 Caux Forum in Caux, Switzerland.   

The event will explore how a comprehensive peacebuilding approach that includes global and local perspectives can address the root causes of violent extremism. It will do so by considering the three principles of prevention: inclusiveness, sustainability and context specificity. Attention will be given to the role of resilience in preventing societies from descending into crisis, including but not limited to violent extremism.  

Members of ICAN’s Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) and ICAN staff will participate in a number of workshops and discussions during the forum. ICAN’s Program Director, Melinda Holmes and WASL partner Guissou Jahangir from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Armanshahr Foundation will speak on the panel “Why Do We Need a Deep Prevention Lens to Transform Violent Extremism?” on July 9 starting at 9:30 am.   

On July 11, WASL partners Ghada Rifai, Co-Founder of the Mobaderoon-Active Citizens in Syria, and Rodolfo Domínguez Marquéz Coordinator of the Justice, Human Rights and Gender Civil Association in Mexico will speak on the panel “Protecting Peacebuilders to Build Sustainable Peace” from 9:30 am to 11:00 am. ICAN’s Senior Program Officer Stacey Schamber will be moderating the panel, which will be livestreamed on ICAN’s and the Caux Forum’s Facebook pages.    

ICAN will also host a workshop titled “Civil Society Mechanisms for Responding to the Protection Needs of Peacemakers” over three days of the forum. Recognizing that there is an urgent need for better forms of protection of local peacemakers, the workshop will center around sharing models of civil society response mechanisms for protection; identifying good practices and challenges; and formulating a call to action. WASL members Juliana Suescún Gomez from Corporación de Investigación y Acción Social y Económica (CIASE), Shahrazad Magrebi  from the Libyan Women Forum, Belsuk Alimikhena from Neem Foundation and other partners will be sharing their work during the workshop.   

For more information about the forum, program overview and speakers, click here.