A young observer once told: “Our role here is to reduce tensions and facilitate dialogue. But this only works if we make it our priority to listen to people!” (sic-somewhere) Undoubtedly, crisis prevention is a vital crossroads for the search for and guarantee of peace. This crossroads unfolds into scenarios, making visible the different actors involved in conflict - either triggering or suffering from political, military, social and economic upheavals. Even when conflicts are endemic in the history of a society, the prevention of conflict escalation and work towards peaceful transformation through dialogue remains important.

Nigeria, with a population of approximately 186 million people, has been experiencing various forms of conflict since independence in 1960. These conflicts include struggle over control of oil and gas resources, dispute over communal land ownership, conflict between pastoralists and farmers, ethnic and religious divisions and violent extremism. The International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS) and its New Deal is a great opportunity to address these challenges of conflict in Nigeria holistically.

The Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPCS), based in Siem Reap, Cambodia, has supported efforts to transform conflict away from violence across Asia for more than a decade. CPCS draws from the wealth of conflict transformation experience in Cambodia when we intervene to address ethnic conflict in Myanmar, assist with political transition in Nepal, encourage reconciliation in Sri Lanka, or accompany the long peace process in the Philippines.

Political crises associated with the challenge of state and nation building are the main sources of insecurity in Africa. Most episodes of violence are associated with conflicts over political power at the highest level. The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, and Central African Republic are current examples, which confirm the profoundly political dimension of recurrent violence and instability.

To accompany the FriEnt Peacebuilding Forum 2017 we have launched the next online discussion series. This Blog shall provide a platform to gather perspectives and expectations from international partners of the FriEnt members towards German contributions to civilian crisis prevention and peacebuilding.

After two days of intense debates at the FriEnt Peacebuilding Forum let me act as a kind of sounding board resonating some of the points we were talking about. In my reflections I would like to focus on five issues: the nature of violent conflicts; the state and its relationship with civil society; visions and motivations to act: the role of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); institutional silos and organizational entrapments; and peacebuilding “beyond aid”.