Joint event between the United Nations Department of Peace Operations (DPO)/Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI)/DDR Section and with the research group on UN Media and Peace Processes (RUNMAPP) at the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM), Sheffield University.
On 25 June 2020 CFOM co-organised a joint event that brought together academics/members of RUNMAPP and DDR practitioners and policymakers which focused on a discussion of the draft IDDRS module 4.60 on “Strategic Public Information in Support of DDR” around the following objectives
- Provide feedback to the contents of the module from field and academic perspectives
- Identify priority areas and opportunities to further strengthen the module
- Gain a common understanding of operational challenges and best practice in this area
- Gain a common understanding of the communicative needs and challenges and identify programmatic ways to overcome these
The consultation was comprised of two dozen UN policymakers, UN practitioners from the UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, DRC and South Sudan as well as six academics from different Universities. Our academic team – Colin Alexander (Nottingham Trent University), Jacob Udo Udo Jacob (Dickinson College, USA). Walt Kilroy (Dublin City University), Jaremey McMullin (University of St Andrews), Sukanya Podder (Kings College London), Stef Pukallus (University of Sheffield) was able to make contributions from a wide range of academic perspectives. It is now keen on getting busy with the next steps such as toolkits and an operational guide.
Image copyright @ United Nations Peacekeeping