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MEAC Evidence & Learning Conference: High-Level Opening Day

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MEAC Evidence & Learning Conference: High-Level Opening Day

The United Nations, national governments, NGOs, and local communities have long provided and supported a range of interventions to help individuals exit armed groups and reintegrate into society. Yet, despite decades of programming, there is a significant knowledge gap as to which interventions work effectively, for whom, and under which conditions. This scarcity of knowledge undermines effective programming, increasing the likelihood of recidivism and conflict resurgence.

The MEAC Evidence & Learning Conference seeks to redress this knowledge gap by bringing together a wide range of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to share empirical findings about transitions out of armed groups in Iraq, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Colombia. This multi-day conference will commence with a high-level opening day on Monday, 27 March 2023, where MEAC’s top-line findings will be shared at the UN Headquarters. UNIDIR and UNU-CPR will bring together a diverse group of experts to chart a way forward in light of the emerging evidence on factors that influence recruitment and those that promote reintegration progress.

This will be followed by a two-day expert-level workshop at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. The workshop will allow practitioners, policymakers, donors, and researchers to collaboratively identify how programme design and implementation can be adjusted to advance innovative, empirically based, cross-sector approaches to prevention and reintegration.

Ultimately, this conference will mark an important milestone in enhancing the international community’s ability to prevent and effectively respond to armed conflict.

Programme

The opening day will take place on Monday, 27 March 2023, 15:00-18:00 ET, in Conference Room 11 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Following an introductory panel featuring MEAC project donors and UN partners, the opening day will hold two panels presenting original MEAC data and emerging findings from local experts on, 1) Factors that drive recruitment into armed groups in the Lake Chad Basin and implications for prevention interventions, and 2) Exit trajectories out of armed groups and implications for reintegration support.

Schedule

15:00-15:30 • Introductory Panel, featuring MEAC project donors and partners

15:30-16:30 • Factors that Drive Recruitment into Armed Groups in the Lake Chad Basin and Implications for Prevention Interventions  

16:30-16:45 • Break

16:45-17:45 • Exit Trajectories out of Armed Groups and Implications for Reintegration Support

17:45-18:00 • Q&A 
 

Participants

UNIDIR encourages the participation of member states, UN practitioners, policymakers, academics, researchers, and experts working on or interested in issues pertaining to preventing and responding to armed conflict.
 

RSVP

Please RSVP by filling out your details on this form.

When

27 March 2023

Where

Conference Room 11, United Nations Headquarters, New York