CIAO DATE: 12/2008
October 2008
United States Institute of Peace
There is growing recognition among policymakers and conflict management experts that the media should be a building block of any comprehensive peacebuilding strategy. Yet there are scant guidelines in this regard. Projects are still planned and implemented in a relatively ad-hoc manner, with minimal reference to lessons learned from previous initiatives.
On June 25-26, 2008, USIP's Media Conflict and Peacebuilding Center of Innovation and the Alliance for Peacebuilding convened top media and conflict experts to review a comprehensive strategic framework to aid in the design of practical peacebuilding media. The framework was developed and presented by Vlado Bratic, Ian Larsen and Lisa Schirch in collaboration with USIP. While the framework still requires further development, the experts agreed on many of its propositions. This USIPeace Briefing contains their significant points of agreement but also raises points of debate or ambiguity, all of which are critical considerations when planning a media project.
Sheldon Himelfarb, associate vice president of the Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding Center of Innovation, moderated.
Resource link: Media, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding: Mapping the Edges [PDF] - 55K