Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding

 The goal of this meeting was to determine the set of problems faced by peacebuilders in the field that the Roundtable will address over the coming year. The day’s four sessions considered potential targets identified by Roundtable members at its first meeting in May and in subsequent discussions. Each session included a brief overview of a problem and possible solution set by the Roundtable Secretariat staff.  

The National Academy of Engineering and the U.S. Institute of Peace have established a Roundtable on Technology, Science and Peacebuilding to use science and technology to make a measurable and positive impact on conflict management, peacebuilding, and security capabilities. 

This inaugural meeting of the Roundtable had two primary goals: 1) to review and approve the draft strategic plan  and 2) to identify the first set of activities (and actors) that the Roundtable will undertake.  

The Center of Innovation for Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding partnered with National Academies of Science and of Engineering to launch a major, multi-year roundtable on science, technology, and peacebuilding. An initial planning meeting co-organized by the National Academies and USIP was held on March 12 to clarify the scope of the proposed roundtable’s activities.

This planning workshop was conducted to elicit information from the Roundtable membership about the opportunities for and challenges to peacebuilding around the world.  It used a structured problem-solving approach to help organize discussions, identify common interests, and consider ways in which technology, science, and engineering may play a role in advancing the cause of peace.  Following the workshop, staff created a draft strategic plan for the Roundtable's inaugural meeting, held on May 17, 2011.  

USIP’s Sheldon Himelfarb, director of USIP’s Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding, and Andrew Robertson, a senior program officer with the center, discuss the latest developments on technology, science and peacebuilding – and where the new field is going.

USIP's Tara Sonenshine, nominated to lead the U.S. State Department's office of Public Diplomacy, discusses how to maintain America's core values but embrace the change occuring around the world.

USIP identifies and applies best practices in seven topical areas whose issues cross each phase of conflict through this series of Centers.

The U4U training program brings young people from conflict zones around the world to train them in the use of crowdsourced mapping tools like Ushahidi as well as in the skills of conflict management, helping them address community needs in-country, train others, and join a growing community of global crisis mappers and technology-enabled peacebuilders.

As United States troops withdraw from Iraq in December of 2011, USIP looks back at its actions on the ground in Iraq and ahead at its programs for 2012 and beyond.