Events

 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.  

This Blogs & Bullets meeting brought together the companies that sift through and sell this data with the activists that create it and the policy-makers who use it. The event looked at the cutting-edge of technologies for analysis with experts from around the world in an effort to expand our ability to harness these new platforms for conflict management and peacebuilding. 

There has been a surge of enthusiasm and activity around crisis mapping recently, thanks to high profile success stories such as Haiti, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, and Kenya. But, as the field matures, how do we turn this information into insight that engages and empowers  local communities in conflict prevention and peacebuilding?  USIP and Ushahidi, the crisis mapping pioneer, explored these questions with mappers from conflict zone countries and policymakers in Washington, D.C.

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.  

This event, held in Palo Alto, discussed the latest approaches to understanding the role of new media in peace and conflict. The conference brought together a diverse array of innovators from across the public, private and academic communities to share research in progress, with a particular focus on harnessing the insights of Silicon Valley companies whose products have been key enablers of political activism from Tehran to Tunisia, Cairo to Colombia.