“It’s not a binary choice. There are some pretty significant downsides – politically and in terms of delivery itself – with the current approach to humanitarian assistance,” said Payton Knopf, coordinator of the South Sudan Senior Working Group at the US Institute of Peace, and former head of the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan.

Human Rights;  Fragility & Resilience

What role should religious ideas, actors and institutions play in the formation and implementation of policy to counter violent extremism? To answer this question, Peter Mandaville and Melissa Nozell look at 1) how religion serves as a driver of violent extremism; 2) how this role depends on the relationship between religion and varying local and contextual factors; 3) when engagement with religious actors should take place in policy formation processes; 4) how such engagement should not just focus on religious authorities or in countering extremist interpretations of religion, and much more.

Religion;  Violent Extremism

As Iraqi security forces push ISIS out of each village or city, peacemakers establish mechanisms of reconciliation. But they say too few lessons have been learned by politicians about inclusive rule and compromise.

The United States says Africa is a trusted friend and partner in a mutual partnership between the two parties. This was contained in remarks delivered by Under Secretary Thomas Shannon at the “United States-African Partnerships: Advancing Common Interest Symposium”, held at the United States Institute of Peace

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US government’s Bureau of African Affairs Donald Yamamoto said the US had already reached out to top political leaders in the country and informed them that the world is watching... Mr Yamamoto made the comments while giving a speech on advancing common interests of US-African partnerships at the US Institute of Peace based in Washington, on Wednesday.

To create a more successful ISF, the Department of Defense (DOD) should use the Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework (ICAF) - an effective tool that creates a shared understanding of complex problems and leads to collaborative and coordinated responses to conflict.

C5 Accelerate (C5A), the Cloud Innovation Centre for best-of-breed startups, has today announced that it has entered into a new Innovation Partnership with SAP National Security Services, Inc.