ADRRN Roundtable Dialogue entitled “Disaster Risk Reduction in Areas of Conflict” was convened by the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN) with the support from The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) during Feb 2-4, 2011 at Park Village Hotel & Resort, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal. The program was locally hosted by National Society for Earthquake Technology – Nepal (NSET), one of the founder members of ADRRN. ADRRN is a regional network consisting of 34 national NGOs from 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

It was the first since its founding for the ADRRN to convene a conference focused on human-induced disaster, or specifically, armed conflict.

The two and a half day meeting was attended by 14 participants from 6 different countries viz Pakistan, Afghanistan, Srilanka, Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal. The agenda of the meeting included Country specific sharing of experiences in the form of presentation followed by extensive discussion on the previously proposed set of discussion points focusing on the general theme on disaster risk reduction and response in areas of conflict. The general parameters of the discussion were within the framework of human security and human development in its broad categories.

• What is a holistic approach to sustainable peace development in areas of conflict?
• What defines a principled approach to peace and development?
• What priority programs are essential towards the management, transformation or reduction of conflict in your communities/areas?
• What role do multilateral institutions and international NGOs play in the pursuit of peace in a war-torn area?

For the two and a half day, the participants extensively engaged themselves in sharing each other’s experience. The Roundtable was a platform for colleagues who came from countries in situations of armed conflict, and for some - post conflict, and, therefore, had the ground-based experience and expertise in peace and development, to share their respective views, insights and learning as well as recommendations.

The meeting was divided into six different Country Specific Thematic presentations such as;

Thematic Presentation One: Refocusing on Human Security framework in the pursuit of sustainable peace and human development – Country Focus Indonesia
Thematic Presentation Two: Community Empowerment and Institution Building- Country Focus Pakistan
Thematic Presentation Three: Conflict Management and Conflict Transformation – Country Focus Philippines
Thematic Presentation Four: Role of Local NGOs in Peace building and Approaches to Development Engagement with International Donors and Foreign Support Groups – Country Focus Afghanistan
Thematic Presentation Five: Accountability and Transparency – Country Focus Srilanka
Concluding Presentation: Challenges to Peace and Institution building in Nepal

The participants of the meeting came up with a conclusion that the meeting was very fruitful in sharing of experience, insights and learning from others and that such roundtable meeting needs to be scaled up engaging the donors, the government, the private sector, media and other concerned stakeholders. The ground-based insights of community leaders and NGO peace builders and development facilitators have to be raised to higher levels of policy advocacy in regional and international forums on the subject of sustainable peace and development engagement.