1999 Colloquium

Overview
Exchanging Strategies
Sharpening Skills and Ideas
Policy Day

Overview
The December 1999 launch of the Waging initiative at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government spurred groundbreaking work bridging divides between communities in conflict, as well as those among policy shapers, academics, and grassroots activists. Valuable results in coalition building, information technology training, and shaping of public policy were the practical outcomes of the two-week launch where women peace builders shared expertise, stories, and strategies to help them in their difficult and momentous work.

In addition to the ties formed among the 100 delegates, the women also found new connections with some 200 policy shapers-UN and World Bank officials, State Department officers, funders, and journalists on December 16 in Boston, during a day-long public policy meeting. The exchange of concrete policy ideas inspired extensive media coverage from the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Washington Times, and Associated Press, and generated a 25-minute piece by CNN's program Insight, which aired internationally.

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Exchanging Strategies
The delegates met in groups of 20, with two delegates from each area representing different sides of the conflict, to tackle vast issues: what peace is; what obstacles women face as peace builders; and how to craft strong and lasting coalitions across divides. Deep and lasting relationships were made as they shared their stories of success and failure, conflict and peace.

Spontaneous sessions arose as delegates' interest about each conflict became evident, each delegation hosting others for a presentation. Students from the Kennedy School interviewed each delegate on video. These interviews serve as a library of first-hand accounts of peace-building strategies and lessons. Other women peace builders, policymakers, members of the media, academics, conflict resolution professionals, students, and major funders can now hear these stories.

The Colloquium allowed women who would not have had the opportunity to meet because of the political divides in their conflicted societies to work together, developing strategies for peace. An African delegate remarked that she was trembling inside as she watched women from north and south Sudan, who had not met before the launch, holding a joint panel. She remarked that she was participating in history.

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Sharpening Skills and Ideas
Delegates also interacted with local and international experts in conflict resolution, research, media, public speaking, human rights, and political and social theory to discuss the issues surrounding conflict and peace building. These seminars produced lively dialogue among delegates and facilitators. Contentious issues were hammered out and participants united across cultural and political divides to address particular topics. Roger Fisher, director of the Harvard Negotiation Project; John Galvin, former supreme allied commander of NATO; and Jane Holl Lute, executive director of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, joined other notable speakers discussing issues relevant to peace builders at the forefront of the field.

International and local academic experts teamed up with delegates to discuss and shape research in ethnic conflict and its resolution, in women and public policy, in grassroots activism, and the links between theory, research, and practice. Delegates, many of them academics, discussed ways to address the divide between the work on the ground and the research reported.

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Policy Day
On December 16, 1999, Waging hosted the first "Policy Day," where more than 200 policymakers met face to face with Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace delegates. In the weeks following the launch, Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace was approached by the White House, the US Institute of Peace, the United Nations, the State Department, and the UN Commission on Human Rights, among others, to connect with Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace delegates. As one noted policymaker commented, "We're onto something here. We don't usually talk to the people affected by our policies."

In addition to plenary remarks by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Dean Joseph Nye of the Kennedy School, 300 participants of Policy Day divided into 30 intimate discussion groups with people of influence in the policy arena. This event was unprecedented in public policy circles and inspired remarkable results. One roundtable was led by a senior White House official, who, after speaking with two African delegates, was motivated to review current legislation addressing the distribution of humanitarian aid in their country. Read more on ideas presented and results of Policy Day.

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