CMI, together with its South Sudanese partners the University of Juba Centre for Peace and Development Studies (CPDS) as well as the Organization for Non-violence and Development, have concluded the start-up phase of their youth dialogue project in South Sudan.

To gain field-based knowledge on how gender-based violence (GBV) should be taken into account in future peace processes, CMI and its partner WANEP (West Africa Network for Peacebuilding) organised consultations at the end of February in three Liberian counties (Lofa, Bong, Nimba). These workshops were attended by over ninety women who shared their stories and views on gender-based violence in peace- and wartime Liberia.

Conference
European perspectives in the context of Eastern Partnership
Yerevan, 2010
Roxana Cristescu

• One of the biggest challenges for the international community when addressing territorial conflicts is the difficulty of developing a meaningful strategy of engagement that under international law would encompass both the principle of territorial integrity and of the right for self-determination of people.

The Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) is supporting an independent research commission formed to explore the reasons behind the violence in Kyrgyzstan in the summer of 2010. The aim of the commission is to examine who was responsible for the violent outburst. The research commission intends to publish a report on the background and causes of the violence. In its report, the commission shall also make recommendations. The initiative for the independent and impartial examination of the violence comes from the Nordic Governments.

The government of Kyrgyzstan has asked

CMI's heart beats for peace. Our ultimate goal is bringing conflicts to an end so that sustainable peace is achievable. A major part of CMI's work is networking for peace, supporting local decision makers in building stability and encouraging conflict parties to a dialogue. The CMI way of doing things is pulling together international peacebuilding experts and local experience. Over the past decade CMI has gained valuable knowledge of different peacebuilding and conflict solving methods. CMI tailors the models accordingly and turns thinking into action.
President Martti Ahtisaari's Nobel

Roxana Cristescu, Mikheil Mirziashvili and Antje Herrberg

Summary

In December 2009 Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) held a one day dialogue meeting in Tbilisi that convened the representatives of CMI's partner organizations as well as selected members of the Peacebuildingregional Expert Councils from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Republic of Moldova.

After the "Black Sea Peacebuilding Network" Project launch in May 2009, this was again an opportunity for all the parties involved in this initiative to discuss the results

The year 2008 was significant for the Crisis Management Initiative. We made progress on many fronts, through pioneering new and effective approaches to conflict resolution and statebuilding. Our private diplomacy and good offices contributed at highest international levels of policy and decision-making. The highlights include the following issues:

- Supported the EU in developing its mediation policy and capacity to engage in international peace mediation and cooperation.

- Co-convened a meeting in Finland of various Iraqi political leaders, leading to the signing of the Helsinki

FOREWORD

Since 1992 when Georgia effectively gained independence, the grave problem of its territorial integrity, questioned by lasting conflicts in the break-away regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, has attained the interest of the international community. The UN and the OSCE have been the main international actors to mediate the peace and resolution. Indeed, the relative passiveness of other international actors like the EU and the US has led to the unilateral prevalence of Russia in practical issues such as peace-keeping, the effective control of the ceasefire and

It is increasingly apparent that effective state-building is critical for global peace and security and that preventing state fragility and supporting state-building are the most important tasks facing the international community today.

Developing Africa into functioning states has become a firm priority of African leaders, African organizations, foreign governments, and multilateral institutions. Yet there is no "one size fits all" road map for African state-building. One of the most pressing challenges for African nations is the question of how to develop systems