Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangarhar province, hosted an event of a series of peace forums on 30 May 2021 entitled “Nangarhar Forum for Peace.”
More than 60 participants including local government officials, provincial councils representatives, religious scholars, academics, tribal elders, journalists, civil society activists, students, women and men from the host province of Nangarhar and its neighboring provinces of Laghman, Kunar, and Nuristan provinces participated in the in the daylong peace forum.
The event officially launched with remarks by Imamudin Hamdard, Program Coordinator at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Kabul. “Peace is an urgent need of the people of Afghanistan, “he said “Afghans are suffering for more than four decades as a result of the ongoing conflict, this gathering is convened to mobilize communities and peace makers from all walks of life in these provinces and unite their voices for peace.”
Mr. Hamdard added that the current peace process has entered a critical phase and there are widespread concerns, we engage local communities through these peace forums across the country to gather the views and concerns of local communities, and this time from the four eastern provinces, and share them with stakeholders, international community and government.
Deputy Governor of the Nangarhar province addressed the audience in the opening phase of the event, he stressed the role of local communities and people in peacebuilding through active participation and taking responsibility, saying that it our religious responsibility to work for peace. He also underscored the importance of national consensus for peacebuilding in the country adding that such events and peace dialogues play a very crucial role in building consensus. The deputy governor praised the organizing organizations and the funding partner for organizing such events and bringing local communities together to share their views about a very important topic.
The event is implemented in the framework of the project “Reaching Out for Peace” – a partnership between Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Afghanistan, Mediothek Afghanistan and Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization (APPRO) and it is also funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Afghanistan.
Ehsan Saadat, a representative of APPRO in Afghanistan, presented a comprehensive and contextual presentation on the peace process from other countries, and their similarities and differences with the current peace process in Afghanistan. The presentation created a simulating and exiting atmosphere for the participants to engage in constructive discussions among themselves.
The participants were divided into four working groups and asked to work together to identify key issues including public expectations in a post peace agreement environment between the Afghan government and the Taliban, identify four main causes and factors of conflict, management and control options, and key stakeholders in the peace process.
Through several working groups, participants worked together to identify mechanisms of addressing local challenges to peace as well as factors and drivers of conflict at community levels. A selected representative of each group presented the results and ideas of the respective group to the larger group and to a panel of four members, including representatives of local government institutions, peace experts and civil society leaders and academics for further analysis and deliberation.
This phase provided ample opportunity for participants to engage in honest and in-depth discussion with each other in an open and friendly atmosphere and pose their questions to experts and representatives of local government.
The project is a concerted effort to bring members of local communities, peace experts, local authorities and citizens together to share their views on peacebuilding at community level and discuss challenges to peace at local levels and identify major factors of conflict. The project is also helping broaden the scope of discussions by inviting representatives from neighboring provinces – adding a regional dimension – of the host province to share their views and concerns on local peace and local challenges and how local communities can play a robust role in peacebuilding.
The Forums for Peace are planned in Kandahar, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Bamyan, and Kabul but invite participants from all neighboring provinces of each host province thus it is a project of national scope. Two rounds of local forums for peace will be conducted in each of the host province during the project in 2021 and this was the first round of the peace dialogue in Balkh province.
The first round of the peace forum is focused on the questions of how locals perceive peace and how citizens at local locals define peace, it also helps participants pin down the most pressing challenges to local peace and local ways of overcoming these challenges. While the second round will help participants delve in deeper discussion on operationalizing their solutions at local levels through dialogues and collaboration.
The day-long dialogue concluded with a summary of the day and a review of the topics discussed during the day by Zia Sadr, a presentative of Mediothek Afghanistan. The Balkh Forum for Peace is the third forum in a series forums on peace. The previous two forums were held in Kandahar, Herat provinces. The first round of the Forums for Peace will culminate with a national forum to be held in Kabul with the participation of representatives from all over the country, and the results will be shared with the relevant national and international institutions after thorough analysis and synchronization by experts. The dialogues will continue through the second round of the forums
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