Recording now available−Community-based protection, early warning, and conflict preparedness  

Access audio and video recordings of the second session of the PHAP and NRC webinar series on Civilian Safety in Armed Conflict that took place on 30 March 2021. 

On 30 March, PHAP and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) organized the second of a two-part series exploring existing efforts to improve the safety of civilians during armed conflict. This online event discussed “secondary” prevention programs, in particular those focusing on strengthening communities in conflict-affected areas to reduce the risk of harm and mitigate the effects of armed conflict on civilian populations. This session followed the first one in the series on how to prevent violence from happening in the first place by focusing on “primary” prevention programs, such as advocacy, armed actor behavior change, and direct engagement with armed actors, either by the humanitarian organization or by facilitating this engagement by communities. 

During the event, we had a chance to hear from Rasmus Sandvoll Weschke, Advisor at Norwegian People's Aid, who provided a brief overview on their Conflict Preparedness & Protection (CPP) approach which empowers civilians to be better prepared and protected in the event of violent conflict, and highlighted the need for risk education which can protect civilians of explosive weapons. Helen Adamu Balami, the National Armed Violence Reduction Manager, at Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Nigeria expounded on how DRC is improving community safety and preparedness in North-East Nigeria by building on the visions and concerns of existing resources and capacities of the conflict-affected populations.

César Ngango Lumoo, Protection Programme Manager at Solidarité pour la Promotion sociale et la Paix (SOPROP), highlighted their approach in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they help and support the targeted communities to prevent and respond to conflict. Through specific program steps, they select the targeted communities, meet and set up protection strategies with them; arrange skills building sessions focusing on protection themes and community protection plans to identify protection risks; and create exit plans for the communities. Speaking on their approach of Survivor and Community-led Crisis Response (SCLR), Nils Carstensen, Senior Humanitarian Advisor at Local to Global Protection (L2GP), explained to participants this supports crisis affected people in their own responses to violence and other threats-as per their own priorities, experiences and new ideas. 

If you missed this event, you can now access the video and audio podcast format version of the event recordings on the event page.