Resources

All talk, no action? Disrupting the way the UN reviews the SDGs

Jordan Street and Alexandra Azua Hale reflect on how the Voices of SDG16+ collaborative campaign brought civil society voices into high-level policy discussions in New York, and outline some recommendations for what should happen next.

The international security echo-chamber: getting civil society into the room

Interventions in the name of security often end up undermining peace. In response, many peace and rights activists around the world are considering how to change this and ensure people affected by conflict are heard.

Event: Outcome harvesting training

Designed and developed over seven years, Saferworld's approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) helps us successfully adapt and advocate for change. We are now offering workshops to share this approach with other organisations looking to improve their own outcome-focused monitoring and learning systems.

A war of words: why counter-messaging to prevent ‘violent extremism’ is counter-productive

Many governments have stepped up efforts to counter what they see as ‘violent extremism’ in their countries. Kloé Tricot O’Farrell argues that these ‘counter-messaging’ campaigns can fuel isolation and discontent.

‘Nothing to see here’: UK’s response to court ruling on arms sales to Saudi Arabia raises doubts about its willingness to fix problems

The landmark ruling from the Court of Appeal on the UK government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia undermines UK claims that its arms exports are not at risk of fuelling serious violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen. Now the government needs to honour the spirit as well as the letter of that ruling, says Roy Isbister.

Landmark decision from the UK Court of Appeal: Secretary of State acted irrationally and unlawfully with respect to arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Upending the system: putting people at the heart of monitoring and evaluation

Madeline Church argues that to develop a more transformative and adaptive monitoring and evaluation approach, you need to challenge power dynamics and put crisis-affected people at the centre.

In legislation to reduce global violence, can US move beyond a focus on “extremism”?

Since the 9/11 attacks, the US government’s embrace of heavy-handed counterterror responses has failed to make the world more peaceful or secure. The Global Fragility Act is a chance to learn from the past and focus efforts on the causes of violent conflict, says Jason Calder.

Joint letter to the European Union Foreign Affairs Council