Harvard University hosts internet conference on reconstruction

Afghans and the international community are set to meet online on Monday for a first-ever internet conference on Afghanistan's reconstruction. Hosted by Harvard University's Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR), the event brings together the world's most prominent Afghanistan-related scholars, policy makers, and field-level aid workers for a unique online discussion. Afghan civil society groups, diaspora, as well as members of the international aid, security, and policy communities are expected to participate in the 10-day event "Already more than 70 practitioners, scholars, activists and UN officials have confirmed their participation in the closed online conference, several of them from Kabul," the HPCR director, Claude Bruderlein, told IRIN from the western Pakistani city of Peshawar. "This conference is only one of the possible avenues for such dialogue. Its informality, cost-effectiveness and linkages to information databases offers innovative ways to support such a dialogue and complement more traditional approaches," he explained. Entitled "Securing Communities for Reconstruction in Afghanistan", the password-protected conference, is being hosted on the Conflict Prevention Initiative (CPI) web portal www.preventconflict.org/portal/centralasia. In light of the upcoming Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) and the democratisation of Afghan society, Bruderlein stressed that Afghan civil society's involvement with the Loya Jirga process was paramount. "The engagement of Afghan civil society leaders must be substantive and diversified," he said, adding that the richness and diversity of these discussions were central to the democratisation of Afghan society - particularly in the reconstruction of the country and the role of communities in this context. The issues to be discussed will include defining peace and security in the community perspective and developing strategies at the individual, community, national and international levels to promote stability within the communities, as well as exploring the linkages between economic, social and political opportunities, and identifying priorities for relief agencies. The conference follows in-depth consultations with Afghan civil society leaders in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran in March and April this year about the need for a better understanding of what it means to create security at the community level. "Out of these consultations, it appears that security is about more than the deployment of police and the rehabilitation of a national army. It's about people, community networks, jobs, and communal trust, " Bruderlein said, adding that people were beginning to understand this, but much more needed to be done to build sustainable peace in Afghanistan. "National, central, official processes are critical, but only in conjunction with processes that build peace from the bottom up," he emphasised, adding that peace and democracy would not be solely built in Kabul, but community by community. "In this context, conveying civil society actors, giving them voice, allowing reconstruction policy to be owned by Afghans everywhere is the aspiration of the HPCR through field consultation, on-line international exchange, and policy development," he explained. Indeed, Afghan civil society leaders are looking for ways to establish a much-needed dialogue with the policy community on strategies for reconstruction.