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Community Engagement

Facilitating meaningful engagement between conflict-affected communities and protection actors is central to the PoC team’s approach and contributes to the overall aim of improving inclusive human security.

Engaging with communities for inclusive and accountable protection
PAX views community engagement as a participatory process in which the parties decide together how to discuss and respond to issues. This involves bringing together the people and organizations who ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ protection. Meaningful community engagement is characterized by ongoing dialogue.

PAX’s approach includes:
– Advising PoC actors and civil society on how to design and implement community engagement strategies
– Convening global experts in community engagement in virtual or in-person events to share lessons learned
– Developing mechanisms for direct engagement between civil society in conflict-affected countries and decision makers at the headquarters of international institutions
– Conducting research on common challenges and established best practices in conflict-affected environments

For more information, see PAX’s Civil Society Engagement Facility and the Engaging International Actors on PoC project.

Photo: PAX
report 08 January 2021

Community Engagement: Concepts, Guidelines, and Recommendations

This literature review provides an overview of publications that address the concept and practice of Community Engagement (CE) in conflict- and crisis- affected contexts. The report forwards recommendations and best practices for a more strategic approach in building trustworthy and mutually beneficial relationships with local populations in conflict settings.

report
HSS 2022: Summary findings from Central Equatoria State, South Sudan
report
HSS 2022: Summary findings from Greater Yirol (Lakes State), South Sudan
podcast
#12 (S2E6): Community-Based Protection in Nigeria
report
Transcript S2E6
video
Building our Peace – People to People Peace Processes in South Sudan
report
HSS 2022: Summary findings from Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan
report
PAX PoC Program Annual Report 2022
report
HSS 2022: Summary findings from Payinjiar County (Unity), South Sudan
report
HSS 2022: Summary findings from Jonglei State, South Sudan
Photo: PAX

Civil Society Engagement Faciliy

Civil Society Engagement Facility (CSEF) aims to contribute to greater equity and meaningful participation between international decision-makers and national and local actors in conflict-affected countries and to create a greater bottom-up accountability of international actors towards communities in conflict.

Through this Facility we develop more mechanisms for direct engagement between civil society in conflict-affected countries and decision makers at the headquarters of international institutions on protection of civilians and human security issues.

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