Building for Peace: Inclusive Reconstruction in the Middle East and North Africa

This session is aimed at highlighting knowledge and experiences to underscore the need for renewing the approach to recovery and reconstruction in conflict-affected countries, harnessing the partnership taking place between WB, EU, UN that treats crisis response as a continuous process toward peacebuilding, a process that goes beyond rebuilding physical infrastructure to address underlying drivers of conflict, that helps rebuild and strengthen policies and institutions, and that encourages broader partnerships to achieve sustainable peace. In this light, reconstruction efforts would need to be programmed to serve as mechanisms for restoring/recreating trust between citizens and the State, through fostering empowerment and inclusion of citizens in decision making, and through implementation and monitoring of the reconstruction program at national and local levels.  A critical element of the program will be to ensure strong foundations for economic prosperity and job creation. The goal would also be to strengthen international partners and national stakeholders to coalesce around a common agenda in support of reconstruction led by country stakeholders, adopting inclusive bottoms-up approaches that contribute to strengthening resilience of national and sub-national communities and institutions.