Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit’s Post

📢 Recap of the Berlin Peace Dialogue #BPD at the beginning of this month. A panel with a variety of relevant perspectives and deep expertise on how to deal with autocrats when buidling peace. Thank you for your insights, Vianney Bisimwa Elke Löbel Anka Feldhusen Nathalie Ndongo-Seh Kane and Ulrich Lechte The panelists addressed the questions: ❓ What are the challenges to peace posed by autocrats? ❓ What are the limits in crisis prevention and peacebuilding with autocrats and fake democracies? What trade-offs are justifiable? ❓ How justified is the criticism of the West that double standards determine its foreign policy actions? See some answers to these questions in the graph below:

In Niger where I am, the debates of how to deal with military regimes featured in recent Berlin Peace dialogue #BPD (from distance) get me to think and also discuss . With people coming and going and thinking about how to re-engage in the #Sahel or #Niger, the best idea that surfaced so far here is Double Accountability In ‘development’ and now mostly in #Africa, western (European) governments o face accusations of applying double standards. On one hand, conditionality is rigidly enforced on some countries, while significant development aid flows to regimes that fail to meet even democratic benchmarks. This inconsistency damages credibility and fuels resentment, I get to hear that every day in Niger and also on the #Sahel. Governments receiving have two points: 1.Aid Ineffectiveness: “What have 20 years of your assistance achieved? Very little.”2. Aid Recirculation: “Most of the development aid you send ends up flowing back into your economy.” For me, this reveals the flaw of one-way accountability model dominating current donor-recipient relationships. We have an opportunity for transformation: the adoption of two-way accountability as the guiding principle of new #development partnerships. Two-Way Accountability would work like this: On thie one hand, #donors are held accountable to recipient states for the impact of their programs. Are the initiatives effective? Are they aligned with the jointly identified needs (of the population)? On the other, recipient states are equally accountable for the efficient use and management of donor funds. What have we done to create a permissive environment for this ? How can we make the implementation effective ? This includes transparent reporting, implementation oversight, and measurable outcomes. I think this really matters, because it would result in at least four positive outcomes, 1) Reduced Mutual Accusations: When accountability flows both ways, there’s less room for accusations of inefficiency or exploitation. 2) Improved Efficiency: Aid flows directly to projects rather than being siphoned off through intermediaries with significant overhead costs. 3) Partnership Over Patronage : This model shifts the dynamic from a donor-patronage system to one of mutual respect and responsibility, working with states (not necessarily governments) while addressing local needs. 4) Ethical Pragmatism: In a world of realpolitik, engagement with non-democratic regimes may be unavoidable. Yes, the complex reality of working with states whose governance structures may not align with Western ideals. But by focussing on results, transparency, and impact, we move beyond rigid conditionality or unchecked assistance and towards a new model of partnership. An accountability framework could work by having monitoring mechanisms, capacity building, and of course (!) #dialogue, dialogue, dialogue: inclusive, multilevel to clarify shared goals and responsibility.

Check out this Secret Life of Canada podcast as they do a deep dive into the process of how Treaty 6 came to be between 1871 and 1877. Treaty 6 is one of the most well documented treaty signings in Canadian history: https://lnkd.in/e6dZSuFJ

💡 Insights: First Nations Development Institute gives us a look into Native American board representation across large foundations. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4iP0aqO

ambezi Regional governor, Lawrence Sampofu, emphasized the challenges faced by his region due to its geographical location and the necessity of strong international cooperation. Read the full story on our website https://lnkd.in/d4P3VmzY

A contribution of our faculty Katerina Kolozova to Political Trends and Dynamics: Navigating Southeast Europe's Future: A Vision for 2030 published by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in January 2024, summarized as follows "Among the CSO and media organizations in North Macedonia, it is vastly perceived that the process of opening negotiations has never commenced." (victims of misinformation or unwitting contributors to EU related metastasis of misinformation, or both..?)

A New Agenda for Peace is the Secretary-General's vision for a more peaceful and secure world—one where revitalized multilateralism supports better lives for everyone. Learn more about why the Agenda matters and what we need to do to give peace a chance: https://lnkd.in/eFnR7r6n

Top10. Niinistö report: How the EU must gear up for future crises: In this episode, host Giada Santana and politics reporter Nicholas Wallace delve into EU-NATO competition, Niinistö’s intelligence unit proposal, and a dash of Finnish history. The post Top10. Niinistö report: How the EU must gear up for future crises appeared first on Euractiv.

Thank you SIEPS, The Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, for organising an excellent one-day conference on EU #enlargement in Stockholm last Friday. I was happy to participate together with colleagues from the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS).   Some of my own thoughts after the conference concerned the narratives about, and the legitimacy of, the EU enlargement agenda.   To ensure public support for enlargement, there is a need for: 🌻discussing enlargement more widely, 🌻countering Russian narratives that enlargement is equal to war and instability, 🌻convincingly answering questions about why enlargement is necessary and in the EU’s core security interests, 🌻spelling out the costs of non-enlargement more clearly, 🌻better explaining how enlargement is linked to the EU mission of delivering prosperity to its citizens. 

We have a new strategy! 🎯 As the longstanding struggle between democracy and authoritarianism intensifies, democracy’s role in the world rapidly evolves. And so must we 🙋♂️ Our new strategy introduces innovative solutions to the challenges facing democracy worldwide while staying true to our core vision: a world where informed citizens freely debate and drive real change through representative institutions 👨🍳👩🏾🏫👨🏻🔧 👩🏼💻 🧑🏼🎨 🏛 With this plan of action, we aim to add our unique piece to the global mosaic of democratic defenders 🙌 Explore our focus areas and strategic priorities below. Have a read at our strategy here: https://bit.ly/DRIStrategy European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany Stiftung Mercator GmbH CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation