The UNSW Institute for Global Development (IGD) team participated in a visit to the Lumbini Province in Nepal last week, alongside representatives from the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) and Niti Foundation.
Undertaken through the UNSW Institute for Global Development's (IGD) partnerships with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) in Cambodia and Niti Foundation in Nepal, the visit supports the development of a longer-term strategy for accompanying community safety and security actors in conflict-affected states across the Indo-Pacific.
The research in Lumbini is part of wider project of context appraisal and authentication, supported by the Australia Civil-Military Centre (ACMC), who are exploring the security challenges and opportunities facing communities in the region, with case studies from the Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vanuatu.
The joint IGD-CPCS-Niti Foundation delegation met with several key community safety actors in Nepal, including the Inspector General of Nepal Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs in Lumbini Province, political parties, deputy mayors, and civil society leaders, among others.
The safety and security issues they highlighted are complex, including inter-communal tensions, family violence, conflict-era trauma, the ongoing transitional justice process, and border crime, among other concerns.
In thanking the delegation, one of the deputy mayors from a remote municipality on the Nepal-India border said, “We are hopeful that when we share our issues, someone will listen, your research will go somewhere, and something will change."
Through this project, the IGD is committed to supporting change through the identification of creative and strategic approaches that enhance the role of security actors to ensure longer-term peace and stability, community safety, trust and reconciliation in conflict-affected societies.
Our trilateral partnership with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and Niti Foundation is testing fresh approaches to regional South-South collaboration, with a focus on supporting research and capacity-building undertaken by local experts and organisations.
“We are hopeful that when we share our issues, someone will listen, your research will go somewhere, and something will change."