I-GMAP is collaborating with the to implement a three-year "Safer Havens" project. The project will bring state and civil society actors in a productive and sustainable dialogue, with the goal of identifying better policies for the protection of displaced persons from identity-based violence. The inspiration for this long-term project was the conviction that the work of addressing and reducing risk factors for mass atrocity crimes through cooperation between states and civil society organizations faces obstacles that significantly reduce effectiveness and chances for better outcomes. At the core of this project, three annual forums (in Colombia, Kenya, and Romania) will gather AIPG and I-GMAP staff and state and civil society representatives from countries showing significant obstacles to state-CSO collaboration for protecting displaced persons, but also considerable promise. In advance of each meeting, I-GMAP will conduct outreach and in-depth interviews with potential CSO partners, and will include them in each respective event. Each event will generate a comprehensive, country-specific policy document with concrete recommendations for stakeholders and additional follow up including coordination and support for post-forum collaborations. A final comprehensive policy document on better policies for the protection of displaced persons from identity based violence, including a detailed roadmap for sustaining the networks of professional cooperation that have been established, will conclude the three-year project.
October 2-3, 2025: Oradea, Romania
I-GMAP's Safer Havens workshop in Oradea, Romania on October 2-3 was a resounding success. Over the course of two days, thirty representatives from the government, civil society groups, and refugee-led organizations met to collaborate on better protection from identity-based violence for the hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced persons in Romania, the majority of whom are Ukrainian women and children. The frank conversations, good ideas, initiatives for collaboration, and other outcomes of our 2025 Safer Havens workshop left all, organizers and participants alike, gratified and energized.
October 3-4, 2024: Naivasha, Kenya
October 16-17, 2023: Bogota, Colombia