Mohamed Htewish, a specialist in peace mediation, conflict resolution and inter-community and tribal dialogue, and Edward Marques, LIAS Senior Research Fellow who is currently seconded to the Network’s Secretariat in Helsinki and a Senior Advisor to Finn Church Aid, represented LIAS in the “Second Conference on Non-Formal Dialogue Processes and National Dialogues: Experiences from countries in transition” organized in Helsinki, Finland from 16th-18th November 2015. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland organized this second conference on non-formal dialogue processes and National Dialogues together with a consortium of NGOs consisting of Finn Church Aid, Crisis Management Initiative, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Common Space Initiative and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. LIAS, which is a member of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, participated in the three-day workshop and contributed to a variety of panels, discussions, and closed door meetings.
The Dialogue allowed LIAS to connect and build stronger links with the Finnish Government, Europeans NGOs and governmental partners across Europe. The Dialogue also allowed LIAS to hold strategic meetings with several Conference delegates.
On the eve of the Conference an op-ed written by Edward Marques, Senior Research Fellow at LIAS, was published on the front page of the Finnish National Newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat.