Events

What knowledge is needed for development cooperation and peacebuilding to engage with and 
strengthen bottom-up efforts by women and youth to sustain and rebuild social life amid war, 
displacement and return?

War, violent conflict and displacement reshape trust, belonging and social relations. The research project RECONNECT, which is generously supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), examines how women and youth navigate these changes and participate in social reconstruction during and after war, including in contexts of ongoing violence, displacement and return. Rather than assuming that their practices necessarily foster inclusion or peace, the project investigates when and how they do so, and which structural, political and socio-cultural conditions enable or constrain their agency. Drawing on research in the Middle East, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and the Sahel, it brings bottom-up and translocal perspectives to debates on social reconstruction, return, reintegration and peacebuilding.

The workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners and policymakers to explore these questions and critically assess and refine RECONNECT’s developing conceptual framework. The first session will examine what social reconstruction encompasses: which practices and relationships are central to it, how the agency of women and youth shapes these processes, and how institutional frameworks and external interventions influence them. It will also consider links with social cohesion and the humanitarian–development–peace nexus. The second session will explore how this approach can guide research across different regional contexts and phases of war, displacement and return, and what knowledge policy partners and practitioners need to engage with bottom-up initiatives.Together, the sessions will identify shared research questions, empirical gaps and opportunities for continued dialogue.

For this event, registration is required. By registering you agree that we will temporarily store your registration information. Please complete the registration form by 10 November.

Participants are kindly asked to take the main entrance to the GIZ Campus, which is situated in the yard. bicc would be delighted to welcome you to this workshop for a joint exchange on social reconstruction amid displacement and return and the roles of women and young people in these processes. We look forward to your participation and an engaging and inspiring discussion.