Nationally Led Prevention: Practical Examples of Approaches to Risk and Resilience

The United Nations acknowledges that prevention is first and foremost a national priority. Indeed, governments routinely undertake efforts to reduce the risks of violent conflict, even when such actions are not formally called “prevention.” Bringing attention to nationally led efforts to reduce risks and build resilience can provide opportunities to create a positive narrative around prevention and to improve their effectiveness through an accompaniment and capacity-building approach. Such efforts also show how nationally led prevention can strengthen sovereignty, particularly as it both strengthens protective factors against violence and addresses risks.

Children are playing in front of a mural that promotes the inaugural Tour-de-Timor Cycle Race event. Day-long festivals for peace including concerts, art work, theatre and sporting activities are held, highlighting the Tour-de-Timor as a celebration of peace. UN Photo/Antoninho Bernardino.

In this briefing, our second in a series on prevention at the UN, we describe nationally led approaches to building resilience and reducing risk, based on field research in Timor-Leste and Tunisia, as well as examples from a number of other countries, including the Gambia and Norway.

The focus is on “targeted” prevention, in which countries identify their key risks and protective factors, and then build a strategy around them. We then identify concrete opportunities for international accompaniment and support to these processes.

Read the full paper Nationally led Prevention: Practical Examples of Approaches to Risk and Resilience.pdf

More in the prevention series:

More in the Prevention Series

  • Publication: Policy Brief August 29, 2019 Prevention at the United Nations

    Creating the Political Space for Prevention: How ECOWAS Supports Nationally Led Strategies

    This policy brief examines how ECOWAS has successfully addressed the concerns of their member states in West Africa to build nationally led, upstream prevention strategies. ECOWAS’ upstream prevention approaches support national sovereignty by putting the ownership of early response and structural prevention in the hands of national actors.

  • Publication: Policy Brief August 30, 2019 Prevention at the United Nations

    Breaking the Silos: Pragmatic National Approaches to Prevention

    In this policy briefing, our fifth in our series on prevention at the UN, we draw on examples from Côte d’Ivoire and Timor-Leste to illustrate how countries have developed integrated actions on prevention that cut across sectors, including security, development, and human rights. We then highlight options for the UN to better support these strategies through cross-pillar approaches and identify practical ways forward for governments implementing prevention approaches.

  • Publication: Report August 31, 2019 Pathfinders

    Development and Prevention: National Examples of Linkages

    This paper highlights practical examples of how countries are using development tools for preventive purposes. We draw on field research from Colombia, where there has been a high degree of creative and innovative initiatives to address violence, as well as presentations for the voluntary national reviews on SDG16 at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

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