Page 5 - Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security

Acknowledgements
This publication is a product of many people, ideas and organisations coming together through the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conlict (GPPAC), a global network of peacebuilding organisations and practitioners. The idea about taking the discussion on human security to the constituencies of peacebuilding organisations working ‘on the ground’ emerged from a Human Security Working Group meeting in 2012.
The meeting contributed to the following objectives:
• To promote and stimulate discussion about the human security approach as related
to conlict issues, raising awareness both in the policy and public domains;
• To channel voices from conlict-affected communities about what human security
means to those most needing it – and how it is deined by them;
• To provide civil society recommendations on the implementation of a human security
approach.
The participating organisations from six GPPAC regional networks formed an editorial board, which was coordinated by Jenny Aulin and Gabriëlla Vogelaar at the network’s Global Secretariat, together principle editor Kristen Wall. Based on a lexible approach to each organisation collecting the information in their respective countries, we produced the articles together through peer review, discussion and ample input from our colleagues within the network.
The editors would like to thank the authors and their respective organisations for making this publication happen, including all those involved in interviewing people or hosting focus groups, and for placing them into context for us.
We would like to express our gratitude to Alexandra Minsk, who made an invaluable contribution to the editing process and supported our team through its inal stages,
and Ingrid Peroti and the other GPPAC colleagues for diligent support in the proofreading and copy-editing process. A special thank you to Annelies Pol and her graphic design team at Pol & Pronk Ontwerp for their patience and enthusiasm and, most importantly, for their great work on the design.
Last but not least, we want to acknowledge all the people who agreed to talk
to the authors and their colleagues, and were willing share their concerns, opinions and expectations concerning human security. We hope that this publication will contribute to bringing the debate closer to their realities.
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