GPPAC South Asia welcomes Dr. Mallika Joseph who took office as the seventh Executive Director of RCSS on 1 January 2012. In this capacity, Dr. Joseph will also be acting as the Regional Representative for South Asia at the GPPAC International Steering Group (ISG). She can be reached at mallikajoseph@gmail.com

GPPAC South Asia bids farewell to Prof. Amal Jayawardane who ended his three year tenure as Executive Director and is returning to his substantive post as Professor of International Relations at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. GPPAC South Asia extends its sincere thanks to Prof. Jayawardane for his invaluable contribution to the development and strengthening of the GPPAC network and wishes him every success in all his future endeavours. He can be contacted via amaljaya2000@yahoo.co.uk.

The Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) in collaboration with the GPPAC South Asia Secretariat organized a roundtable titled "Building Bridges and Promoting People to People Interaction in South Asia"in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 23 to 24 October 2011. The inauguration of the roundtable was held on 23 October and was graced by H.E. Uz. Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, the Secretary General of SAARC. Click here for more details.

 

The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, as a member of the The Consortium of South Asian Think-Tanks (COSATT), launched the COSATT recommendations on "Energy & Environmental Security: A Cooperative Approach in South Asia. The launch which was organized in collaboration with the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) of Sri Lanka was held on 11 November 2011 in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

 

 

The Centre for Security Analysis (CSA) in collaboration with the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) organized a seminar titled Sri Lanka: Post-Conflict Rebuilding of Society on the 27-28 of September 2011 at the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel. The seminar was the third in a series of yearly joint conferences on the theme of Sri Lanka's conflict, organized by the CSA and RCSS since 2009.

 

 

• India

The Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) organized a special lecture series focusing on the theme of Globalization and Peace on 30 September 2011 in Kozhikode, Kerala. The first lecture titled "Globalization and Peace" was conducted by Dr. Venktraman while the second lecture titled "Women and Peace Building: More than Victims" was conducted by Ms. Maria Waldvogel.

Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), United Nations Information Centre, and Control Arms Foundation of India organized an event on "Women, Peace and Disarmament" to mark the International Day of Peace and to honour women-led initiatives for peace and humanitarian disarmament in South Asia. The conference was held on 21 September 2011 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at UN Conference Hall in New Delhi.

 

• Nepal

Youth Forum members of Didibahini were involved in a discussion series with the students of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at Tribhuvan University, Global College. Furthermore, members visited six public schools in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur where Didibahini volunteers and UNV will jointly celebrated peace day with students.