1. HELSINKI REPORT 2015: Innovations in Dialogue and Peacebuilding
Emerging “Common Spaces” and Safety Nets
In the days following the tragic suicide bombings in Beirut and the horrific attacks in Paris in mid-
November, peacebuilders from 12 countries met in Helsinki to share and jointly reflect on their peace
and dialogue initiatives. The common thread was their creation of safe spaces and safety nets – known
as “Common Spaces.” These spaces serve multiple purposes, from hosting confidential dialogues
among leaders in deeply divided societies to supporting formal negotiations in peace and
constitutional reform processes. With the emergence of these sustained dialogue initiatives following
long periods of civil war or during intractable conflicts, we are witnessing the creation of
groundbreaking joint mechanisms that simultaneously help catalyze, accompany and support
fundamental political and social change processes in divided societies.
The Peace Appeal Foundation has been privileged to be a partner with, and technical adviser to, many
of these initiatives since their inception, including Sri Lanka’s One Text Initiative, Lebanon’s Common
Space Initiative, the Nepal Transition to Peace Institute, the Cyprus Dialogue Forum and a remarkable
seven Common Spaces developing in Burma.
Though each of these spaces is unique, they share multiple attributes. All are a response to many of
the same factors: the failures of existing governing bodies and constitutional frameworks, the
competing interests of major stakeholder groups, and the breakdown of communication among
parties their countries.
These spaces host and support various types of joint work aimed at building common understandings
about many of the most divisive, polarizing issues in their societies. Through knowledge-based
dialogues (as opposed to positional negotiating) these “safe spaces” are designed to surface new ideas
and to develop, through consensus, plans for a path forward.
The One Text Initiative in Sri Lanka was founded in 2003 as a confidential multi-party negotiations
process following the breakdown of the official negotiations. It has facilitated more than 120 joint
understandings over the past 13 years and survived seven governments and a brutal civil war. Today, it
is the only established space for permanent multi-stakeholder dialogue processes – managed and fully
owned by the stakeholders themselves.
In Nepal, for more than 10 years, the NTTP Forum and its
national facilitators served an essential role when various
formal national negotiations failed, playing a key facilitation
role in the country’s ceasefire negotiations, and the drafting
of its historic Comprehensive Peace Accord. Today, it
provides the space where stakeholders, including top level
ministers and civil society representatives, meet to work
jointly on addressing ongoing governing challenges, new
emerging conflicts, and issues related to the implementation
of its new constitution.
Sajana Maharjan of Nepal in consultation with
Thusitha Tennakoon of Sri Lanka.

2. The Common Space Initiative in Beirut was created in 2009 to provide technical support to the formal
National Dialogue among Lebanese political leaders and evolved to support Track 1.5 policy dialogues
among a much broader group of actors. It served as a safety net and managed to convene all political
stakeholders around root cause issues when the formal talks broke down. The Common Space hosted
the negotiations of the framework and fundamental elements of what became the Baabda Declaration
– Lebanon’s policy of dissociation from the regional conflicts. Today, it supports policy dialogues
around Lebanon’s structural issues, local peace building initiatives in Syria, as well as regional
reflections and policy dialogues among stakeholders in the Arab world.
In Burma, seven Common Spaces have evolved in its
various ethnic states since 2013. They serve as informal
dialogue spaces to engage multiple levels of society in
the peace process, provide support to regional
dialogues and negotiations, and to support the
upcoming formal National Dialogue, which will include
thousands of participants throughout the country.
These several evolving common spaces, together with
national facilitators, have played a central role in
supporting the drafting of the Nationwide Ceasefire
Agreement, the Deed of Commitment and the common
elements of the Framework for Political Dialogue.
In Cyprus, the relatively new Cyprus Dialogue Forum,
located in the buffer zone, has brought together for the
first time 94 organizations, labor unions and political
parties from both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot
communities. It complements the official negotiation of
the island’s two presidents by engaging a broader
spectrum of the society in the dialogue, both raising
public awareness about the negotiations process as well
as support for the hoped for (and much anticipated)
agreement. The forum has already facilitated numerous
common understandings on issues critical to the success
of the negotiations and peace process.
Each of these dialogues spaces in each of these countries has a remarkable story to tell. They have
generated policy proposals, national agreements, and fostered constructive relationships leading to
breakthroughs in their countries’ long running conflicts. They have also struggled against immense
odds, from suffering tragic political violence (including the death and imprisonment of their members
in some cases) to contending with inadequate and occasionally inept international support.
In the 13 years since the emergence of the first of these common spaces in Sri Lanka, the idea has
taken root in numerous other locales. These common space structures and associated processes are
never the same in any two instances. Their development is determined by the dynamics of the conflict,
the extent to which relationships between groups within their societies are broken, the capabilities
and failures of existing constitutional mechanisms, and the innovation of their stakeholders. These
processes represent the best of what national peacebuilding efforts should entail – locally created,
national institutions and processes that are supported, not directed, by international donors.
Maria Zeniou of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum with Sanna
Tasala of the United Nations Development Program.
Thuzar Thant, Coordinator of common spaces, Euro-Burma
Office & Myo Yan Naung Thein, Director, BAYDA Institute.