A new name, but still NOREF
The past two years have seen significant developments at NOREF. Following a strategic shift in 2014, the focus of NOREF’s work has increasingly been on Track II diplomacy and conflict resolution, to the point where the Centre is now an operational actor in the field of mediation support and conflict diplomacy. As a result NOREF’s board’s decided to revise the Centre’s name to better reflect how it currently operates.
NOREF Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution // NOREF Senter for internasjonal konfliktløsning
The past two years have seen significant developments at NOREF. Following a strategic shift in 2014, the focus of NOREF’s work has increasingly been on Track II diplomacy and conflict resolution, to the point where the Centre is now an operational actor in the field of mediation support and conflict diplomacy. As a result NOREF’s board’s decided to revise the Centre’s name to better reflect how it currently operates.
- When the Centre started its work in 2009, providing analysis and gathering knowledge about peacebuilding trends, new actors, resources and networks in support of Norwegian foreign policy constituted its primary purpose. We were a bridge between research and policy, says NOREF director Mariano Aguirre.
The Centre will preserve “NOREF” as part of its new name, and this new name in full is NOREF Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution. This means that the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre has become history.
- The name “NOREF” has become part of our identity, and one that we want to retain. However, introducing the concept of conflict resolution into the Centre’s name better reflects where we are today. We have not abandoned our analytical capacity, but our mission has become more narrowly focused on looking for opportunities to open up political dialogue between actors in violent conflict. We are literally moving from being a peacebuilding resource centre to becoming an actor in the field of conflict resolution, says Aguirre.
Becoming a defining Track II actor
Working towards the resolution, prevention and easing of chronic armed violence is one of NOREF’s overall goals. While the concept of conflict resolution may include a broad range of activities, NOREF’s approach is, on the one hand, to open up spaces for dialogue and confidential Track II initiatives and to support Track I initiatives, while, on the other hand, it is to cooperate with Norwegian and international actors in understanding armed conflict and the complexities of modern violence.
- We are aiming to become a defining actor in Track II initiatives. We have already entered into strategic partnerships with similar actors internationally, and will continue to do so. Our new name is thus a better fit for us: It provides our stakeholders and supporters with sufficient information about what sort of Centre we are today, Aguirre concludes.
You can now visit us at www.noref.no and reach our people at firstname.lastname@noref.no
Facebook: @NOREFno
Twitter: @NOREFno
