About the Advisory Board

The Advisory Board brings together expertise from both civil society and academia on crisis prevention and peacebuilding. It supports the implementation of the “Preventing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace” guidelines and advises the Federal Government on its work in these areas. The Advisory Board develops concepts of its own and liaises with the professional public.

The twenty members of the Advisory Board come from the fields of international cooperation and academia, and from foundations and non-governmental organisations. The board members are appointed for four years.

Back in May 2004, the Federal Government at the time passed the Action Plan for Civilian Crisis Prevention and set up the first Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention. An internal mandate was written, and the Advisory Board convened for the first time in 2005. In practice, there was an intensive specialist dialogue between the ministries and the Advisory Board twice a year.

With the adoption of the guidelines in 2017, the Advisory Board’s mandate was broadened once again, the consultations intensified and the board’s agency increased. Today, it has its own coordination office based at the zivik Funding Programme of the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V., Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations). In addition, the Foreign Office promotes the development of academic studies and events. The Advisory Board convenes four times a year in joint sessions with the Interministerial Steering Group for Civilian Crisis Prevention. This consists of the ministries of the Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, and the German Chancellery. Depending on the topic, representatives of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety also participate.

The Advisory Board takes a position on superordinate political developments and events and sets up projects of its own. It helps to organise the debates on the PeaceLab Blog. The PeaceLab brings debates about crisis prevention and peacebuilding to the public. The most important event is the annual Berlin Peace Dialogue, which brings together actors from academia, practice and politics.