On 11-12 November Dr. Suphatmet Yunyasit was invited to participate in the strategic consultation meeting of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers which is based in Finland. This meeting was aimed to be a platform for the Asia’s Steering Committee Members and members of the Asia Working Group (AWG) to discuss 5-year strategic plan for the working group. It was attended by 32 leading peacebuilders from South and Southeast Asia. On the first day, Dr. Suphatmet served as one of the speakers in the session ‘Fire-Side Chat: Conflict and Peace in the Region’ in which she shared her view on the dynamics and current challenges for peacebuilding in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand, roles and achievement of the civil society sectors as well as challenges faced by those actors. Also, she shared her works related to women and youth empowerment and her views on how the Network could support peace and conflict transformation initiatives for the South. The meeting ended on 12 November and the participants discussed 4 strategic working areas: 1) research and analysis, 2) capacity building, 3) networking and 4) advocacy and 3 key working themes: 1) preventing violent extremism, 2) peace mediation, dialogue and reconciliation and 3) inclusivity in peacebuilding.
