Dialogue and Best Practice International Forum 2016
“Peace – Stability – Prosperity”

November 3rd, 2016, at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU), Lebanon

Values and Outcomes 

The United Nations, founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” has failed in its core mission. The capacity of the Security Council to fully implement its Charter and assume its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security to localized conflict has proved unsatisfactory; hence, the need for this universal center to foster dialogue under the UN umbrella. The Lebanon Dialogue Initiative (LDI) is an added value to worldwide dialogue efforts through its objective to convince the United Nations to designate Lebanon as ‘land of dialogue among civilizations and cultures,’ and to establish a universal center for dialogue to address and solve disputing problems.  It is disheartening to witness the upheavals happening around the world, particularly in the Middle East. We strongly believe that the only course of action is to harness every possibility for dialogue for the sake of all concerned.

The LDI forum titled, “Dialogue and Best Practice: Peace, Stability, and Prosperity,” addresses conflicts, but more importantly best practices in dialogue. The first added value of the forum is that it is taking place in a developing country, in the most turbulent part of the world, and in one of the world’s most committed country to pluralism, conviviality, and dialogue. A second added value is emphasizing the role of the youth in dialogue and their best practices, and lessons learned from their own activities across the earth’s five continents.

A third added value is the use of social media and current communication platforms to spread the knowledge learned through its sessions to a global audience, which includes most of the organizations that deal with dialogue, peacebuilding, reconciliation and the like.

In this age of extraordinary connectivity and communication, the participating dialogue ‘audience’ is no longer a small circle of diplomats, experts, government officials, and academicians involved in "dialogue"; this "audience" —polylogue— has increased to an unfathomed worldwide numbers of people from all walks of life who form a soft power that can sway international opinion. The LDI uses this ‘polylogue’ as vehicle to spread awareness and garner support.

The LDI believes that wars and peace are no longer won on the battlefield or through formal diplomacy only; rather, through multiple methods of raising awareness, petitioning, and swaying opinions of multiple audiences. As such “it is the broad narrative that has to be won” especially as pressures need to be exhorted on nations of the world to place peace, stability, economic development, and prosperity above territorial or political rivalry to genuinely advance the cause of human progress.

The LDI forum outcomes will be:
• Acknowledging dialogue as the only means to “permanent peace and reconciliation";
• Acknowledging the role of the UN in dialogue [and its particular agencies tasked with ensuring dialogue, such as UNESCO in particular in the areas of education; and the UNDP in development;
• Highlighting the points of disagreement in the conflict case;
• Highlighting best practices/lessons learned in dialogue;
• Advancing youth knowledge , and the encouraging youth civic engagement and participation in the dialogue process;
• Spearheading media, social media, and communication campaigns pre- and post–forum;
• Publishing forum proceedings in booklet format.