ACT Global Alliance
Capacity Building Support
Act for Peace formed ACT Alliance’s Protection Working Group (PWG) in March 2009. Since then, James Thomson, Act for Peace’s Associate Policy and Advocacy Director, has chaired the working group, providing strategic leadership and direction along with technical assistance, advice and training to ACT Alliance in order to strengthen the protection capacity of its members.
The working group has already had considerable success, mobilising support for protection from ACT and strengthening ACT member community-based protection programs for conflict and disaster-affected populations.
Act for Peace has played a key role on the PWG, including co-drafting and facilitating the first ACT Alliance Regional Protection Workshop for 40 ACT members from 12 key East African conflict countries. Act for Peace is now organising a second ACT Regional Protection Workshop in Bangkok, developing a protection train-the-trainer program and drafting an ACT-specific Protection Manual.
Advocacy Support
Based on Act for Peace’s long-standing international protection advocacy experience, James Thomson, Act for Peace’s Associate Policy and Advocacy Director, has also been invited to represent ACT Alliance in key international protection forums such as the Executive Committee and Standing Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs, UNHCR Global Protection Retreat; High Commissioners Dialogue, the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee Global Protection Cluster and the forthcoming Ministerial Meeting of State Parties to the Refugee and Statelessness Conventions.
Act for Peace has also been an active member of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Global Ecumenical Network on Migration, a global network of WCC members focused on migration and refugee programs and advocacy that meets annually.
For more information on this work, please contact James Thomson, Associate Policy and Advocacy Director on 1800 025 101 or jthomson@ncca.org.au.
