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Regional & Subregional Organizations

Key partnerships and cooperation agreements have been established with regional and sub-regional organizations as well as specialised institutions to improve MSU support to mediation initiatives.

Regional, sub-regional and other international organizations play a central role in preventing, managing and resolving conflicts. The United Nations (UN) Department of Political Affairs has prioritized working with such organizations and providing support to those seeking to establish or strengthen their mediation capacities.

Several institutional partnerships have been established in the area of preventive diplomacy and mediation, with modalities being tailored to the needs, mandates and requirements of the respective partner organization.

The character of the partnerships range from comprehensive multi-year programmes, containing institutionalized cooperation procedures such as desk-to-desk interactions, to more flexible work plans or specific activities without a need to formalize the relationship, and can include joint deployments. All partnerships aim at strengthening the mediation capacities of these organizations, as well building linkages which allow for more coherent and complementary approaches in specific mediation processes.


Collaboration and partnership among different actors involved in mediation is essential. In an effort to promote information sharing and coordination among different organizations, the Mediation Support Unit has also contributed to the establishment of a network among mediation specialists of regional, sub-regional and other international organizations.

This initiative was conceived at the 2010 retreat of the Secretary-General with the head of regional organizations.

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