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On 8 and 9 October, 2009, I was fortunate to participate in a lively discussion on issues of conflict and development between leaders from countries affected by conflict and academics in Berlin. This group of practitioners and experts had been brought together as part of an event jointly organized by the World Bank and Germany's InWent to generate thinking at the early stages of the WDR development process. What made this event unique for us was the frank and constructive dialogue between two groups of participants that often work in separate realms: on the one hand leaders that had grappled with difficult issues in conflict in their daily lives, such as Timor-Leste's Minister of Finance or the Governor of Afghanistan's Bamyan province, and on the other hand leading academics in the field of conflict analysis.
In the run up to the event, we had some worries about how such a diverse group would mix—would leaders listen to academics? Would experience bear out theory—and would a group this diverse identify common themes or only a mosaic of problems? In the end, we spent two days in rich and deep discussions. The exchange between and among leaders and academics combined theoretical frameworks and empirical analysis with a rich description of how these issues play out in practice. This sharing of experience was an ideal starting point for the WDR: the desire to do better by learning from and connecting with diverse communities to enhance our understanding of conflict. The interviews of some of the participants at this event should give a good sense of the discussions we had:
