Gender equality and advancement of women is addressed by the Commission on the Status of Women of ECOSOC, and dozens of other governmental and non-governmental organizations. Nevertheless, disparities continue worldwide, from the glass-ceiling in the nations claiming equality principles, to more stringent issues as unequal access to education, health care and decisionmaking positions in many cultures and world regions. This study is designed to collect judgments about the answers to a list of questions.

In a review of the current state of philanthropy on the African continent, Bhekinkosi Moyo argues that African organisations are becoming progressively more autonomous from northern donors and able to pursue their own agendas. With organisations such as TrustAfrica and the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) taking the lead on independent, local solutions, the challenge remains to take a conscious political step to build the sustainability, independence and autonomy of civil society across the continent.

Systemic Conflict Transformation, or SCT, attempts to combine best practice in conflict transformation with systemic models of social relations, drawing on methodologies from various other disciplines, such as family therapy, change management, organisational development and cybernetics. In our dialogue, the exposition of a systemic approach in the context of Sri Lanka is discussed by five international experts. They reflect, among other things, on additional tools and techniques, comparative experiences in Nepal and Kenya and the general added value and utility of systemic conflict transformation.