ICO Vienna Centre
The ICO Vienna Centre is a nonpartisan and independent hub dedicated to innovative research, policy development, and capacity building, with a strong focus on minority rights prevention in conflict.
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As intrastate conflicts grow more prevalent, many are driven by the grievances of minority groups facing exclusion and discrimination. In response, the ICO Vienna Centre aims to create an environment that fosters the development of innovative ideas, approaches, and tools; as well as provide minority communities with platforms to voice their concerns and advocate for their rights. The ultimate goal is to achieve tangible outcomes that contribute to lasting peace and reconciliation.
The ICO Vienna Centre is the home for International communities Organisation's work globally. ICO has been working for peace and reconciliation in frozen intra-state conflicts where minority rights issues are ignored since 2016.
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The ICO Vienna centre offers support to movement and groups. ICO works to give people who believe they do not have the opportunity to express their cultural rights, political and economic rights, a platform to express their self-development claims peacefully.
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As result of its track record, ICO was granted special consultative status for the United Nations Economic and Social Council with mandate to continue its work as an advocate for minority rights and bringing conflict parties together for constructive dialogue and diplomacy. The ICO Vienna Centre is the place to continue and expand non this work.​
The Centre is a site where all parties can come together from diaspora members to representatives of governments so that tangible outcomes for the achievement of peace can be realised.
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By making resources as well expert advice available to them, we hope to give communities a platform so that they are heard and taken seriously. To achieve this, we work to continuously develop best practices in accordance with international law and to look for innovative solutions so that compromises can be reached. At ICO we believe that peace and stability are crucial for communities to thrive and for future generations to prosper.
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The objectives of the institute is to facilitate discussion, encourage interdisciplinary research, build strong networks, impact policy, increase access to training, and invest in communities.
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The Seeds of Peace Fellowship, launched by ICO as part of the ICO Vienna Centre's research efforts, focuses on assessing the potential long-term impact of ICO's on-the-ground programmes. These programmes, co-created with local communities, seek to foster peace and reconciliation relying on innovative approaches in key areas such as gender equality, minority inclusion in decision-making, public institutional capacity building, intercommunal dialogue, bicommunal mobilisation, the creation of local institutions, and investment.
Fellows will be tasked with researching and projecting the long-term of these programmes and identifying the conditions necessary for sustaining their impact. This research will not only highlight the long term impact of ICO’s work but also identify key drivers of success that can be applied to other contexts. The ultimate goal is to contribute new tools and insights to the field of conflict transformation, helping to advance peacebuilding efforts worldwide.