FAQ

Beyond bringing actors together around discussions and debates, the Paris Peace Forum aims to inspire new ideas and foster their progressive development by advancing concrete projects and launching new initiatives.

Annual Call for Projects: A Call for Projects is launched each Spring. It is open to organizations worldwide carrying an international coordination project. The Selection Committee, which examines the applications, consists of experts from leading international institutions.

Presentation at the annual Forum: After the Call for Projects, 100 projects are selected to be showcased during three days at the Forum. Selected governance projects are placed at the center of the Forum – forming a global village dedicated to action – and represent a community of project leaders committed to finding and implementing concrete solutions.

At the end of each Forum, 10 projects are chosen from the showcased projects to benefit from year-long implementation support at an international scale. The Scale-up Committee, which gives its support to the projects, consists of experienced and influential personalities chosen from the Forum’s community.

>> To submit your project, apply to our annual online call for projects.

>> For more information on the projects showcased at the Forum, see the 100 Selected Projects for 2020.

>> For more information on the Scale-up Projects, see the 2019-2020 Scale-up Projects and the 2018-2019 Scale-up Projects.

>> For more information on the achievements of the scale-up projects, read the 2018-2019 scale-up Committee Progress Report and the 2018-2019 scale-up project brochure.

To take part in the next annual Forum as a project leader, please apply to the Call for Projects.

The Call for Projects to showcase your project at the 2020 Forum opened on 12 March 2020, and closed on 24 June 2020.

The list of Selected Projects is available on our website.

All organizations leading international coordination projects whose interest and action aim to tackle a contemporary global challenge are invited to apply to the Call for Projects:

• States and governments
• Local and regional governments
• Parliamentary committees
• International organizations
• Non-profit organizations (NGOs, international NGOs, associations, charities)
• Private sector (companies, private banks, for-profit organizations)
• Foundations and philanthropies
• Development agencies and banks
• Media
• Religious organizations
• Think tanks
• Trade unions or professional organizations
• Universities or research institutes
• Civil society organizations as a whole

Applications must be submitted either in French or in English.

Please note that applications submitted in any other languages than English or French will not be examined.

Projects are at the very heart of the Forum:

Before the Forum: A Call for Projects is launched to identify concrete initiatives addressing the current global challenges and led by organizations from all over the world

During the Forum: The projects are showcased in stands and/or discussed in debates with policymakers, elected officials, experts and other stakeholders. The Forum’s program revolves around the event’s six major themes as well as the issues addressed by the projects

After the Forum: 10 of the most relevant and promising international coordination projects are selected to receive year-long support.

At the annual Forum, project leaders will have the opportunity to:

• Present their project by giving a pitch or engaging with heads of state and government and leaders of organizations at their own stand or via our digital platform.
• Confront and exchange ideas on various international coordination themes with key actors from regions and organizations worldwide.
• Increase the visibility of their project thanks to the presence of thousands of visitors and extensive media coverage of the event.
• Connect with potential partners such as business executives, philanthropists, and experts in the event’s networking spaces.

Projects must meet the 6 following cumulative conditions to be eligible:

1. 1. The project must be presented by an organization, not by an individual person.
   2. The project must be managed by a team of at least 2 persons who can present the project at the Forum if request by the organizers. Given the Coronavirus-related health restrictions, project leaders can take part in the Forum via a dedicated digital platform. They must be available online throughout the duration of the event.
   3. The project must propose an innovative solution to address a global challenge either through:
      1. A normative project: Creation of new norms, ISO or global standards, legal tools, soft law instruments, indices, indicators, rankings, best practices, etc.
      2. An organizational project: Proposal of innovative institutions; models; approaches, mechanisms; methodologies; organizational tools, etc.
   4. The project must fit into one of the Forum’s six themes: Peace & Security, Environment, Development, New technologies, Inclusive economy, or Culture & Education
   5. The project must offer a cooperative approach: Ideally, the governance solution put forward by the project involves various stakeholders.
   6. The project must have reached a certain level of advancement: It can either be under development or already implemented. The idea is to show that the project has already reached a level of growth, both in content and progression, and that it is no longer at an embryonic stage.

The following projects are not considered eligible:

• Projects addressing solely local or national governance issues with no scaling-up potential, or which cannot be replicated in other contexts or regions.
• Academic research papers or presentation of new ideas lacking an organizational framework or concrete action plan to realize them.
• Projects at an embryonic stage or which cannot realistically be implemented soon.
• Presentations of a whole program, general advocacy campaigns or fundraising campaigns, which do not propose a concrete action plan, solution, or tool to tackle a global challenge.

>> For concrete examples, please see the 100 Selected Projects for 2020 and the 2019-2020 Scale-up Projects

>> For further information, please read the rules of the 2020 Call for Projects.

The relevance and overall quality of the projects will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• The political relevance of the tackled challenge.
  • Does the project address a politically relevant international coordination issue?
• The scope of the impact of the proposed solution or tool.
  • Does the project have the potential to make a difference (change of practices, legislative reforms, political commitments, strengthening the protection of beneficiaries, etc.)?
  • Does the project provide a sustainable solution?
  • Will the project lead to positive results?
• The potential for development, expansions, or replication of the proposed solution or tool.
  • Does it have an international reach?
  • Can the project be replicated or translated in other regions or contexts (taking its methodology, the issues addressed, and the results obtained into consideration)?
• The innovative character of the proposed solution or tool.
  • Does the project suggest the creation of new norm, a new organizational framework, or a new tool to tackle the identified challenge?
  • Does is present a new way of rethinking the established order?
• The diversity and number of the stakeholders involved.
  • Does the project gather different governance actors (states, NGOs, companies, etc.) allowing them to collaborate and interact?
• The feasibility of the proposed solution or tool.
  • Is the project realistic and sustainable in the medium and long term?
  • Are its objectives clear and reasonably achievable soon?
• The capacity of the proposed solution or tool to serve the common interest.
  • Is the project a vehicle for change of benefit for the greatest number?
  • Does it establish a good practice, a new norm, an organizational framework, or a regulation that has capacity to be of benefit for all at the international level?

Also considered will be a balance in terms of:

• Geography: balanced representation of all regions of the world.
• Organizations: balanced representation of the various international coordination stakeholders.
• Themes: balanced representation of the Forum’s six themes.

>> For concrete examples, please see the 100 Selected Projects for 2020 and the 2019-2020 Scale-up Projects

>> For further information, please read the rules of the 2020 Call for Projects.

The Forum is dedicating its third edition to projects and initiatives from around the world aimed at providing immediate responses to the Coronavirus crisis, improving our medium-term resilience, and rebuilding a more sustainable world.

The third edition of the Forum will therefore focus on:

• Improving global health governance
• The use and regulation of digital tools and platforms developed to respond to the crisis
• Supporting civil society and economic activity in times of pandemic

In addition to the main priorities of its third edition devoted to responses to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Forum continues to support and assist projects in the following areas:

1. Constructing more solid security architectures
2. Reconciling development finance with climate efforts
3. Crafting sustainable capitalism
4. Protecting the oceans
5. Making outer space safe and sustainable
6. Securing cyberspace
7. Regulating the use of data and AI
8. Enhancing the governance of education
9. Ensuring gender equality
10. Improving access to clean water

Applications must be submitted online only, via the digital platform.

Project leaders must provide the mandatory information and fill in the online form as precisely as possible. Please note that the intrinsic relevance and quality of the applications will be assessed based on this information alone.

The Forum reserves the right to contact applicants in order to obtain any clarification deemed useful and to request any documents deemed necessary.

>> For concrete examples, please see the 100 Selected Projects for 2020 and the 2019-2020 Scale-up Projects

>> For further information, please read the rules of the 2020 Call for Projects

An international coordination project proposes a concrete solution to strengthen global governance and/or alleviate a governance deficit in one of the Forum’s six themes.

A governance project must address a global challenge:

• Management of common goods: health, oceans, space, cyberspace, etc.
• New areas in need of regulation: artificial intelligence, Internet, etc.
• Urgent challenges that transcend borders: combating pandemics, climate change, migration, terrorism, etc.

An international coordination project must provide a concrete solution, either:

1. A normative solution: Creation of new norms, ISO or global standards, legal tools, soft law instruments, indices, indicators, rankings, best practices, etc.
2. An organizational solution: Proposal of innovative institutions; models; approaches, mechanisms; methodologies; organizational tools, etc.

An international coordination project must have a cooperative dimension and have an impact:

• Involve different stakeholders.
• Create lasting change.
• Have broad results and beneficiaries.

>> For concrete examples, please see the 100 Selected Projects for 2020 and the 2019-2020 Scale-up Projects

>> For further information, please read the rules of the 2020 Call for Projects.

No. It is of charge to participate in the Call for Projects.

We do not respond to information requests on the outcome of applications until the entire selection process is complete.

The Selection Committee will convene 23 July 2020, and Selected Projects aill be announced in August.

If your project has been selected, you will need to confirm your participation in the annual Forum.

You will be informed of the specific process, timeline and steps required to confirm your participation.

You will need to communicate the names of the persons who will present the project at the Forum. The project team must consist of at least two people and a maximum of five people. However, given the current health situation, the Paris Peace Forum will only be able to deliver two accreditations per day to the project team in order to respect health and safety restrictions.

Please note that the Forum will pay particular attention to gender balance among the project representatives coming to Paris. Should this balance not be met, project leaders will be required to provide an explanation.

Please send us the information and visual elements to be displayed on your stand and the digital platform for approval, in compliance with the timeline and deadlines you were given.

Upon announcement of the Selected Projects, project leaders will receive an email detailing the elements they need to submit for the customization of their physical stand and their virtual stand on the digital platform. These elements will be approved by the Forum before being sent off for production.

To finalize their participation in the annual Forum, project leaders attending the event in Paris in person must pay a €2,000 participation fee. This fee covers:

• The presentation of your project in the form of a virtual stand, including all the customization content provided upstream (text, visuals, and video(s)).
• A maximum of 5 “project leader” accreditations giving you access, via the digital platform, to the entire program of the 2020 Paris Peace Forum, as well as the possibility to interact with all participants and propose networking sessions.
• At least one speaking slot to pitch the project and to interact with their audience via a dedicated tool.

>> For further information on the participation fees, please read the rules of the 2020 Call for Projects.

Should Selected Project leaders be unable to cover, directly or through external funding, the expenses related to the participation of their project in the Forum, they may request financial support from the Paris Peace Forum. Any request for financial support must be backed by a specific and motivated request and submitted in accordance with the process determined by the Paris Peace Forum and shared with the project leaders.

We will carefully consider each request and may ask project leaders for additional documents or information.

We cannot guarantee all requests for financial support will be approved. In some cases, partial financial support may be offered.

We will give priority to requests related to projects operating under limited financial resources, and/or to requests from project leaders who will have to mobilize a significant amount of resources to come to Paris.

The Forum will cover neither the organization nor the costs relating to your stay in Paris. To help prepare your trip, we recommend looking for information on the Paris Tourist office official website.

Yes. On 12 and 13 November, lunches will be provided for project leaders on site for the duration of the event only.