Crisis Group Special Announcement

With the International Crisis Group marking its tenth anniversary in 2005, we are taking this opportunity to make some improvements in the way in which we present ourselves, not only to our primary target audience of policy makers and those who influence them, but also to the wider general public.

For a start, we have updated our logo (viewable on our website) and livery, and this new format will now be used in all Crisis Group communications, including our reports.

You will see that the new short form of our name is Crisis Group. There are far too many baffling and easily forgettable multi-letter abbreviations and acronyms around today, and I'm afraid "ICG" has proved to be one of them: from now on, while our full name remains "International Crisis Group", the abbreviation we will be using for all purposes is "Crisis Group".

With this changeover of terminology, we have readdressed our website homepage as www.crisisgroup.org (although www.icg.org, and indeed our older addresses, will remain active). Our individual email addresses will reflect this change as well (but again the old addresses will remain active.)

To clarify Crisis Group's goals for new audiences, we have adopted the signature phrase, "working to prevent conflict worldwide", and we will describe ourselves regularly (and ask others to do likewise) as "the international conflict prevention organisation".

More substantively, we have reshaped the format of our publications. Instead of just two categories - "Reports" and "Briefings" - there will from now on be four:

• Policy Reports: like our standard present reports, with specific recommendations, 15-50 pages (and occasionally book length) as the subject matter demands, but erring on the side of brevity;
• Background Reports: scene-setting reports, not focused on detailed recommendations though often indicating preferred directions, 10-50 pages as the subject matter demands, but again erring on the side of brevity;
• Policy Briefings: shorter policy reports, 4-15 pages, sharply focused on a particular issue, often in the context of a particular event; and
• Update Briefings: short follow-ons to earlier reports, 4-15 pages, bringing analysis up to date.

None of these presentational changes will involve any change in Crisis Group's basic mission (conflict prevention and resolution worldwide) or methodology (field-based analysis, practical recommendations, advocacy at all levels).

Thank you for continuing to follow and support our work.