Latest research
Peace infrastructures – assessing concept and practice
Drawing from examples from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, Colombia, Lebanon and Cyprus, to name a few, the authors discuss whether and how peace should be given “an address”—and if so, how we best can support peace infrastructures while avoiding pitfalls.
"Infrastructures for peace" is an idea that is receiving increased attention the peacebuilding sector. Peace infrastructures, the latest in the Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series, is a collection of articles exploring the concept of infrastructures for peace, and seeking to add to this discussion.
‘Local capacities for peace’ in Nepal
Overall, while the situation appeared very volatile in many parts of Nepal during May 2012, there were a significant number of local capacities working to stabilise the situation, reduce tensions and prevent violence.
During May 2012, there was an upsurge in violent conflict in Nepal. Local capacities for peace, from the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators Office in Nepal, looks at how effectively local structures responded to, and managed, conflict during this period. The report finds mixed results, and suggests areas for improvement.
The role of civil society in peacebuilding: Southeast Asia in focus
Working with civil society is indispensable to peacebuilding efforts in Myanmar. However, peacebuilding efforts are complicated by the multiplicity of actors, the relative isolation of the country and the uncertain impact that democratization might have on inter-ethnic politics - among a very long list of concerns
The role of civil society in peacebuilding, by Sol Iglesias, is a collection of five case studies of civil society involvement in peacebuilding in Southeast Asia. The paper is intended to give lessons for civil society involvement in the peace process in Burma/Myanmar. The case studies were put together for a meeting of the Civil Society Dialogue Network (CSDN). For the same meeting, Charles Petrie and Ashley South produced Mapping of Myanmar peacebuilding civil society.
EU engagement with local civil society in the Great Lakes Region
Working with local civil society is essential for achieving durable peace, but only if the EU is prepared to break the rule of associating civil society with a certain local elite and NGOs.
The European Union has signalled an aspiration to make greater use of civil society in it's peacebuilding operations. EU engagement with local civil society in the Great Lakes Region explores to what extent this is being achieved in the EU's work in the Great Lakes region.
Humanitarian Exchange no. 57: South Sudan at a crossroads
The latest edition of Humanitarian Exchange looks at the humanitarian situation in South Sudan following almost two years of independence. The collection includes articles on the drivers of ethnic conflict, the humanitarian effects of the conflict, and the peacebuilding impacts of development projects.
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'Tomorrow's Peacebuilders' competition for peacebuilders
Peace Direct believes that in every conflict there are local organisations doing remarkable work to prevent violence and build peace. And we should know – since 2004, we have sent over £2 million in funding to dozens of peacebuilding groups across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and we’ve mapped and profiled 700 more on our website Insight on Conflict. Now, we are launching ‘Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders’, a new competition to find the best emerging peacebuilding organisations. Click here for more information.
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From the blog
Developing an organisation: SPARK
SPARK is an organisation developing higher education and entrepreneurship in conflict areas. SPARK's founder, Yannick du Pont, talks about the challenges and successes experienced in building the organisation. Read more »
Impunity and Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria
The Boko Haram conflict northern Nigeria has been mostly viewed in social, economic, and religious terms. Atta Barkindo explains how the relationship between the politics of transitional justice and impunity can also offer important insights. Read more »
Stay local or scale-up – a false dichotomy?
Bonnie Koenig argues that development projects can be both locally-led and scale up, and the development community do away with outmoded ideas of who should be playing what role and how those roles will be played. Read more »
Listening to local leaders: Just more data points?
Jennifer Lentfer, from how-matters.org, argues that listening to local leaders is important not because it yields more data, but because it is the right thing to do. Read more »
Why is sexual violence so common in war?
Kirthi Jayakumar explores why sexual violence is so common during war, arguing that rape and sexual violence in conflict is not about sex or lust, but about dominance. Read more »
Mind the gender justice gap
Dan Killian, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for USAID’s Rule of Law Stabilisation Programme – Informal Component (RLS-I), looks at how the project is strengthening women’s rights and access to justice in Afghanistan. Read more »
The story of a peacemaker
Haruna Ndema is the Prime Minister of the Lugbwara Chiefdom (Kari) in West Nile, Uganda. From 2006-2008 Mr Ndema participated at the Juba Peace Talks as part of Lord’s Resistance Army delegation. Recently, Stephen Oola, Insight on Conflict’s Local Correspondent for Uganda, spoke with Haruna Ndema about the talks, and what led him to be part of the LRA delegation. Read more »
The effects of conflict are felt hardest by women and children
Tadzie Madzima-Bosha argues that women and children are often the worst affected by conflict. Therefore it is vital that women play a central role in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction.Read more »
Transitional Justice Strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina: an overview
Dr Goran Šimić looks at the proposed Transitional Justice Strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The strategy is a comprehensive framework for dealing with the legacy of human rights violations and war crimes, to build the foundations of a peaceful future.Read more »
Learning from our leaders: when conflict breeds conflict
The history of violence and issues of political suppression are well known in Zimbabwe. This article asks whether these issues are magnified through a process of emulation by the people. Read more »
