We are excited to share a collection of nine Insights developed through a global public online consultation and in-depth discussions with peacebuilders on the ground.
Our nine insights were created from the global online consultation on Engaging Women in Post Conflict Economic and Political Decision-Making from May to June 2020.
“Organic gardening was chosen as a medium for people to repair their relation, prepare for a better future. Trust was the first element to restore. Throughout the process of organic farming, each individual, women and men and children, provided a space to release their wounded, and find a more peaceful way to continue life.”
– Global Online Consultation Participant
Some of the most effective peacebuilding initiatives have created places for shared investment between former conflict parties in communities, such as community gardens or agricultural collectives.
In many communities, women are doing the everyday work of peacebuilding by forging ties across lines of former conflict and helping de-escalate conflicts.
These platforms share four characteristics:
They are non-hierarchical and non-threatening to political factions.
They provide a shared common good (e.g. food).
They represent investing in a shared future and sense of belonging in communities.
They act as safe spaces for different sides of the community to get to know and humanize each other.
OPPORTUNITIES
Identify platforms for shared community investment that fit the four characteristics and invest in enabling them.
Reconstruct the narrative around these shared investments as active peacebuilding initiatives to combat perceptions that they are peripheral or non-essential.
