Peace Insight profiles local peacebuilding initiatives that operate in locations around the world. These can range from very small, informal initiatives, to larger NGOs.
This page outlines the criteria and principles that are be used when selecting the initiatives that can be profiled on Peace Insight. These principles and criteria are divided into the following categories:
- Peacebuilding work
- Types of initiative, organisation, or group
- Local leadership
Peacebuilding work
All initiatives that are profiled on Peace Insight must be clearly involved in peacebuilding. We use the definition from the ‘Reflecting on Peace Practice’ project. They define peacebuilding as actions in two main areas:
- Stopping Violence and Destructive Conflict: When agencies work to end war, their programs are aimed at ending cycles of violence which become a cause for continued war, getting warring sides to negotiate and fighters to disarm, mobilizing the public against continued war, etc.
- Building Just and Sustainable Peace: When agencies focus on supporting social change, their programs are focused on addressing political, economic, and social grievances that may be driving conflict. Such changes are seen as foundations for sustainable peace.
(Confronting War: Critical Lessons for Peace Practitioners, p12)
All initiatives profiled on Peace Insight should therefore working toward one of these goals.
We recognise that many initiatives undertake a wide range of functions. Peace Insight will include any group that feature peacebuilding as a central part of their work, goals, and mission, over a consistent period of time.
We need to be sure that any group that features on Peace Insight is making a genuine contribution to peacebuilding. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that a group takes a name that makes them appear committed to peace, but in actual fact favours or represents only one group in a conflict situation. We need to be sure that any group we include is committed to a just and sustainable peace for all communities.
Types of initiative, organisation, or group
Peace Insight does not aim to show peacebuilding activity from every type of actor in a conflict – we are not for example showing work undertaken by governments.
The groups featured on Peace Insight should all be part of what is usually called ‘civil society’, meaning social organisations and institutions in a society, excluding the state and the market.
Peace Insight will not profile the work of individuals. All initiatives must involve some kind of collective endeavour.
Beyond this, this is no strict requirements on the type of group that can will be profiled on Peace Insight. For example, the following types of groups can be included:
- Registered and unregistered NGOs
- Community-based organisations
- Informal networks
- Trade Unions
- Faith-based groups
Local leadership
The main focus of Peace Insight is to show the work done by local people. As a general rule we will not profile the work of peacebuilding initiatives based outside of the country the projects are directed at, or are not founded/led by local people
We recognise that in there can be good reasons to make exception to this general rule. For example, initiatives that must operate from abroad because of security concerns, or groups that have been founded in partnership with international NGOs and have since evolved to be truly locally-led.