Conversations with the people making peace.

What is possible when the people and communities most impacted by violence get to lead in building peace? And what does it take to support their leadership systemically, instead of episodically and in isolation?

Libby Hoffman and John Caulker have learned that it requires radically reimagining partnership between locals and non-locals, something they have forged in practice over the last 18 years working together to support healing and social repair in Sierra Leone (and beyond) after civil war.

A human rights activist during Sierra Leone’s civil war, John knew its affected communities intimately, and he understood that international tribunals and truth commissions couldn’t deliver the healing and social repair his country needed. Together with the communities where they worked, John and Libby co-created a new, whole-system approach to peacebuilding, grounded in the rich resources of culture and community already present.

More than 2,500 villages undertook reconciliation ceremonies rooted in the indigenous tradition of fambul tok. That work birthed lasting community engagement structures like Peace Mothers and Community Mediation Committees, which then birthed the People’s Planning Process, a new approach to economic development adopted by the Sierra Leone government.

Now, as their partnership evolves into the Heart of Africa Platform for Inside-Out Peace and Development (HOAP), they offer valuable insight for funders and practitioners seeking to catalyze similar change at a systemic level.

Libby Hoffman writes in Volume I of the Global Peace Almanac, and this conversation expands on her essay. Reading the essay beforehand is not required, but it will sharpen the discussion.

Today’s geopolitical shifts have transformed how peacemaking and peacebuilding are conducted, and who is leading the charge. Navigating that change requires a new outlook.

The Effective Peacebuilding Initiative and The Less War Initiative convene Roger Mac Ginty, Richard Gowan, and Erika Gregory for a big-picture conversation on new approaches to the complexity of today’s conflicts. Drawing on their work at Everyday Peace Indicators, the International Crisis Group, and Horizon 2045, the panel takes up the peace and security sector’s geopolitical backdrop and three pressing questions:

• How can peace and security leaders adapt to a system that no longer rests on the aspirations of democratic statemaking and multilateral agreements as a means to peace?
• What can we learn from the middle-power mediators carrying influence in today’s conflicts?
• Where are reorientation and coordination needed across the sector to reduce violent conflict and strengthen peace?

Each panelist writes in Volume I of the Global Peace Almanac, and the conversation expands on their essays. Reading them beforehand is not required, but it will sharpen the discussion.