Alliance for Peacebuilding

Learning & EvidenceAfP is leading the peacebuilding field through our cutting-edge Learning & Evidence (L&E) work to embrace a more adaptive and rigorous evaluative culture to prove impact and understand what works. We use our technical capacity in L&E to support AfPs strategic fieldbuilding efforts.Creating standards of practice: AfP is raising the bar for peacebuilding practice by setting minimal standards for peacebuilding DM&E across the field. We build on existing efforts to validate these standards and work towards adopting and integrating them across the field through our training and skills-building opportunities.Advancing Standards in Peacebuilding Research Ethics: AfP works to build a foundation for establishing field-wide standards in peacebuilding research ethics by developing a chapter entitled Why the Peacebuilding Field Needs Clear and Accessible Standards of Research Ethics, detailing AfPs six practical standards for ethically-informed research in the Oxford University Press book, Wicked Problems: The Ethics of Action for Peace, Rights, and Justice. Eirene Peacebuilding Database: Eirene is a pioneering effort to map indicators across the peacebuilding field to help peacebuilders better assess their work and measure impact. The #CreativityInCrisis video series: The #CiC video series highlights innovation and creative DM&E solutions to challenges encountered in the peacebuilding field. Inter-Religious Action (IRA): AfP is a global leader in fostering better design and evidence-based evaluation for IRA in peacebuilding strengthening not only individual DM&E capacities but working toward changing the culture of evaluation and shared learning. In collaboration with our partners, the L&E team co-hosts capacity building and joint learning initiatives.Developing an evidence base: AfP works to develop a peacebuilding evidence base to ensure better policies and practices for our field. We create and curate evidence on peacebuilding practices to support field-wide achievement of shared outcomes through our pioneering research efforts. Our research involves AfP-led, joint, or collaborative efforts, focused on identifying and addressing current peacebuilding research gaps.Pioneering research: AfP research focuses on identifying where peacebuilding programming has directly correlated to peacebuilding outcomes. This allows the field to better ground programming and policy efforts. An example from 2022 includes, Assessing the State of U.S. Democracy, Rule of Law, and Social Cohesion. This report presents the results of a survey of 160+ leading peacebuilding and conflict experts evaluating US conflict dynamics.Disseminating new research: We host our quarterly Research Talks with L&E blog highlighting new evidence from across the HDP fields in short, practical, syntheses. Sharing best practices and new research helps us create better standards and develop an evidence base to ensure better policies and practices as part of our L&E fieldbuilding efforts. Advocating for game-changing policies: Through our strong policy network, extensive experience, and pioneering research, we work to shift peacebuilding norms, advocate for evidence-informed policies and standards that make peacebuilding and conflict prevention the proven and preferred approach to preventing conflict, reducing violence, and building sustainable peace globally. Integrating Faith Actors in U.S. Policies and Programming: AfP hase made great strides to include faith actors and faith-based organizations in key policies and Congressional and Executive Branch engagement. Our policy and advocacy efforts have highlighted the necessity of engaging with faith actors as part of an inclusive, participatory, whole-of-society approach to build more peaceful and resilient communities through development of events, advocacy and learning products.Accelerating collective action: AfP believes knowledge sharing at scale is crucial to advance peacebuilding. Our joint-learning initiatives are grounded in the belief that to change a culture, you need to provide safe spaces to share successes and failures, promote learning of what is and is not working, and identify gaps in knowledge, evidence, and practice.Ensuring Peer Learning: In partnership with Porticus, AfP works to advance the field of IRD by facilitating a Peer Learning Community for Evaluation of Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) Initiatives (PLC). The PLC undertakes extensive, rigorous evaluations, and AfP provides accompaniment and support to capture key learnings to inform and strengthen the broader field of IRD.L&E at PeaceCon2022: AfP hosts researchers, MEL experts, academics, faith actors and organizations at PeaceCon to provide a platform for learning, improving DM&E, and advocating for MEL and IRA.

Policy & Advocacy AfP advocates and educates to ensure conflict and atrocities prevention, violence reduction, and peacebuilding best practices and research correlate to better policies, legal frameworks, programming, and resources. Creating standards of practice: AfP is raising the bar for peacebuilding practice by creating standards to integrate conflict and peacebuilding across sectors and funding streams. Promoting Justice, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (JDEIA): AfP is committed to implementing JDEIA throughout our organization and members. AfP conducts, supports, and publishes inclusive research, most notably on leadership diversity in the peacebuilding field, and advocates for greater transparency on this issue. AfP also maintains a JDEIA digest, a compilation of recent organizational statements, research, and policy developments, and hosts member meetings to discuss promotion of JDEIA within our network. AfP recognizes Champions of Change, highlighting organizations developing and implementing practical/achievable actions promoting JDEIA. Collective action is key to promoting JDEIA, and AfP supports coalitions, including becoming a signatory of the Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Equity in Development (CREED) pledge.Integrating Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Across Sectors: To address chronic siloing and underfunding in the peacebuilding field, AfP in partnership with Saferworld and MSI, a Tetra Tech company, leads the Conflict Sensitivity and Integration Working Group to support collective efforts to integrate conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding in all sectors, laws, strategies, policies, and programming. AfP and its members also strongly advocate for integrating conflict prevention in the climate change and technology sectors by developing and publishing several policy briefs and launching communities of practice, including the Environment, Climate Change, and Conflict Working Group and the Digital Peacebuilding Community of Practice. Developing an evidence base: AfPs Policy & Advocacy team undertakes research to ensure the development and implementation of better policies and practices to prevent violent conflict and build sustainable peace. These findings are presented in practical and evidence-based policy recommendations. Stand out examples in 2022 include a globally coordinated, prevention-oriented response to the war in Ukraine, how Congress can overcome barriers to GFA implementation, and how the 118th Congress can elevate peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Advocating for game-changing policies: To unlock the fields potential and progress toward greater impact at scale, we need an enabling policy and legal environment and dedicated funding globally including from bi- and multilateral donors, private foundations, and the private sector. AfP works to build peacebuilding champions to expand and implement peacebuilding and conflict and atrocities prevention laws and policies, ensure their integration across sectors, and increase funding.Publishing Public Statements, Op-Eds, and Policy Briefs: AfP authored several op-eds and blog posts and received extensive news coverage on addressing challenges to peacebuilding, including how to advance locally-led policies and successfully implement the GFA. AfP also released numerous public statements on pressing global crises and conflict prevention from Ukraine to the GFA and funding prevention and peacebuilding. AfP published several actionable policy briefs, including a Global Call to Action on Ukraine and, in partnership with key womens rights and humanitarian organizations, two policy briefs on womens and girls rights and humanitarian needs in Afghanistan. Ensuring Robust Implementation of the Global Fragility Act (GFA): Signed into law on December 20, 2019, the GFA represents a historic victory for the peacebuilding field that puts peacebuilding and conflict prevention at the center of U.S. strategy in five priority contexts. As co-leader of the GFA Coalition, in partnership with Mercy Corps, AfP conducted extensive consultations to formulate comprehensive recommendations and published a policy brief on key operational reforms needed to successfully implement the GFA, such as addressing procurement barriers, funding earmarks, and localization.Advocating for Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Funding: AfP and its members secured significant funding in key U.S. and United Nations peacebuilding accounts for FY23, including USAIDs Democracy Fund, the State Departments Human Rights and Democracy Fund, and the Prevention and Stabilization Fund. AfP also helped increase resources for implementing the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Act.Advocating and Educating on Critical Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Issues: In 2022, AfP began preparing to assume leadership of the Prevention and Protection Working Group (PPWG), a coalition of over 100 organizations and 250 atrocity prevention experts dedicated to improving policies and advancing the atrocity prevention agenda to ensure successful implementation of legal frameworks and the development of innovative global standards.Promoting Locally-Led Peacebuilding: AfP engaged members of the 117th Congress on locally-led peacebuilding to ensure that local actors are involved in global conflict prevention efforts. AfP helped organize and provided talking points, expert recommendations, written testimony, and questions to the House Foreign Affairs Committees Subcommittee on International Development, International Organizations, and Global Corporate Social Impact for its March hearing on Shifting the Power: USAIDs Efforts to Support Locally-Led Development. AfP convened several members-only roundtables to discuss the New Partnerships Initiative Authorization Act and provided feedback to the Senate version to inform the House companion bill. AfP also provided substantial input and recommendations on USAIDs Local Capacity Strengthening Policy and created a localization workstream in the GFA Coalition.Elevating Peacebuilding Through Multilateral Engagement: AfP is a member of the Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (CSPPS) and its executive committee where AfP engages regularly with the International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS) - a high-level political dialogue forum that includes bilateral donors, G7+ members, and civil society. AfP works with key partners to submit recommendations to integrate peacebuilding and conflict prevention programming and funding to address climate change, gender inequality, and increasing violence globally before the G7 and G20 summits.Advancing a Material Support Fix: AfP leads the Material Support Working Group educating Congress to build champions for a legislative fix to the material support prohibition, which inhibits the delivery of peacebuilding and humanitarian assistance. The group crafted language and recommendations for the Department of Treasury to advance a blanket global general license for peacebuilding and humanitarian aid. Released in December 2022, a series of licenses incorporated AfPs language and included protections for peacebuilding and related activities.Accelerating collective action: AfP mobilizes the peacebuilding field through collaboration and exchange to affect change in laws, policies, and foreign policy approaches.Working Groups and Coalitions: AfPs runs membership working groups that cultivate strong alliances of experts and members to spearhead innovation, disseminate best practices, and advocate for improved policies and programs. AfP and its members, led seven working groups and coalitions in 2022, including the Global Fragility Act Coalition, the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) Working Group, the U.S. Peace, Justice, and Democracy Working Group, the Environment, Climate Change, and Conflict Working Group, the Digital Peacebuilding Community of Practice, the Conflict Sensitivity and Integration Working Group, and the Locally-Led Peacebuilding Working Group. Convening Key Events: AfP hosts various unique, highly attended convenings and knowledge exchanges on pressing issues, including addressing food insecurity as a driver of conflict, forming a collective international response to non-state armed groups, and peacebuilding in the face of increasing ecological threats. AfP also convened policy-to-action networking events, including the launches of the GFA priority countries/region and the State Departments Negotiation Support Unit. Shaping & Amplifying New Narratives

PeaceCon & Membership In 2022, AfP celebrated its 20th anniversary. Today our network has grown from a small group of peacebuilding experts to a nonpartisan network of 200+ organizations work in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and build sustainable peace. AfP in 2019 was named the number one influencer and change agent among peacebuilding institutions worldwide. AfP is an award-winning nonprofit that s works to strengthens and advances the peacebuilding fieldtackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone. Accelerating Collective Action: AfP is dedicated to strengthening its members capacity and commitment to better communicating what peacebuilding is and why it is needed now more than ever.AfP held several member capacity-building events, including How to Expand Local Expertise in the use of Emerging Technologies to Shift the Power, Using Digital Tools to Improve Child Protection, Access. Collaboration. Impact. Finding what ConnexUS, and Ethically Using Social Media Data to Inform Peacebuilding and Mediating Programming. PeaceCon@10: AfPs largest annual partnership and convenings event is our annual PeaceCon, and it is not just any conference but a gathering of changemakers and problem-solvers from around the world who come together to redefine the future. AfPs annual PeaceCon, in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace, has grown from a small retreat of a few peacebuilding leaders to the largest peacebuilding conference in the United States. In 2022, over a decade after our first conference, PeaceCon@10: COVID, Climate, and Conflict: Rising to the Challenges of a Disrupted World gathered 1,600+ participants from 120 countries, representing a dynamic cross-section of civil society, bilateral and multilateral donors, policymakers, lawmakers, philanthropy, the private sector, and academia from January 26-28, 2022. PeaceCon@10s hashtag #RiseToBuildPeace had over 21 million social media impressions, demonstrating AfPs global influence and reach. PeaceCon@10 included keynote remarks from members of the UN, U.S. Congress, and USAID. PeaceCon also featured many award ceremonies honoring key figures in the peacebuilding community including AfPs 3rd annual Peacebuilding Champion Award, the 2022 Rick Love Peace Awards, the inaugural AfP Local Peacebuilding Award, and the Melanie Greenberg U.S. Peacebuilding Award of Excellence.Developing an Evidence Base: The peacebuilding field has a problem communicating what is peacebuilding and why we need it. AfP develops a robust evidence base to better understand and identify which peacebuilding narratives are working and which are not. This helps AfP engage a cross-sector public constituency that better understands and supports peacebuilding and conflict prevention and can take practical and actionable steps to prevent and reduce conflict and build sustainable peace.In 2022, AfP, PartnersGlobal, and The FrameWorks Institute released new research on framing strategies for peace and peacebuilding. This multi-year, multi-method research gathered data from the American public and peacebuilding experts to determine which narrative frameworks best make the case for peacebuilding in foreign affairs. Shaping New Narratives: AfP forges strong cross-sectoral partnerships within and outside the peacebuilding field ensuring our members are part of the most important conversations impacting global conflict and building sustainable peace.In 2022, AfP saw tremendous growth in our social media presence amplifying peacebuilding messaging and calls to action with 68,000+ followersa net increase of almost 13,000 since 2021. AfPs Peace: We Build It! Podcast goes beyond the headlines to understand what drives conflict and how to prevent and reduce it and build sustainable peace. AfP, through its staff and members, has a vast reserve of experience and expertise that it draws upon to discuss and analyze todays most complex conflicts, and peace and security. AfP publishes and contributes to many leading media sources and is featured across many media sources. AfP also publishes press releases to share announcements, information, and statements to our community.