ADVANCING PEACE WITH JUSTICE: AN OVERVIEW

Across our three major streams of work, the impact of the Peace Appeal emerges from the collective efforts of many individuals and institutions. Just as no political conflict can be transformed without the broad participation and commitment of multiple stakeholders, efforts to ameliorate the suffering of conflict’s victims depends on the dedication, creativity and generosity of many. Building our collective capacity to advance peace with justice requires the exchange of ideas and experience among multiple actors willing to give their time and expertise.

In the more than two decades since our founding, we have been fortunate to collaborate with remarkable peacemakers and peacebuilding institutions. Many of these collaborations are profiled in the country initiatives and partners described below. These profiles are not exhaustive, but are representative of our long-term, sustained engagements with others to advance peace with justice

“Ubuntu—the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; if we are to accomplish anything in this life it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievements of others.”—Nelson Mandela

NUMBERS

18

NATIONAL PEACE STRUCTURES
LAUNCHED

8+

NATIONALLY
NEGOTIATED
AGREEMENTS
SUPPORTED

14

NATIONAL
FACILITATORS
SUPPORTED

US $39.1 M

RAISED IN SUPPORT
OF PEACE INITIATIVES

10+

CONFERENCES ON
PEACEMAKING SUPPORTED

ENGAGEMENTS

Peace Appeal’s peacebuilding includes partnerships in Cyprus, the Middle East, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the United States & Canada, and Zimbabwe.

AREAS OF IMPACT

PARTNER WITH PEACEMAKERS

to transform social and political conflict through structured dialogue at national and local levels.

IDENTIFY & ASSIST LOCAL EFFORTS

to ameliorate the suffering of those most immediately affected by violent conflict.

BUILD OUR COLLECTIVE CAPACITY

through knowledge sharing tools and new media developed for local contexts.

Nepal – a Homegrown Peace Process

Our Work in Lebanon

USIP Publishes "Nonformal Dialogues in National Peacemaking: Complementary Approaches"

Where There Is No Path

Drama4Peace

Peace & Dialogue Platform

Music4Peace

Cyprus

The Peace Appeal has served as an advisor to the Cyprus Dialogue Forum (“CDF”) since its inception in March of 2014, and as a partner since 2016.The CDF is a non-formal dialogue with over 90 stakeholders that aims to support, complement and act as a resource to the formal negotiations in the divided island. Its membership draws from the island’s two communities, encompassing political parties, trade unions, business associations and civil society, who come together to address the major issues confronting their respective communities.

Zimbabwe

Since 2017, the Peace Appeal has collaborated with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (“ZCC”) to support their efforts working for socio, economic and political transformation and reconciliation in Zimbabwe . ZCC continues to play a lead role in promoting national dialogue as central to healing, reconciliation and transformation of the country, working closely with other church institutions, civil society and governmental bodies. In collaboration with our international partners, the Finnish faith-based organization, Felm (www.felm.org), we continue to provide technical assistance, training, direct financial support and related aid to the churches’ dialogue, reconciliation and related humanitarian and developmental efforts.

Myanmar

Beginning in March of 2012, the Peace Appeal’s Co-Director, Hannes Siebert was invited to consult with the parties to conflict involving the government of Myanmar and the country’s multiple ethnic groups who have been at war with the government for decades. This initial consultation resulted in a continuing collaboration entailing ongoing technical assistance as the parties to the conflict have met under the auspices of the “Union Peace Conference” as well as support for bi-lateral and multi-lateral exchanges, workshops and conference for stakeholders from Myanmar and other peace processes, and the Peace Appeal’s direct and in-kind support to organizations.Our longtime collaborator, Felm, has been the major sponsor of this work, while a number of individual contributors and foundations have also supported our efforts.

United States & Canada

The Peace Appeal’s collaborations in North America span our three major programmatic areas: partnering with peacemakers to support transformative dialogue initiatives, building our collective capacity through peace education and advocacy programs, and aiding local efforts to assist those impacted by violent conflict. One strand of our peace education initiatives has been to highlight the impact of displacement – not only on the lives of millions of international refugees and IDP’s, but in local communities throughout the United States. Our partnership with the Canadian nonprofit DarkSpark, aids their educational programming to reduce prejudice and promote cross-cultural understanding, using popular culture as an effective catalyst for youth led social change. In another strand of our US based work in 2019 we began to support local efforts in Central Virginia to explore the possibility of a truth commission as a mechanism for restorative justice in a region plagued by history of discrimination and systemic racial inequity. Our support for restorative justice efforts will continue to be a priority in our work in North America.

Middle East

The Peace Appeal’s recent work in the Middle East began in 2009 in Lebanon. We were a founding partner of the Beirut based Common Space Initiative for Shared Knowledge and Consensus Building (“CSI”) to whom we continue to provide ongoing support. The CSI was launched as an inclusive, independent Lebanese initiative in the wake of the 2008 Doha Agreement to facilitate structured dialogues among policy makers, intellectuals, experts, civil society, stakeholders, and individuals. Soon after its founding, the CSI grew to serve as a regional resource for stakeholders engaged in the emerging wave of national dialogues across the region. With the advent of the Syrian Civil War, the Common Space has also served as host to the Syria Initiative, which shares the CSI’s aim for fostering dialogue and to facilitate projects for peacebuilding and recovering planning in Syria.

The Peace Appeal’s principals have also been active engaged with stakeholders to the Israel/Palestine conflict since the early 2000’s. Early initiatives included collaborations with Center for War, Peace and the News Media, and more recently, one of our senior principals is helping facilitate a project led by the Herb Kelman Institute in Vienna (named after one of our senior advisers, whose pioneering work in the region has served as a model for many peacemakers).

Nepal

In 2005 the Peace Appeal was asked by Nepalese peacemakers and political leaders to provide assistance in developing support structures and their capacity to engage systematically and effectively in dialogue to end the country’s long-running civil war. The resulting institution, the Nepal Transitions to Peace Initiative (several years later, NTTP was formally incorporated as the Nepal Transition to Peace Institute) played a critical role in supporting the country’s unfolding peace process, helping establish multiple multiple peace structures where stakeholders addressed major issues of disagreement, supporting the drafting of multiple formal agreements, and assisting in building the capacity of stakeholders working to move the peace process forward. International support for this work came from our partners, the Academy for Educational Development (now FHI360), the United States and Swiss governments.

Articles and Essays:
• Architecture of peace in Nepal, Bishnu Sapkota, March 2017, ACCORD Issue 26, Conciliation Resources
• Ten Years of CPA: Well begun, half done, Kathmandu Post, Nov. 21, 2016
• National Peace and Dialogue Structures, Hannes Siebert, Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series

For further information, please see our blog: Culture of Peace.

OUR PARTNERS

Nepal Transitions to Peace Initiative/Institute

Sri Lanka

The Peace Appeal Foundation’s work in Sri Lanka began in 2003 in the wake of the collapse of official Track One negotiations to end Sri Lanka’s two decade long civil war. Our efforts focused on assisting Sri Lankan stakeholders’ design and implementation of a confidential multi-stakeholder dialogue called the One Text Initiative, and initiative that was subsequently described as a best practice USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation.

In 2006 our peace support efforts expanded to include undertook several humanitarian initiatives to assist individuals and communities suffering from the effects of the civil war, particularly orphaned children, as well as support of inter-religious dialogue and international diplomatic efforts designed to promote political reconciliation.

Articles and Essays:
• “When Negotiations Fail: Talks for the Sake of Talks, War for the Sake of Peace”, Hannes Siebert and Chanya Charles, case study included in Across the Lines of Conflict: Facilitating Cooperation to Build Peace, Edited by Michael Lund and Steve McDonald, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2015
• USAID 2005 Annual Report on Sri Lanka, full report