Peace Direct

Who we are

Peace Direct is an international NGO which supports local people insome of the most challenging conflict environments worldwide. We support local people to stop violence by providing them with the support, skills, resources and voice needed to make peace a practical option.

What is peacebuilding?

We believe that true peace is not just the absence of violence. Peace is a world in which everyone has access to safety, freedom, justice and equality. 

Building peace is not an easy task. At Peace Direct, we support people and groups who are resisting violence and promoting lasting peace in some of the most conflict-affected countries around the world. Local people are the experts in the conflicts that affect their communities, and only they understand what it takes to build peace that lasts.  These local experts are in every country, town and village where violent conflict takes hold. They are the community leaders, activists, youth groups, women’s groups, networks and social movements who are resisting violence and building peace in their communities and countries

These experts are called local peacebuilders, and they are at the heart of what we do.

Our culture and values

Non-violence

Non-violence is not only the morally and ethically right thing to do; it is also the strategic thing to do. A growing body of evidence shows that non-violent action leads to more peaceful and long-term results compared to violent action. That’s why we will only support work that is aligned with the principles of non-violence. Non-violence is also not the easy option. Rather than being regarded as ‘soft’ we believe that those who choose non-violence are extraordinarily courageous.

Courage

Building peace has for too long been regarded as the ‘soft’ option by policymakers and the military, as if making and building peace represents weakness. We believe this is wrong, and that building and sustaining peace takes courage.

Peacebuilders risk their lives every day. To honour their courage, we try to be courageous in our work. This means speaking truth to power when we see rights being violated or dignity being diminished. It means turning down funding if we believe it will not support local peacebuilding efforts in a responsible and sustainable way. It means arguing robustly but respectfully with those in the sector who believe that local capacity doesn’t exist in some countries, or that local people ‘can’t be trusted’.

And it means taking risks for our partners when others won’t, whether this is through establishing radically flexible funding mechanisms when others won’t, or investing in peacebuilding efforts in high-risk areas.

Dignity and respect

Within Peace Direct, we treat all our colleagues with dignity and respect. But we also work to tackle the ways the current system of international assistance diminishes the dignity of local people, reducing them to passive victims with no agency or ability to change their own lives.

We do everything in our power to uphold and defend the dignity of local people. This means being extremely mindful of the language we use internally and externally, so that we can avoid perpetuating stereotypes and instead radically change the way people think about those affected by conflict. We will also call out behaviours and language that we see in our work, within the sector and with policymakers, which diminishes agency and dignity of local people.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

A core principle underpinning our work since we were founded was the inclusion of local peacebuilders in all peacebuilding efforts. Their exclusion from most policy discussions, peace processes and externally led peacebuilding initiatives, was – and is – one of the biggest failures of global peacebuilding.

We will redouble our efforts to promote and advocate genuinely inclusive peacebuilding. We will not be afraid to speak out when we see peace processes and initiatives that exclude those most affected by violence, who should be leading efforts to build peace.

We also look at our own internal practice, work culture and communication to ensure that our commitment to inclusion is reflected in how we work with our colleagues, volunteers and peers. Being committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) means ensuring that Peace Direct is a welcoming, diverse and inclusive organisation, willing to explore its own unconscious biases so that we can become the best organisation we can be for our partners and for the communities we serve. Our DEI policy and strategy are available upon request.