Peace: We Build It!

In 2022, AfP celebrated its 20th anniversary, and today, it is a thriving and robust network of over 200 organizations and more than 30,000 global peacebuilders in 181 countries working to end violent conflict and build sustainable peace.

But how did it all start? Over two decades ago, a small group of visionary peacebuilders established the Alliance for Peacebuilding, officially incorporating it in 2002. These founding leaders knew we needed to work together if we wanted to build and advance the peacebuilding field.

Even though we have made some serious gains as a sector, violent conflict and fragility globally reached a 30-year high in 2018. Unfortunately, conflict and fragility are increasing, issues including climate change are compounding conflict, and we are experiencing democratic backsliding in the global north.

Preventing and reducing global violent conflict and building sustainable peace are some of the most significant challenges of our time, and AfP’s 20th anniversary provides the opportunity to reflect on AfP and where we go from here.

In this episode, host Liz Hume welcomes three leaders in the peacebuilding field who were critical to the founding of AfP:

• Melanie Greenberg, Managing Director for Peacebuilding, Humanity United
• Rob Ricigliano, Systems and Complexity Coach, The Omidyar Group
• Hrach Gregorian, MA International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program Director, American University School of International Service

The January 6th attack on the United States Capitol forced Americans to confront what conflict and peacebuilding experts have warned for years: that even before the 2016 elections, dangerous conflict dynamics are increasing in the U.S., resulting in greater instability and violence. The data shows that identity-based conflicts—fear of us versus them— are driving this win-lose conflict.

But why now in the U.S. are political instability and violence becoming such serious threats to our democracy?

In this podcast, AfP Executive Director Liz Hume discusses identity-based grievances, polarization, and social cohesion in the U.S. While conflict is inevitable, violent conflict is not, but it takes correct analysis of conflict drivers, resources, political will at all levels, and everyday people and communities working to prevent conflict and build sustainable peace.

Liz welcomes three experts from across the political spectrum to discuss peacebuilding and conflict in the U.S.

• Dr. Peter Coleman: Expert on constructive conflict resolution and sustainable peace and Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University
• Lisa Sharon Harper: Founder and president of FreedomRoad.us
• Charles Lieske: Expert in mediation and facilitation and Executive Director for Mediation West

Just last month, the United Nations observed the 22nd anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, setting the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. In recent years, the world has seen both tremendous achievements and setbacks in relation to the status of women and LGBTQ+ individuals—from Iran to Afghanistan to Myanmar.

In this episode of AfP's Peace: We Build It! podcast, join host Tanya Domi and guests Dr. Valerie Hudson, University Distinguished Professor and George H.W. Bush Chair, Professor of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, and Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, for a discussion about the rising global crackdown on women and LGBTQ+ communities, and the critical importance of their inclusion and leadership in peace, democracy, and security initiatives. Learn how gender and sexual relations shape other social, economic, and political relationships, and how the WPS and LGBTQ+ communities can learn from each other to advance multidimensional inclusion, protection, and durable peacebuilding. 

How can we talk about peacebuilding to best position it as the tool of first resort? How can we reframe peace to make it feel possible? In this episode of AfP’s Peace: We Build It! podcast, join host Tanya Domi and guests Liz Hume, AfP’s Executive Director, and Amanda Ripley, award-winning investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author, for a conversation exploring how the media, peacebuilding field, and public can inject hope, agency, and dignity into conversations around conflict and security through targeted framing and communications strategies. Hear the practical implications of AfP’s new peace framing and narrative research exploring which framing techniques increase support and understanding of peacebuilding, as well as Amanda’s work promoting solutions-oriented journalism and book on escaping high conflict by transforming disagreement into creative solutions. And, most importantly, learn how the public and all sectors can avoid communicating about conflict in a way that perpetuates it, as well as discourages people from following the news due to burnout.

Rape is the most common form of torture in armed conflicts—from Bosnia, to Kosovo, to Iraq, and now Ukraine—yet it remains rarely prosecuted by international courts. What can the peacebuilding and international communities do to end this silence? And how can they both hold perpetrators accountable and prevent these atrocities in the future? 

In this special episode of AfP’s Peace: We Build It! podcast hosted by AfP’s Executive Director Liz Hume, we answer these essential questions. AfP is proud to host a lineup of distinguished speakers in this episode, including Iryna Venediktova, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, Vera Mjeku, Co-Founder of Rally For Her Justice, and AfP Senior Fellow Tanya Domi. Join this collection of world-leading practitioners, government officials, researchers, and advocates as they discuss the use of rape as a weapon of war in Ukraine and how the international community should respond, the history of rights and prosecution around sexual violence in conflict, and efforts to shed light and bring accountability for survivors of other previous and ongoing atrocities. 

Growing cyberthreats to peace and security are coming to light—from attacks on election and critical to infrastructure, to healthcare, to the financial sector. In light of this, how is the peacebuilding field working to build cyber resilience, and what is it learning from its efforts? 

In this episode, join host Tanya Domi, AfP Executive Director Liz Hume, and guests Digital Peace Now Global Ambassadors Raj Burli and Gurmehar Kaur for a conversation around what exactly cyber resilience means, how cyberspace has become a tool of war in the conflict in Ukraine and others around the world, and how peacebuilders are working to integrate cyber resilience into conflict prevention strategies both in the US and globally. 

Since January 6th, 2021, Americans have been grappling with the shocking rise of white supremacy and white nationalism that drove a mob to the U.S. Capitol with the aim to stop the Electoral College vote count by Congress. Although the insurrectionists failed to stop the vote, the events of January 6th have instigated a broader conversation and questioning about who we are. America is reckoning with the fact that it is not exceptional. Indeed, these extreme elements have always been in our society from the very beginning of the country. 

In this episode, join host Tanya Domi and guests AfP Executive Director Liz Hume and Rutgers University Distinguished Professor Alexander Hinton for a conversation around white supremacy and the rising threat of genocide in the United States. Through discussion of Professor Hinton’s latest book, It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US, explore what we can learn from history’s accounts of former atrocities, how white supremacy and its violent extremism form and interact with conflict dynamics in the U.S., and actions we can take to prevent these threats from occurring.  

Fighting in Ethiopia began in early November 2020, when forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked a federal army base in the region, leading Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to order a military offensive against the rebels, leaving thousands of dead. UN human rights reporting indicates that serious violations occurred on all sides, which may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

While more than seven million people need humanitarian aid in northern Ethiopia today, efforts to mobilize assistance in Tigray—where more than five million lack food and an estimated 400,000 now live in famine-like conditions—are made more difficult due to the inability to move cash, fuel, and supplies into the region. UN officials have made clear the certainty of risk that Ethiopia is likely to be descending into widening civil war, which would bring about a humanitarian catastrophe consuming the near future of this important country as it confronts a grave peril.

In this episode, join host Tanya Domi and guests AfP Acting CEO & President Liz Hume, Hardin Lang, Vice President of Programs and Policy at Refugees International, and Maxim Pensky, Professor and Co-Director of The Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University, for a discussion on the conflict in Ethiopia, its key drivers, and the prospects for a peace process moving forward.

In the 1990s, a breakthrough agreement negotiated between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Oslo, Norway, set out a process for a mutually negotiated two-state solution to be gradually implemented by the end of the decade. Although the process showed initial promise and progress, a combination of dissatisfaction and distrust led to the breakdown and delay of the process. After frustration and provocation led to the outbreak of violence in 2000, the process proved difficult to restart before coming to a virtual halt after 2008.

Again, in May 2021 violence broke out fueled by controversy over planned evictions of Palestinian families in Jerusalem, and restrictions at a popular East Jerusalem meeting point as Ramadan began. Conflict between Israelis and Palestinians boiled over escalating rapidly into one of the worst rounds of violence between the two sides in the last several years.

Join host Tanya Domi and guests Rana Salman, Palestinian Executive Director of Combatants for Peace, and Kevin Rachlin, Vice President of Public Affairs at J Street. In this episode, these two advocates for peace in the Middle East—Palestinian and Jewish—come together today to discuss the drivers of the violence in the Middle East, which has proven to be a persistent and illusive peace. 

In the seventh episode of the Alliance for Peacebuilding's Peace: We Build It! podcast series, join host Tanya Domi and Mercy Corps guests Mayesha Alam, Senior Advisor of Research and Strategy, and Ryan Sheely, Director of Research - Governance and Conflict. 

This episode explores Mercy Corps' recent report, A Clash of Contagions: The Impact of COVID-19 on Conflict in Nigeria, Colombia, and Afghanistan and provides policy recommendations for a comprehensive U.S. COVID-19 strategy.