OUR MISSION

Multi-Track Innovations for Intractable Conflicts

 

The Peace Appeal Foundation supports peace and conflict transformation initiatives globally, assisting stakeholders to design and implement inclusive, authentic, multi-track and multi-sector processes to achieve agreed, fair and just outcomes. The cornerstone of our work is direct, sustained facilitation and advisory services.

In this work, the Peace Appeal collaborates with local and international partners to develop and disseminate knowledge resources, e.g. practical tools, methodologies, programs and educational materials, to enhance stakeholders effectiveness in support of peace and conflict transformation efforts.

The Peace Appeal Foundation grew out of the work of a group of Nobel Peace Laureates and individuals who in the late 1990's helped launch the United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence.  Since our founding, we have been privileged to serve processes in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

                                                                                                                                                                         

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NEWS AND BOOKS OF NOTE

Recently published by Yale University Press, Donna Hick's "Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict", with a foreward by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, captures an essential element in human interactions that has been little studied.   From the synopsis: "The desire for dignity is universal and powerful. It is a motivating force behind all human interaction—in families, in communities, in the business world, and in relationships at the international level. When dignity is violated, the response is likely to involve aggression, even violence, hatred, and vengeance."

10th Anniversary Message from the Nobel Laureates

A Message from Nobel Laureates Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, His Excellency F.W. de Klerk and Mairead McGuire, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Peace Appeal...

"As peacemakers one of our greatest challenges is to harness humanity’s hope and desire for peace into collective action that brings about peace in societies that have been ravaged by conflict...In the last 10 years, the Peace Appeal Foundation’s work has demonstrated an innovative and inclusive vision of peacebuilding. 

In particular your efforts....to create common spaces that engage diverse stakeholders....in dialogue and ultimately joint action are inspiring, and should be supported, studied further and shared widely.   The attention your work is attracting from stakeholders in peace processes, scholars, government officials, and other peace and conflict resolution practitioners, is a testament to the creativity and effectiveness of your approach.

For the full text of the Nobel's anniversary letter see:

Anniversary Letter from the Nobel Laureates

                                                                                                                  

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Perspectives on Peacebuilding:

 

Peace Architecture?

Architecture, n. …4. Orderly arrangement of parts; structure:

To speak of “peace architecture” in the context of peace and conflict transformation efforts in entrenched conflicts runs the severe risk of sounding presumptuous, even oxy-moronic.    In the decades since the end of World War II, what could seem more chaotic, and less orderly, than the history of peace efforts to end the spate of wars that our planet has suffered?  

However as chaotic as wars and peace efforts are, the emergence of the field and study of peacebuilding and conflict resolution since the 1960’s – one current estimate lists 450 programs at the undergraduate and graduate level worldwide -  is a testament to the belief, now well documented, that we have much to learn by studying conflicts and efforts to resolve them.                                                             Read More  

                                                                                                                                                                      

Beyond Mediation: Promoting Change and Resolving Conflicts through Authentic National Dialogue

                                                                                                                                                   

The Peace Appeal Foundation's co-founder, Hannes Siebert, speaking at the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy at American University of Beirut, as part of their Distinguished Peacemakers Lecture series.  The talk explores the broad trends in how conflicts have been resolved since the end of World War II, and proposes that more emphasis must be given to processes that invovle locally driven dialogue and negotiations, relying less on external mediation. 

In his introduction, Romy Khoury cites Hannes' experience working in many of the world's most conflict-ridden societies as an international peace process and negotiations adviser and facilitator. In South Africa, he served as director in the National Peace Secretariat, the multi-party body mandated to implement its 1992 Peace Accord.  Post-1994 he assisted the Special Presidential Task Force in key intractable conflicts, focusing on de-militarization of youth militia. Working with the Peace Appeal in Sri Lanka, he advised the country's peace secretariats and aided the creation of the multi-party negotiations forum. Later leading the Peace Appeal's efforts in Nepal, he contributed to the drafting of key agreements -- including the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and forwarded talks between the Nepal Army and the Maoist Army; aided in the setting-up of the confidential dialogue process (Nepal Transition To Peace), and advised the Peace Ministry.