Peace Tools for Peacebuilders
In the journey to agreed, just and fair peace, there are many steps taken by many actors. In the complex multi-stakeholder processes that the Peace Appeal has been privileged to serve, we have seen an acute need for means to facilitate communication, collaboration, enhancing knowledge of both process and substantive issues, and facilitating shared learning, which in turn can develop mutual understanding and trust-building essential for peace efforts.
For the past decade, in an effort we call Peace Tools we have developed and piloted with a series of communication and knowledge tools and resources to meet these needs. Our work with Peace Tools has involved integrating commercially available technologies, from virtual private networks to public social media platforms, with tailored knowledge resources and applications drawn from the experiences of peacebuilding professionals as well as the perspective and continued learning of its stakeholder users over time.
As a communications tool, Peace Tools brings stakeholders into online collaborative shared spaces to exchange information and work together towards mitigating and transforming conflict. The first collaboration software tool we relied on was the Groove platform, which is now integrated into Microsoft Sharepoint. This platform allows this communication to take place regardless of the location of the participants, all that is required is a computer and a connection to the internet.
As a learning tool, it is both a repository of continuously updated information on conflict resolution and peace building, as well as an interactive tool that assists individual users to enhance their knowledge and capacity to understand both the theoretical and practical aspects of conflict situations, as well as to analyze and develop alternative courses of action. Stakeholders in Sri Lanka, Nepal and now Lebanon have added tremendous amounts of information, including case studies, official documentation from peace processes, training manuals, and other materials.
By providing mechanisms and applications for public and private collaborations (i.e. often requiring confidential / secured environments), Peace Tools further enhances the capacity of people and organizations to work collectively on transforming conflict. By relying largely on commercially available software (as well as linking these with several social media platforms), it allows stakeholders to develop, implement and integrate best practices and appropriate Conflict Prevention, Mitigation and Resolution (CPMR) initiatives - including traditional, culturally specific methods - drawn from resources internationally and their own experiences.
Peace Tools is a living vital resource for individuals and institutions working on conflict resolution and peace building internationally. We are grateful to the World Economic Forum's Transitions to Peace Initiative for providing the opportunity to convene leading practitioners and thinkers whose contributions were a significant part of Peace Tools' initial conceptual frameworks.
- ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE
- ENABLING COLLABORATION
- FACILITATING SHARED LEARNING
In the journey to agreed, just and fair peace, there are many steps taken by many actors. In the complex multi-stakeholder processes that the Peace Appeal has been privileged to serve, we have seen an acute need for means to facilitate communication, collaboration, enhancing knowledge of both process and substantive issues, and facilitating shared learning, which in turn can develop mutual understanding and trust-building essential for peace efforts.
For the past decade, in an effort we call Peace Tools we have developed and piloted with a series of communication and knowledge tools and resources to meet these needs. Our work with Peace Tools has involved integrating commercially available technologies, from virtual private networks to public social media platforms, with tailored knowledge resources and applications drawn from the experiences of peacebuilding professionals as well as the perspective and continued learning of its stakeholder users over time.
As a communications tool, Peace Tools brings stakeholders into online collaborative shared spaces to exchange information and work together towards mitigating and transforming conflict. The first collaboration software tool we relied on was the Groove platform, which is now integrated into Microsoft Sharepoint. This platform allows this communication to take place regardless of the location of the participants, all that is required is a computer and a connection to the internet.
As a learning tool, it is both a repository of continuously updated information on conflict resolution and peace building, as well as an interactive tool that assists individual users to enhance their knowledge and capacity to understand both the theoretical and practical aspects of conflict situations, as well as to analyze and develop alternative courses of action. Stakeholders in Sri Lanka, Nepal and now Lebanon have added tremendous amounts of information, including case studies, official documentation from peace processes, training manuals, and other materials.
By providing mechanisms and applications for public and private collaborations (i.e. often requiring confidential / secured environments), Peace Tools further enhances the capacity of people and organizations to work collectively on transforming conflict. By relying largely on commercially available software (as well as linking these with several social media platforms), it allows stakeholders to develop, implement and integrate best practices and appropriate Conflict Prevention, Mitigation and Resolution (CPMR) initiatives - including traditional, culturally specific methods - drawn from resources internationally and their own experiences.
Peace Tools is a living vital resource for individuals and institutions working on conflict resolution and peace building internationally. We are grateful to the World Economic Forum's Transitions to Peace Initiative for providing the opportunity to convene leading practitioners and thinkers whose contributions were a significant part of Peace Tools' initial conceptual frameworks.
