International Alert's approach to peacebuilding

This practice brief outlines what International Alert as an organisation means by peace and peacebuilding, the reasons why peacebuilding is so important and how we work to build peace.

Peace is when people resolve conflicts without using violence. But it is also the conditions that allow for respectful coexistence and positive social change, without use of violence.

For us, peacebuilding therefore means supporting people in or at risk of conflict to prevent or end direct violence, and creating the conditions for sustainable peaceful coexistence and peaceful social change by addressing structural violence.

Our work supports building peaceful relationships between all sectors of society, developing and supporting societies’ mechanisms for keeping the peace, and helping to ensure that everyone can live satisfying, peaceful lives.