The next chapter for peacebuilding
2026 marks International Alert’s 40th anniversary. Founded in 1986 to draw attention to violent conflict and human rights abuses, Alert has evolved over time but always remained committed to helping people live without fear of violence.
Over four decades, our work has reinforced a fundamental lesson: there is no single route to peace.
International Alert has changed since 1986, but our purpose endures: to build peace with the people closest to conflict and with all those striving for peace, to strengthen our common cause.
To mark our 40th year, we asked peacebuilders from around the world to reflect on the challenges ahead, the priorities peacebuilders must pursue and the sources of hope they see.
Clear themes emerge from their contributions: the importance of being led by local communities, particularly young people, the vital work of supporting people and communities fractured by violent conflict to heal and reconcile, and the need for peacebuilding to go beyond its own borders and reach into new sectors, industries and people who don’t see themselves as peacebuilders.
There is a conviction shared by all that peacebuilding has many of the tools, skills and expertise needed to face the challenges that these times of growing violence and division bring.
Together, we can help shape the next chapter.
Betty Mutesi, Africa Director, International Alert
“My understanding of peacebuilding is deeply personal. I was born in a refugee camp in western Uganda, where I witnessed the absence of basic human rights and dignity. In 1995, when I came to Rwanda, I found that around 90% of my maternal and paternal relatives had been killed in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. These experiences have shaped my conviction that peace cannot be taken for granted, and that we must address the conditions that allow hatred, exclusion and violence to take root.
“Over the next decade, I believe one of our biggest challenges will be responding to increasingly complex conflicts while investing too little in prevention. We continue to mobilise resources after violence has escalated, rather than investing early in inclusive institutions, social cohesion, accountable leadership and local capacities.
“For me, peacebuilding must therefore become more preventive, locally owned and long-term. We need to listen more closely to communities, especially women and young people, and support them to build the relationships and institutions that protect dignity and prevent violence.
“Sustainable peace is ultimately about ensuring that people do not have to experience what my generation experienced before the world acts.”
My understanding of peacebuilding is deeply personal. My experiences have shaped my conviction that peace cannot be taken for granted, and that we must address the conditions that allow hatred, exclusion and violence to take root.
Arpi Bekaryan, Media Initiatives Center, Armenia
“When I think about the future of peacebuilding, I wonder how we can better address the human consequences that remain long after the hot phase of conflict formally ends – the intergenerational trauma people carry even decades after violence.
“A political agreement may stop violence, but if the pain of people and societies is simply “swept under the rug”, rather than acknowledged and addressed, the conflict may resurface in other forms. An agreement alone cannot resolve the grief and anger and it won’t address the identities shaped by violence. This is where, I believe, peacebuilding has an important role to play.
“I would like to see peacebuilding become more human centred in the years to come. Perhaps this means creating more space for people to tell their stories and process their trauma without feeling that they have to forgive, forget or “move on” in order to contribute to peace. This does not mean the relations between two societies or two people should remain defined by trauma. Rather, I see empathy as a possible bridge: an ability to recognise another person’s humanity without requiring them to share our memories or understanding of the past.”
I would like to see peacebuilding become more human centred in the years to come.
Deborah Rotuno, Catholic Peace and Justice Department, Kenya
“The biggest challenge in peacebuilding will be climate change; it will increase the likelihood of conflicts between communities. Peacebuilding should invest in water management, drought-resistant livelihoods and climate-smart agriculture.
“Development in marginalised areas should be a peacebuilding intervention; peacebuilding must address structural causes such as regional inequality, land issues, and unemployment.
“Peacebuilding should also prioritise strengthening local peace structures like elders, youth leaders, women in peacebuilding and local administrators, by offering them structured resources and capacity building.
“What gives me hope for the future is that communities will be able to provide grounded solutions to the issues affecting them. And the fact that the young population is empowered and at the centre of peacebuilding.”
The biggest challenge in peacebuilding will be climate change; it will increase the likelihood of conflicts between communities.
Robell Damtie, Project Manager, Ethiopian Institute of Peace
“The greatest challenge for peacebuilding will be climate change and recurrent drought. This will cause more competition over pasture and water between Dassanech, Nyangatom and Turkana pastoralists, as well as shifting conflict patterns and the dwindling peacebuilding resources.
“Peacebuilding must focus on climate resilient livelihoods, sustainable and equitable natural-resource sharing, inclusive cross-border dialogue and meaningful participation of women, youth and marginalised groups in peace and decision-making processes.
“Peacebuilding actors need to expand community-based conflict analysis, early warning and early response, leverage technology and real-time information, and take flexible but locally-led approaches that are sensitive to a changing climate, livelihood and conflict context.
“Hope lies in the growing awareness of the climate–conflict link, better technology and information, the growing emphasis on the Humanitarian–Development–Peace (HDP) nexus, and in the committed spirit of communities, government and civil society organisations to dialogue and peaceful coexistence.”
Peacebuilding must focus on climate resilient livelihoods.
Dorina Prech, Projects Manager, International Alert Kenya and Horn of Africa
“Peacebuilding institutions are still operating with short-term, donor-driven tools that cannot keep pace with the fluid, politically driven nature of conflicts. Local communities are left to bear the burden while international responses remain reactive, fragmented, and disconnected from ground-level power dynamics.
“In the years ahead, peacebuilding must prioritise a fundamental shift toward integrated, locally-led, and pluralistic approaches, where peacebuilding is treated not as an ‘extra’ but as the foundation for humanitarian, climate, and development action. Local communities should be trusted as the primary architects of peace rather than mere implementers of externally designed interventions.
“In practice, this requires international actors to move from a directive to a supportive role, creating enabling conditions for local actors to lead. Every intervention across sectors should explicitly contribute to social cohesion, inclusive governance, and sustainable peace.
“Across the borders of the Horn of Africa I meet women, elders, and young people who refuse to let conflict define their future. They mediate when it is dangerous to mediate. They build cooperatives across enemy lines. They use mobile phones to warn of impending attacks and save lives. They do this because their survival, and the survival of their children, depends on peace.”
Sabine Frem, peacebuilder and International Alert / UN Women project participant, Lebanon
“Youth involvement in peacebuilding is key to Lebanon’s future.
“When young people learn practical skills like conflict resolution, active listening, and non-violent communication early on, dialogue naturally replaces conflict. When young people from different backgrounds come together through shared experiences, they break down stereotypes, build trust, and discover common ground.
“Looking at real examples from other countries that successfully used transitional justice and reconciliation proves that lasting peace is not just a dream, it is actually possible. Seeing how other nations worked through painful histories gives young people concrete hope for our own country and helps in how we might begin to heal from our own.
“At the same time, the growing openness and the global interconnectedness of young people offer a powerful reason to hope. Today’s youth are more willing than ever to challenge old mindsets, and stand together for peace. By supporting early training and giving youth real leadership opportunities, we empower them to lead the way toward true coexistence.
“When our youth believe in the power of peaceful dialogue, we move one step closer to making a united, peaceful, and resilient Lebanon a reality.”
Youth involvement in peacebuilding is key to Lebanon’s future.
Miriam Wanjiru Muturi, M&E Officer, International Alert Kenya and Horn of Africa
“Peacebuilding should prioritise locally-led, inclusive and evidence-informed approaches, where women, young people and other marginalised groups have a meaningful role in defining priorities, shaping what success looks like, generating evidence and assessing change. This would strengthen local ownership, accountability and ensure that peacebuilding responses are grounded in the realities and priorities of communities.
“The sector needs to rethink M&E as a tool for learning and decision-making, not just accountability. Monitoring should move beyond tracking activities and outputs to understanding what is changing, why and for whom, what is contributing to that change, and how programmes can adapt in response to emerging risks and opportunities.
“What gives me hope is seeing local communities, particularly young people and women, taking up leadership roles in peacebuilding and influencing decisions that affect them. Their ability to develop locally grounded solutions reinforces that sustainable peace is most possible when communities have the agency, resources and voice to shape and lead the change that affects their lives.”
What gives me hope is seeing local communities, particularly young people and women, taking up leadership roles in peacebuilding and influencing decisions that affect them.
Naomi Mogire, Project Assistant, International Alert Kenya and Horn of Africa
“Peacebuilding needs to rethink what it means to invest in young people. Peacebuilding cannot resolve the full range of economic, social and political pressures facing a generation. But peace is more likely to endure when young people have the capacity, resources and space to influence the decisions that affect their lives. Our role over the coming years should be to help create those conditions.
“Digital platforms are now part of the conflict environment. The same platforms that allow young people to organise around legitimate grievances can also accelerate misinformation, hate speech, political manipulation and mobilisation towards violence. Peacebuilding organisations need to work with young people to support digital literacy, responsible online engagement and the use technology for civic participation and social cohesion.
“The sector needs to become more comfortable with experimentation and learning. Some of the most useful peacebuilding responses may not fit neatly into conventional project frameworks or produce quick results. Organisations should have room to test approaches, learn from failure, adapt resources and scale what works.”
Peacebuilding needs to rethink what it means to invest in young people.
Shamil Idriss, Chief Executive Officer, Search for Common Ground
“So much has changed in the 40 years since Alert began pioneering locally-led, internationally supported approaches to end violence and build peace.
“The bipolar geopolitics of the Cold War have given way to multipolar competition and big power militarism. An ongoing technological revolution is utterly transforming how every human being receives information and communicates in ways that fuel both democratization and authoritarianism. And the climate crisis has gone from prediction to dire predicament.
“Each of these monumental shifts raise real doubts about the fate of the human race. They also clarify and validate the principles that gave rise to Alert 40 years ago and the practice that Alert’s leaders and partners have developed since then: for the human race to to survive — let alone thrive — over these next 40 years, we must replace confrontation with cooperation, polarization with trust, and top-down authoritarianism with inclusive, responsive governance.”
We must replace confrontation with cooperation, polarization with trust, and top-down authoritarianism with inclusive, responsive governance.
Narcisse Zihindula, Mupaka Shamba Letu Regional Project Manager, DRC
“The priority is, first and foremost, to ensure that everyone understands that there must be peace and stability. Without peace, there is nothing we can do. Peace is the bedrock and foundation of every initiative – economic development, infrastructure, education.
“Peace can begin first and foremost with the communities themselves. Let us not wait for peace to come from outside. Communities remain determined to live together due to their interdependence. Everyone understands that we cannot live without one another. When it comes to cross-border trade, for example, even when there are tensions, communities continue to collaborate and continue to forge links. That is the foundation upon which we can build and consolidate peace in the world.”
Without peace, there is nothing we can do.
