Building Peace Locally Amidst a Global Pandemic: Infrastructures for Peace in the Era of COVID-19

Local peacebuilders react and adapt to crises through building their own and utilising existing Infrastructures for Peace (also known as I4Ps). Generally, I4Ps are understood as a dynamic network of skills, capacities, resources, tools and institutions that help build constructive relationships and enhance sustainable resilience of societies against the risks of relapse into violence. Local peacebuilders utilise these Infrastructures for Peace to support their mission of sustaining peace within communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged existing I4Ps and revealed their weaknesses. However, the pandemic also presented an opportunity to reflect on the current state of I4Ps and what must be done to enhance their capacity to support the goals of sustaining peace. That is why together with the UN Development Program (UNDP), we explored what Infrastructures for Peace support local peacebuilding goals and address the complex challenges of today’s world in different contexts across the world. 

Through five consultations held with local peacebuilders in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Eastern Europe, GPPAC and UNDP collected information about how local peacebuilders are using I4Ps to facilitate peacebuilding in their communities and what needs to be done to strengthen their capacity to address pressing challenges. 

The success of peacebuilding and sustaining peace requires that peacebuilding and development experts at the national, regional and global levels prioritise the following six areas of action:

• Expand multi-stakeholder and inclusive Infrastructures for Peace
• Ensure coordination and complementarity among Infrastructures for Peace
• Promote, engage and support local peacebuilding actors in all efforts to sustain peace
• Integrate the principles of human security and conflict sensitivity into the work of Infrastructures for Peace
• Ensure adequate, predictable and quality financing for Infrastructures for Peace
• Measure impact of Infrastructures for Peace through locally-articulated methodologies

Check out the six priority areas on this one-pager.

Read the full report here.