Capacities for Peace project

The Capacities for Peace project was a joint initiative by Saferworld and Conciliation Resources which ran from 2013 to 2016 and was funded by the European Union. It sought to prevent conflict by developing early warning systems that could identify and act on signs of coming violence. A particular focus was on ensuring that conflict analyses had follow-up procedures in place so that concrete action could be taken to mitigate brewing tensions.

This meant greater coordination between civil society, local and national authorities and international organisations so that any warning signs could be detected and dealt with before they escalated. In many cases, early signs of violence are identified by local groups, so our work ensured that there were channels of communication in place so that national bodies would be able to respond in time.

We worked closely with communities in areas affected by conflict or violence, breaking down the concepts of ‘early warning’ and ‘early action’ into a set of inter-linked activities – analysis and monitoring of conflicts, communicating this information to decision makers, developing relationships and designing peacebuilding strategies and responses.

Over the 30 months of the project, Saferworld and Conciliation Resources worked in:

• Middle East and North Africa: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Yemen
• Asia: Pakistan, Pakistan/India (Kashmir), Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Philippines
• Africa: Mano River Union (Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone), Nigeria, areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda), Horn of Africa (South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia)
• Latin America: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru