Table of Contents
To strengthen the foundations making peace possible, we build bridges from communities to states to international structures – and intertwines them with relevant processes and actors. In so doing, we seek to ensure that decisions made across levels and contexts reflect the realities of those impacted by conflict.
| Number of formal agreements with State-level authorities (Ministries) for Interpeace to support on current policy and programming | 6 |
| Instances of policy or programming co-design at State level | 9 |
Influencing policy and practice by building the capacities of State authorities and ensuring evidence-based policy practices
Followed by the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and National Solidarity's request, we designed a workshop on the country's new national peacebuilding architecture. The request represented a decisive shift from project-level inputs and ad hoc advocacy towards integrated policy engagements. Furthermore, the Ministry of Youth requested support and the establishment of a strong partnership enabling technical assistance for its ministry and implementing partners.
Psychoeducation and advocacy efforts were implemented through broad media channels enabling large-scale reach across the country, drawing support from civil society and policy-making bodies. The work culminated in an official recommendation by the National Assembly for the establishment of a national trauma-healing programme, thus reflecting a historic step toward recognising trauma recovery as a public policy priority in Burundi.
Interpeace's flagship group-based sociotherapy method was formally integrated into the Ministry of Health's service protocols, and the Government committed to scale the model nationwide by 2028. At the same time, the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE), adopted a civic-education curriculum co-developed with Interpeace, embedding the peace, civic education, tolerance, and positive masculinity into its programmes. In parallel, Resilience-Oriented Therapy (ROT) was aligned with Rwanda's National Mental Health Policy and the mental health targets of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2). Furthermore, peacebuilding has embedded and institutionalised beyond into national reconciliation programming through a collaboration with the MINUBUMWE. A co-produced baseline report validated resilience measurements, identified psychosocial indicators, and provided a social cohesion analysis and enabled the creation of a community-resilience and societal healing framework. Elements of the framework further informed national programming and the development of reconciliation and unity barometers.
Instances of peace advocacy at the political level
Harnessing its decades-long experience in addressing the drivers and dynamics of peace and conflict, we work to strengthen complementarity and coordination through sustained engagements with relevant actors across levels. This was clearly seen in our engagements across the Great Lakes Region.
Our peace advocacy efforts in the Great Lakes included:
Through these engagements, Interpeace contributed to an ecosystem approach to peace diplomacy. The work contributed to a significant de-escalation in cross-border tensions and to renewed engagement by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) with local peace infrastructures.
