To ensure coherence and effectiveness in complex contexts characterised by conflict, compounded risks, and limited resources, peace-enhancing measures and approaches need to be embedded in the efforts of all intervening actors. Peace Responsiveness is an approach coined by Interpeace that advocates for peace-enhancing and conflict-aware approaches built across silos, divisions, interventions, and actors. Peace Responsiveness represents a steadily growing and broadly demanded programmatic area that expands the focus from conflict to peace.
| Number of participants in our Peace Responsiveness trainings | 241 of which 99 women |
| Number of Interpeace programmes that include Peace Responsiveness in their design | 11 |
| Number of Peace Responsive joint programmes designed and/or funded with/by external actors (e.g. UN offices, INGOs, Ministries, donors) |
4 |
Enabling Peace Responsiveness through capacity building across the Humanitarian, Development, Peace, Security, and Climate Nexus
Targeting experts and decision-makers from INGOs and IOs, continued to see high demand and receive broad appreciation. More than 200 participants joined an online training organised in June and July, and another 200 signed up for the follow-up in November and December. The interest in the trainings signalled a need for more knowledge, underscoring the demand for concrete tools and insights on the theory and practice of Peace Responsiveness. In addition to online trainings, a three-day training in Mali brought together 27 participants among members of the Forum des ONG Internationales au Mali (FONGIM). In Burkina Faso, a similar training engaged 13 participants. For both trainings, follow-ups revealed that participants wanted further support, but also created informal learning groups, signalling sustained change through continued learning. Participants also mentioned using learnings in the revision of internal monitoring frameworks and participating agencies shared examples of new monitoring indicators capturing trust-building, community participation, and gender inclusion as key variables. In some cases, these changes influenced ongoing programme revisions supported by donors and coordination platforms, signalling of a further socialisation of the approach across actors.
Contribution towards a more Peace Responsive system through advocacy
Following a series of discussions with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the agency decided to operationalise Peace Responsiveness as a core design principle guiding its country strategy in Mali. The 7 million CHF Peace Responsive Governance and Resilience Programme, launched in September, represents a three-year pilot that will inform the SDC’s next multi-year country programme. The programme includes facilitating participatory conflict analyses, convening local dialogues on infrastructure prioritization, and developing conflict-sensitive criteria for project selection.
To steer climate finance toward communities affected by fragility and conflict, we focused on advocacy targeting the COP29 Secretariat. Our experts provided technical inputs to drafts of the COP29 peace track, emphasising the importance of local ownership and the integration of peacebuilding methodologies into climate adaptation strategies. Our work on climate advocacy is particularly critical due to the generational grievances and economic impacts the climate crisis has in the countries we operate in.
Interpeace provided inputs for the World Trade Organization’s flagship report Trade for Peace, illustrating how trade can play a crucial role in fostering peace and stability in fragile and conflict-affected areas. Based on our contributions, we began co-creating a Trade for Peace course, a pilot capacity-development model illustrating how trade can contribute to sustainable peace, piloted in the context of Somalia’s accession to the WTO. The course is to be launched in 2026 and aims to strengthen knowledge on Somalia’s state-building trajectory, whilst demonstrating the peace-enhancing potential of equitable trade and economic inclusion as part of holistic, Peace Responsive programming.
Creation of structures rooting and enabling Peace Responsiveness locally, regionally, and globally
Was established as the first global mechanism to integrate peace-responsive approaches into climate finance. We were chosen as the Implementing Partner by participating Member States to pilot national programmes in Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Iraq, and The Gambia, with potential expansion to Mozambique and Somalia. Joint Task Forces were created in each country, connecting governments, Development Finance Institutions, and technical partners. Furthermore, we co-led high-level dialogues ensuring continuity toward COP30 and beyond thus prioritising long-term, sustainable efforts and initiatives.
Together with our partners, we founded the Peace and Security Investment Hub (PSIH) in Mozambique. The PSIH is an innovative mechanism that bridges peacebuilding with private-sector development and reconstruction efforts in conflict-affected regions. Funded by the African Development Bank and the UN Development Programme, the governments of Germany and Mozambique, and a range of private partners, the platform identifies investment opportunities that drive economic growth and strengthen social cohesion. By ensuring that all interventions are locally led, co-designed with communities, rooted in their contexts, and aligned with national priorities, the Hub addresses the underlying drivers of fragility, while supporting inclusive economic recovery. The launch of the Hub marked a step change in peace finance and transformed conceptual work into a tangible, nationally owned investment model.
Integrating Peace Responsiveness across our projects and programmes
In Rwanda, the Sahel region, Burundi, Kenya and Somalia, we supported in the building and enhancement of infrastructures coupled with revenue-generating activities enabling the delivery of economic dividends of peace. The initiatives provided access to joint resources used across communities and groups, coupled with frameworks ensuring that resources are managed collaboratively. Drawing from our pioneering economic peacebuilding approach across West Africa, we were asked to design a novel, large-scale initiative in the DRC, where economic peacebuilding needs will be analysed and monitored as part of the programme’s Peace Index. The findings will be integrated into programme design as part of our new Strategic Framework.
To deliver on health access and policy in Guinea-Bissau, we launched a joint programme with the World Health Organisation conducting research on the application and impact of Health-for-Peace approaches. The study underscored the relational and eco-systemic impact of conflict on health governance and highlighted how conflict dynamics are internally reproduced by health systems. The insights of the report successfully informed the delivery of the project and paved the way for sustainable, efficient programme design by us and our partners.
