In 2024, there were more than 120 armed conflicts worldwide.[1] Violent conflicts have increased in number and complexity, as well as become more decentralised and dynamic. Peace-making and mediation have long relied on short-term, externally driven interventions to address conflicts. This approach has increasingly been proven insufficient—if not ineffective—as a standalone response to conflict.

Since its inception, Interpeace has posited that peace cannot be imposed from the outside but must be built from within. As part of Interpeace’s approach to fostering and ensuring local ownership, it has worked with individuals and groups to support their efforts to transform violent conflicts at the local, national, and even cross-border levels. Interpeace and its partners have applied localised peacebuilding practices in numerous locations and proven that where local stakeholders are in charge, peace processes have endured longer and generated more significant impact even when the broader context remains fragile.

Interpeace’s locally led conflict transformation practice encompasses various constellations of actors who perform functions such as conflict analysis, conflict monitoring and mapping, first responder mediation during times of violence and crisis, violence prevention through community engagement, and advocacy for structural responses to violence. These constellations include local infrastructures for peace, such as Regional Spaces for Dialogue in Guinea-Bissau, Permanent Dialogue Groups in Burundi, the Great Lakes Region, and the DRC, and Collaboration Frameworks in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. They also include groups of trained inside mediators in Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC, as well as trained elders and other change agents in Kenya, Libya, and Somalia.