As the world turns in ever more dramatic fashion, very few of us can say our lives are untouched by conflict. While growing numbers of people – equivalent to a landmass double the size of India – now live in conflict zones, all of us live under the shadow of war, demonstrating the urgent need to bring global peacebuilding processes into clear focus.

We are living through a profound shift in the global order. A logic of might is right has reasserted itself, bringing forth state violence as a legitimate means of political control. Fear and intimidation have become routine tools of diplomacy and governance. Beyond the steep decline in international funding lies the more insidious erosion of values essential to peace: harmony, compassion, and solidarity.

Global peacebuilding processes have become more difficult due to the narrowing of civic space: regulatory constraints on international funding, intimidation of activists, and direct threats to philanthropic support for progressive causes. Many people across the philanthropic sector feel an undercurrent of anxiety as resources for building a safe world based on mutual understanding shrink, while military spending continues to swell.

In a world order under question and attack, an urgent question is what role can philanthropy play in creating space for hope and possibility in an increasingly fragmenting world? How can it invest in the human relationships and capacities that make peace possible? Our recently co-published white paper, New Dialogues for Peace, explores these questions and offers a participatory process for finding answers.

What Philanthropy Is Already Doing for Global Peacebuilding Processes

Many of the answers are found in the work philanthropy is already doing. When we examined the philanthropic landscape, we found compelling evidence that philanthropy already supports locally rooted approaches to conflict transformation. These include:

  • Supporting community-led conflict transformation
  • Amplifying women’s leadership and participation in peace processes
  • Sustaining remembrance and cultural dialogue as sources of learning and solidarity in post-conflict contexts
  • Building a story of recovery, reintegration and community healing

Much of this work happens far from formal peace tables and international institutions. Although often unseen, philanthropy at its best offers a powerful counterpoint to the repeated failures of top-down approaches to global peacebuilding processes led by official agencies.

At this point, it is vital to note that philanthropy faces real limitations.  The main one is size, scale, and reach.  According to two surveys, Philanthropy for a Safe, Healthy and Just World, one conducted in 2019/20 and the other in 2023/24, peacebuilding is a low-priority area of foundations’ grantmaking.  Even so, many foundations support relevant work even though they may not classify it as such.  The white paper suggests that this offers an opportunity to rethink how we understand conflict, global peacebuilding processes, and the role of philanthropy.

Read the full article about global peacebuilding processes by Barry Knight and Chandrika Sahai at Alliance Magazine.