The idea for the Everyday Peace Initiative sparked from a research project that revealed how powerful the action of ordinary people can be in times of war. People’s role as agents of peace has long be underestimated. They are too often seen as passive victims, compelled by the force of political actors and armed groups. Yet, there is much that ordinary people all around the world do everyday to resist violence in its many different forms – the direct and visible ones, as well as the more silent and invisible violence.
Ordinary people have the potential to bring about deep changes from within the fabric of the society that cannot be imposed from above or from the outside. Peace is not just for states, international organizations, or powerful institutions, and violence does not just happen in far away countries. Violence may not be so visible when it is accepted and legitimized, or considered as normal, yet it still hurts people in their everyday lives. Peace concerns us all, in it is up to us to make it happen. The purpose of the Everyday Peace Initiative is to support and promote people around the world as agents of peace.
What we do
Through a range of innovative projects, we are putting together tools, knowledge and resources to help people understand violence and define strategies to address it. These peace education resources are available online and disseminated through digital platforms. We have a research collective which conducts peace research and connects with the knowledge and experiences of people who have faced violence and resisted structured of power in diverse contexts. We also look at how different forms of everyday violence are legitimized and reproduced.
The Everyday Peace Initiative seeks to bridge academic and ordinary people’s knowledge about peace and conflict. We use digital tools to bring people together through The Everyday Peace Community, as well as to disseminate peace resources and training opportunities that can help enhance people’s understandings of violence and build peace in their communities.