AN end-of-year letter from afp’s executive director, liz hume

December 13, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

AfP is now more than 200 organizations strong! AfP belongs to all of you, and we are stronger when we work together. Below, you will find critical updates and learn what AfP has done this year and is working toward in 2024.

Global leaders, such as the UN Secretary-General and President Biden, repeatedly state the importance of building peace and preventing violent conflict and fragility. However, bi and multilateral donors continue to view conflict prevention and peacebuilding as second-order issues and they remain under-resourced. While we need to be able to address ongoing record-breaking global crises, we must also prioritize conflict prevention and peacebuilding and robustly integrate them throughout development sectors. At InterAction’s 2023 Forum, AfP moderated a session on integrating social cohesion into development programming and presented at the 2023 ASTMH Annual Meeting on integrating health and conflict prevention programming. AfP will feature conflict prevention and peacebuilding integration as a predominant theme of PeaceCon 2024, to be held in September. Integrating conflict prevention and peacebuilding into other sectors will be a significant part of AfP’s work in 2024.

PeaceCon 2023, held May 3-5, transcended expectations. PeaceCon is not just any conference, but a gathering of changemakers and problem-solvers from around the world who come together to redefine the future of the field. We already started planning for next year, so stay tuned—and mark the second week of September in your calendar!

AfP's communication strategy is expanding, and we remain dedicated to amplifying the voices of our community. We now have over 80,000 followers across our social media platforms—12,000 more than at the beginning of 2023. AfP can highlight your work and events on our social media and newsletter. For more information, please contact Nicholas Gugerty. We also continue to connect with the media, with notable features in 2023 on ABC News, Just Security, and DevEx.

Thousands of peacebuilders globally are listening to AfP’s “Peace: We Build It!” podcast. We recently released two episodes: one addressing increasing conflict dynamics in the U.S. and another commemorating AfP’s 20th anniversary, featuring key founders Melanie Greenberg, Rob Ricigliano, and Hrach Gregorian. They reflect on how AfP began and where we go from here.

However, as a sector, we continue to struggle to explain what peacebuilding is and why we need it now more than ever. In a recent episode of the Making Peace Visible podcast, the FrameWorks Institute and I discussed our peace framing and narrative research and how to make our messaging more practical and understandable for everyone, from policymakers to the media to the public. To help achieve this goal, AfP recently updated our “What is Peacebuilding?” webpage and launched the #PeacebuildingIs campaign, featuring stories from our members about what peacebuilding looks like in action. Submit your program examples here.

In 2024, AfP will launch the Peacebuilding Communications and Narratives Community of Practice (PCNCP). As +Peace winds down, we invite members to build their capacity for effective communications and learn how to reshape the peacebuilding narrative. Please check out our recent capacity-building workshop on effectively publishing op-eds and contact us if you have ideas for capacity-building workshops.

AfP, through evidence-based advocacy and education, continues to co-lead the GFA Coalition with Mercy Corps—now more than 100 organizations strong. Since the finalization of the GFA country/regional plans in March, AfP convened the Coalition and USG officials to discuss the finalized 10-year implementation plans in the priority GFA countries and region. AfP also hosted a series of workshops with USG officials to inform the strategic monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks for GFA implementation and its Learning Agenda and provided extensive recommendations. The Coalition continues to have a real-time impact as the USG finalizes these frameworks by the end of the year.

AfP also leads the Prevention and Protection Working Group (PPWG)—a coalition of 275+ organizations and experts dedicated to improving policies and approaches to prevent violent conflict, avert mass atrocities, and protect civilians. Since April, AfP convened PPWG and USG officials over 10 times to discuss the conflict in Sudan, USG priorities, and the annual report on implementing the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. PPWG published a formal assessment of the report in October, followed by a consultation to present findings. In addition, PPWG submitted several sign-on letters, recommendations, and practical atrocity prevention tools to the USG to address the Sudan crisis. The Administration took several recommendations, such as increasing high-level statements and issuing sanctions. Recently, AfP also submitted a letter to the Biden Administration, signed by 50 organizations, calling for Secretary Blinken to urgently issue an atrocity determination for Sudan. On December 6th, the Administration announced both parties to the conflict had committed war crimes and the Rapid Support Forces also committed crimes against humanity—a key victory to ensure the USG takes robust action to protect civilians and hold the perpetrators to account. In addition, AfP and PPWG recently published atrocity risk assessments for the West Bank and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But as I repeatedly say, you can't do it if you don’t have the resources. Throughout the year, AfP consistently urged Congress to provide robust funding for critical peacebuilding and prevention accounts. AfP submitted 720 appropriations requests to individual offices and disseminated testimony and questions for the record (QfRs). When the House released its troubling FY 2024 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs) appropriations bill, AfP sent a sign-on letter to the House Appropriations Committee expressing grave concerns at the cuts and urging funding for critical peacebuilding accounts. AfP undertook extensive advocacy to call on the Senate to advance significantly higher amounts.

AfP continues to work with the 118th Congress outside of appropriations to promote legislative advances that support the peacebuilding sector. AfP is also leading advocacy to advance several bills, including a material support fix to allow peacebuilding work in the GFA countries, a Crimes Against Humanity statute, the Atrocities Prevention Act, the Women, Peace, and Security Act 2.0, and a bill formally establishing the Negotiation Support Unit within the Department of State. In August, AfP endorsed the reintroduction of the bipartisan Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) Act in a press release by the office of Representative Grace Meng (D-NY). AfP also briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee on action needed to prevent and address atrocities in Sudan and advance the WPS Agenda.

AfP is working to advance the New Agenda for Peace (NAP) before the fall 2024 Summit of the Future. AfP held and participated in numerous public and private events, including hosting a member roundtable on how the peacebuilding field can leverage the NAP to prioritize conflict and violence prevention. AfP presented at the People's Assembly of the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA) and at an event hosted by the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington in October. AfP is on the CSPPS Executive Committee, and recently, I was elected as the Co-Chair. Through CSPPS, AfP is working closely with the UN on the NAP and the International Dialogue Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS) platform. In September, IDPS launched its joint statement, “Turning the Tide for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies.” In light of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Summit, the statement calls for collective, multilateral action to urgently accelerate progress on SDG 16, in line with the NAP.

The 2023 Sustainable Development Report revealed the world is significantly lagging in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This year, I co-authored a chapter with CSPPS and GPPAC in the TAP Network’s Halfway to 2030 Report on SDG16+ on implementing target 16.1 to reduce all forms of violence. Unfortunately, the progress on SDG 16 is significantly behind. AfP is a member of the TAP network, and we encourage members to join the SDG16Now Campaign. I also sat on a high-level panel during UNGA, discussing how we can accelerate SDG16. In May, AfP’s Megan Corrado moderated a panel at the UN SDG 16+ Conference in Rome, focusing on using the rule of law and human rights to prevent violent conflicts. She also participated in sessions to review the progress and challenges related to SDG16 implementation. AfP’s continued engagement in these platforms will inform the review of SDG16 and others at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and Eradicating Poverty in Time of Multiple Crises: The Effective Delivery of Sustainable, Resilient, and Innovative Solutions, in July 2024.

The peacebuilding field must also continuously innovate in response to evolving conflict dynamics, especially the impacts of technological mass disruption and artificial intelligence (AI). In August, AfP released a statement condemning the legal actions X (formerly Twitter) has taken against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, urging for protection of peacebuilders that research and address conflict dynamics online and offline. AfP also published a policy brief on how to ensure AI integrates best practices of conflict prevention. Join AfP’s Digital Peacebuilding Community of Practice to further engage on these issues. 

As a principal investigator of the LASER Pulse research effort under USAID CPS/CVP, AfP is finalizing a series of new research efforts. These include a systematic mixed methods review on global P/CVE programming, a literature review on conflict sensitivity in peacebuilding, and a series of measurement reports for P/CVE, Climate Security, Violence Reduction, and Conflict Sensitivity/Integration. Watch out for these reports in 2024.

While we can’t work on every violent conflict, AfP, in partnership with its members, has and will continue to develop recommendations on major violent conflicts, including Israel, Ukraine, and Sudan. AfP released a Call to Action on the Israel-Hamas conflict, condemning the horrific violent extremist attacks in Israel and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities. This summer, AfP released a new version of its Global Call to Action on Ukraine, analyzing ongoing developments and providing updated recommendations. AfP also issued a statement over the summer marking two years since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, providing practical actions the U.S. can take to support and protect Afghan women and girls.

We regularly hold capacity-building workshops, and recently, AfP held a cybersecurity and protecting against cyberattacks workshop and a trauma-informed care training, focusing on equipping people with the necessary tools and techniques to help individuals deal with the trauma caused by various global events. AfP welcomes recommendations from members about workshops to build our members' organizational capacity. AfP also hosted a call for CEOs and senior leaders from organizational members to discuss key issues in the peacebuilding sector, including compliance with federal lobbying and reporting laws, crisis communication best practices, and restrictions on what U.S. 501(c) 3 non-profits can and cannot say about candidates during an election period. If you want more information about these topics, please contact Dawn Blais.

While conflict exists everywhere, we do not have to accept that violent conflict is inevitable. But peace doesn’t just happen; we have to build it. Thank you for working to prevent and reduce violent conflict, violence, and fragility—even in the face of unprecedented and record-breaking violent conflicts. In 2024, we need peacebuilders now more than ever, and we are grateful for your commitment to peacebuilding and for your partnership.

All my best,