People work. Not paper work.

WHY WE DO IT.

Sixty per cent of children who die before their fifth birthday are in conflict-affected areas. But, conflict doesn’t just kill through violence, it costs lives through poverty and disease and threatens regional stability.

• Education – during Mozambique’s civil war, nearly 50% of primary schools closed or destroyed.
• Health – in Bosnia-Herzegovina child immunisation rates fell from 95% before the outbreak of war to under 35% at the height of the conflict.
• Economy– in part of South Sudan, 40% of the population lost all their cattle in the 20 year conflict.
• Refugees – some 25m people worldwide are living as refugees because of conflict.
• Employment – 60% male unemployment across Bosnia, Serbia & Kosova.
• Infrastructure – de-population of towns and villages, lack of water, failed transport systems . It all impacts on agriculture, food production and local economies.

It makes financial sense to act before a conflict leads to a full blown humanitarian crisis and that means listening to local people who can see the beginnings of a full scale conflict.

There are many victims of war, including the millions of people who are refugees because of conflict. We think it’s time to start funding those who are trying to stop the conflict.

Conflict. Resolution.

Peace agreements might make headlines but they don’t always last. More than half of conflicts restart within ten years of a peace agreement being signed. The international community, including the UN, charities and governments have resources and money but they’re still “ outsiders” .

Practical experience and research show that the most effective peacebuilding processes involve insiders and outsiders, sharing knowledge, experience and resources. So as well as funding local peacebuilders, part of our work involves lobbying external organisations to include local people in their plans.

Quite simply, we want local peacebuilding to be central to all strategies for managing conflict.

We believe that those “outsiders” with power and resources would like to develop better partnerships with local peacebuilders, but don’t always know how to. So our starting point is to make local peacebuilding visible, and show what can be done. Insight on Conflict is an example of a practical resource for people working in conflict areas and peacebuilding.