Across the world thousands of people are taking a stand for peace. Local people are freeing child soldiers, negotiating peace between warring communities and rebuilding lives after years of war. These local peacebuilders are working in place outsiders can’t reach, and have the knowledge, skills, and motivation to build peace in the most deeply divided conflicts.
Yet despite the immeasurable contribution of local people to building peace, they receive little recognition. The humanitarian system is stacked in favour of large international organisations. In 2013 local organisations directly received just 0.2% of the money available for humanitarian aid.
Since Peace Direct was set up a decade ago, it’s been our mission to change this. To support and showcase the variety and scale of peacebuilding led by local people around the world.
Now in its fourth year, our Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders awards offer global recognition for grassroots peace activists in conflict affected countries all over the world. These are the only global awards for local peacebuilders – inspiring individuals who are building a better tomorrow in the world’s most fragile places.
719 organisations from 82 countries entered in the first three years. Previous winners have demonstrated the range of innovative local approaches to peace – former fighters coming together for peace in Israel-Palestine, overcoming prejudice in the Philippines, showing co-existence is possible in Colombia, and much more.
This year’s awards are being run in association with Alliance for Peacebuilding. Three grassroots organisations will win a prize of $10,000 and online promotion of their work. The categories this year are: women-led peacebuilding, environmental peacebuilding and inter-religious peacebuilding.
Entries for the 2016 awards open today and close on 10 October 2016. Entry forms and further details are online at www.peacedirect.org/tp.
For media and promotional enquiries, please contact Charlotte Fraser at [email protected]
