Adapt Peacebuilding

About Adapt Peacebuilding

Adapt provides research and consultancy services for local and international organisations in support of peace and sustainable development in conflict-affected environments. Our conflict and conflict sensitivity analyses, program design and management, and learning initiatives incorporate concepts and tools from complexity science, systems thinking and participatory approaches in order to thrive in complex and challenging contexts. We value deep and long term partnerships that empower local agency and lasting change.

Publisher

Adapt Peacebuilding

Category

education · news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Mar 2021

Latest episode

25 Apr 2023

Latest episodes

13 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Apr 2023

   CoInspira EP 1: ¿Por qué vale la pena trabajar por la paz? Leslie Wingender

   [ENG below] Estamos emocionados de presentarles nuestro primer episodio de Co-Inspira, el programa de Construcción de Paz en Colombia de Adapt Peacebuilding. En esta ocasión, les traemos una conversación inspiradora con Leslie Wingender, cuya carrera se ha enfocado en la construcción de la paz en distintos lugares del mundo, desde la República Centroafricana hasta Guatemala, Iraq, Líbano y Colombia. Leslie ha liderado programas de construcción de paz y manejo de conflictos en diversos contextos, diseñando, implementando, haciendo seguimiento y evaluando su impacto. En nuestro episodio, Leslie nos compartió sus inspiraciones y desafíos personales en la construcción de paz, así como su visión personal y profunda sobre cómo esta puede transformar la vida de las personas y las comunidades. En la actualidad, Leslie es Directora de Construcción de Paz en Humanity United, liderando el enfoque de seguimiento y evaluación del equipo de Construcción de la Paz y apoyando el aprendizaje entre equipos. Únase a nosotros para escuchar a Leslie compartir su experiencia y pasión por la paz, y descubra cómo cada uno de nosotros puede contribuir a construir una sociedad más justa, incluyente y pacífica. [Eng] In our first episode of Co-Inspira, the Peacebuilding Program in Colombia by Adapt Peacebuilding, we are pleased to introduce you to Leslie Wingender. With a career dedicated to peacebuilding in places such as the Central African Republic, Guatemala, Iraq, Lebanon, and Colombia, Leslie has led the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of peacebuilding and conflict management programs in diverse contexts. In our conversation, Leslie shared her personal inspirations and challenges in peacebuilding, as well as her intimate vision of how peacebuilding can transform the lives of individuals and communities. Leslie is currently the Director of Peacebuilding at Humanity United, leading the monitoring and evaluation approach of the Peacebuilding team and supporting learning among teams. Join us to hear Leslie share her experience and passion for peace, and discover how each of us can contribute to building a more just, inclusive, and peaceful society.

2. 

   22 Mar 2023

   Ep 10: People Power in Peace Processes: Harnessing the Influence of Social Movements

   This conversation explores the roles of popular social movements in relationship to national transitions from conflict to peace. Peace processes and other types of national political transitions are often criticised for not being sufficiently inclusive of the concerns of the public, or particular marginalised groups and issues. How can protest movements, civil disobedience campaigns, issue-based coalitions, and other forms of social movement support the negotiation and implementation of peace and transition processes that are more sustainable, and reflective of public concerns. The conversation explores Veronique's background in non-violent movements, the limitations and power assymetries of top down peace and transition processes, types of social movements and how they can respond to these, varying elite and subaltern conceptions of peace, how social movements can evolve through steps of conflict transformation beginning with awakening, transfer strategies and other design challenges for the inclusion of social movements, the ethics of violence and non-violence for achieving peace, and more. We draw upon examples in Guatemala, Colombia, Myanmar, Israel and Palestine, Ukraine, and elsewhere. To dig deeper on these topics, we recommend reading Veronique's papers: - on a twin framework for civil resistance and conflict transformation with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict in "Powering to Peace". - on the roles and strategies of social movements in national peace processes in "From the Street to the PeaceTable" with the United States Institute of Peace. - providing statistical evidence that more inclusive political processes lead to stabler democratic transitions in "Nonviolent Action and Transitions to Democracy," also with USIP - a practical action "SNAP guide" with strategies for nonviolent movements to advance peacebuilding (with USIP, by Nadine Bloch and Lisa Schirch)

3. 

   17 Jun 2021

   Ep 09: Transforming the global peacebuilding system for local leadership

   Decades of experience building peace in societies affected by violent conflict shows that these efforts are more effective and sustainable when they are led by local people. Despite this experience, the global system of peacebuilding organisations and institutions that fund and administer peacebuilding programs still largely reflects the interests of international outsiders. In this episode, we talk with Mie Roesdahl of the Conducive Space for Peace and how to achieve transformation of the global peacebuilding system so that it better prioritises the leadership of local people and reflects the contexts in which they seek change. Further detail is available in the System in Flux report. You can follow Conducive Spaces for Peace: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conducivespaceforpeace Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conducive-space-for-peace/ Twitter: @CSP_Peace Follow Adapt Peacebuilding: www.adaptpeacebuilding.org

4. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 08: Peace in the Age of Chaos with Steve Killelea

   “Peace in the age of chaos” is the new book from the founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace and the Global Peace Index, Steve Killelea. In this podcast we explore a range of compelling themes emerging from Steve’s book, including the contribution that systems thinking and positive peace can make towards better peacebuilding strategies and why peace is a prerequisite for tackling other complex challenges of our times, such as climate change and building back from the pandemic. Steve populates the conversation with rich evidence drawn from the work of his organisations, as well as personal anecdotes that paint the picture of a life fully lived and committed to the pursuit of a more peaceful world. Please follow these links for more information on the Global Peace Index, for access to the Peace in the Age of Chaos book, for free training courses available at the Positive Peace Academy, and more from the Institute for Economics and Peace. adaptpeacebuilding.org

5. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 07: Bottom-up peacebuilding in Myanmar

   Myanmar is in crisis. Six years on from the election of Myanmar's first civilian government in more than half a decade, the military has initiated a bold power grab. Hundreds have been detained, but the military may have underestimated how strongly their people would have reacted to having their rights trampled. Amidst a popular uprising that may well become the largest in the country's history, and with the military now with their back to the wall, there's much concern that popular protests will be met with a violent crackdown. This podcast episode was recorded before the military coup, and speaks to the topic of people power for change in Myanmar. The conversation is with Professor Danny Burns, from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, and Stephen Gray, Co-Founder and Director of Adapt, and reflects on methods for popular participation in the country's peace process. adaptpeacebuilding.org

6. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 06: Myanmar, COVID-19 and Social Cohesion

   The global pandemic brought on by the novel coronavirus has fundamentally transformed peacebuilding efforts, development initiatives and humanitarian response. This podcast episode, featuring Stephen Gray, Co-Founder and Director of Adapt, and Francis Zau Tu, Adapt's Programme Manager in Myanmar, discusses COVID-19’s implications for peacebuilding writ large and looks at Adapt’s work in Myanmar to understand how the pandemic has affected conflict dynamics and impacted peacebuilding. We explore new opportunities to advance peace and highlight some of the enabling factors that can allow organisations to build a culture of adaptation and learning in order to better serve communities in dynamic contexts. adaptpeacebuilding.org

7. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 05: Adapt's Team on: Adaptive Programming for Colombia’s peace process

   Stephen Gray is the executive director and co-founder of Adapt Peacebuilding, and Ángela María Báez- Silvia Arias is Adapt’s program development manager in Colombia. Both are currently based in Colombia and involved in adaptive programming – an approach that challenges the status quo of linear planning models by proposing that development planning should be adaptive to changes in the political and socio-economic operating environment. As a peace-building organisation focusing on systems thinking and complexity approaches, Adapt has recently been working with a governmental organisation in Colombia that was created under the umbrella of the Colombian Peace Accords of 2016. In this podcast, Stephen and Ángela share their learning of the past six months, in which Adapt has provided technical support to assist with the integration of the adaptive approach. adaptpeacebuilding.org/

8. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 04: Desirée Nilsson & Barbara Magalhães Teixeira on: Inclusivity in peacebuilding: does it work?

   Desirée Nilsson is an Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. Barbara Magalhães Teixeira is a research assistant at Uppsala University and has been working with Desirée on the inclusion of civil society actors in peace processes since 2018. Desirée's research focuses on conflict resolution and durable peace in civil wars, with a particular emphasis on multiparty dynamics. She holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict research from Uppsala University and has been an Associate Professor there since 2011. Marthe Hiev sets the tone for the interview by asking questions about Desirée's groundbreaking quantitative study 'Anchoring the Peace: Civil Society Actors in Peace Accords and Durable Peace', wherein she found that the inclusion of CSO's has a positive effect on the durability of peace. Desirée's research provides a solid perspective on the difficult context wherein peace processes take place, and also provides possible explanations for the positive effect that civil society inclusion has on peace agreements in a post-conflict context. In this interview, Desirée, Barbara and Marthe Hiev touch upon the following topics: -The idea of inclusion in peacebuilding-Why inclusion is important-How inclusion influences the durability of peace-Cases of civil society inclusion in peace processes-How the Colombian peace process integrates an inclusive approach adaptpeacebuilding.org/

9. 

   25 Mar 2021

   Ep 03: Adaptive Peacebuilding with Cedric De Coning

   Cedric de Coning is a Senior Research Fellow in the Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and he is also a Senior Advisor for ACCORD (African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes). He has 30 years of experience in research, policy advice, training and education in the areas of conflict resolution, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and peace and conflict studies. Cedric has a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics from the Department of Philosophy of the University of Stellenbosch, and a M.A. (cum laude) in Conflict Management and Peace Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Steve sets the tone for the interview by introducing the types of global situations and conflicts that the international community is addressing today: how we respond to divide and/or violent societies where the context is complex and unpredictable and the situation changes rapidly. In these contexts, it is difficult to know appropriate strategy to move forward and any solution will need to be locally owned. In this interview, Cedric and Steve cover several topics including:-The realities of being an “outsider” in complex contexts-The key elements of a strong adaptive approach-What to do when your process isn’t working-How to encourage adaptive programming in your organization-The role of “insiders” and “outsiders” in complex, often violent, contexts-When to use (and not use) an adaptive approach-How “outsiders” can support the building of resilience-What it would mean for the United Nations to take up adaptive programming adaptpeacebuilding.org/

10. 

    25 Mar 2021

    Ep 02: Emma Proud on Mainstreaming Adaptive Management into Mercy Corps

    Mercy Corps is a leading global humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding organisation. They work in country contexts that have undergone, or have been undergoing, various forms of economic, environmental, social, and political instabilities. Like Adapt Peacebuilding, Mercy Corps is putting adaptive management at the heart of their work, with a focus on their people management function. Adaptive management – defined as “an intentional approach to making decisions and adjustments in response to new information and changes in context” – helps Mercy Corps to be more effective in complex, unpredictable environments. This week we speak with the leader of this work - Emma Proud – Mercy Corps’ Director of Organizational Agility. She is working on ways to increase organisational agility so all 400 Mercy Corps programmes are enabled and encouraged to be adaptive.Highlights from our conversation include a discussion of: 1) Mercy Corp’s training models that incorporate neuroscience research and SCARF – a brain-based model for collaborating and learning with others,2) Their “Adapt Scan” process, which identifies factors that enable and inhibit adaptive actions, and3) Deep learning from their Navigating Complexity and Adapting Aid research processes. We also share experiences about USAID’s collaborate, learn, adapt initiative, which has an adaptive management podcast and program management tools that you should check out. adaptpeacebuilding.org/

11. 

    25 Mar 2021

    Ep 01: Duncan Green: On Adaptive Management and how it applies to development and peacebuilding

    The focus of this episode is adaptive management, and Duncan Green. Duncan is a senior adviser for Oxfam amongst other things. We talk about what Adaptive Management is and how it applies to international development work and peacebuilding. Why are we talking about Adaptive Management and what is it? Adaptive Management is a form of organizing work and managing work in international development settings in which you focus on learning from your context and you adapting your programming to meet the specific needs of the context as it changes. That's different from a typical approach which establishes a plan at the beginning, has a log frame, implements the plan as it was laid out, and then evaluates at the end: did it work or not? Adaptive management is a process of controlled experimentation to find and adapt the best approaches as you learn along the way. But because it doesn't follow a fixed plan, we don't necessarily know where we are going at the outset, which can be seen as risky by those that funds us and work with us. Now, why does this matter? People like Duncan and myself and many others are interested in this idea of complexity and the realization that when we're working particularly in situations of violent conflict we typically don't have very good information about what the needs are, about the variables that might affect the work that we're trying to do. The situation is changing all the time and we can't just assume that we can go in there with a predetermined plan and that everything is going to turn out fine. We actually have to be responsibly experimental and learn from our successes and our failures in a rapid way so we can be agile, adapt to the context, be conflict sensitive and ultimately be as effective as possible. Points covered of particular interest include:- Donor concerns around accountability, their tendency to perhaps be risk averse and how this creates issues worth trying to take on an adaptive approach that changes directions.-How to build trust with donors and work in closer partnerships when using adaptive approaches.-The role of monitoring, evaluation and learning as it relates to adaptive management.-Good rules of thumb for when you should be using an adaptive management approach versus more traditional approach.-The importance of telling good stories, having a close relationship with donors, and understanding the differences between upwards and horizontal and downwards accountability.-How we can shift the broader peacebuilding and development system to adopt more Adaptive Management approaches. Check out Duncan’s blog: From Poverty to Power - oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/ adaptpeacebuilding.org/ and adaptpeacebuilding.org/blog/

12. 

    25 Mar 2021

    Ep. 33 The Peacebuilding Podcast: Dr. Catherine Barnes on Overcoming our Addiction to Coercion

    This episode was a guest contribution to The Peacebuilding Podcast on 12th October, 2018. Join us in conversation with Catherine Barnes. I first met Catherine at a dialog and facilitation retreat in rural Myanmar. I was struck by the degree of presence that she bought to her work, mentoring and accompanying an emerging generation of positive change makers in that fascinating yet troubled country. Catherine is a rare breed of scholar practitioner. Her work is deeply grounded in decades of field work across thirty countries, while her research and writing covering topics of facilitation, dialog, activism, and social justice blends a high level of insight with accessibility. She is faculty member of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University and freelance peace researcher and practitioner, particularly as concerns dialog and facilitation techniques across conflict divides. Her comments in this episode are so relevant to our times. She describes our “addiction to coercion”, whereby we – internationally and domestically – try to compel others to accept our goals and points of view rather than expending our efforts and resources on collaborative activity for the greater good. She relates this to the increasing polarisation that we are experiencing domestically and internationally, and how we have in the past, and can in the future, find ways back through dialog and collaborative action. Catherine demystifies peace processes that are designed and implemented to end civil wars, drawing on examples from Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and elsewhere, and tracing the path from elite lead peace agreements to more the more inclusive peace processes of modern times. This conversation takes place against a backdrop of the increasing complexity of local and global forces that shape civil war conflicts, which renews calls that peace needs to be grown organically from within an affected society, not implanted in the form of blueprints from outsiders. This episode is a guest contribution to The Peacebuilding Podcast. adaptpeacebuilding.org/

13. 

    25 Mar 2021

    Ep. 32 The Peacebuilding Podcast: Graeme Simpson What Peacebuilding can Learn from Young People

    This episode was a guest contribution to The Peacebuilding Podcast on 8th October, 2018. Join us in conversation with Graeme Simpson, US Director of the non-profit Interpeace, and lead author of the United Nation’s flagship Progress Report on Youth, Peace, and Security. The highly participatory process of producing this work has been as important as some of its findings. Hundreds of youth across dozens of countries were involved in developing recommendations that underscore, among many other things, how young people are creative sources of peace, confronting their stereotype as primary perpetrators of violence. The young people that Graeme engages with question the efforts of peacebuilding institutions to “bring youth to the table”, highlighting a marginalisation and mistrust of governments and global institutions that has huge and troubling implications, yet at the same time inspires us with alternative, creative forms of organising and peacebuilding in a modern world. Graeme’s work shines a light on a glaring disconnect between the “integrated lived experience of people caught up in violent conflict”, and our national and global policies and organisations, which divide peace and conflict up into illusionary stages and distinct themes that are intimately connected on the ground. As with Graeme’s earlier work founding and leading South Africa’s Centre for Violence and Reconciliation, our approaches to supporting people and societies need to be better integrated and less siloed according to outsider priorities, and better at “listening down” to affected communities so we can “talk up” to donors and policy makers. We end by touching upon gender, where Graeme challenges the stereotype of the girl as a victim and the boy with the gun. Graeme is an articulate and passionate speaker whose policy work is deeply grounded in the lived experience of people experiencing conflict and forging peace.

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