PEACE INNOVATION

Currently, peace has a passive image, and peace building is grossly under-funded, especially when compared to the resources allocated to armed conflict.

Globally, for every $1 spent on the prevention of violent conflict, $1,885 is spent on military responses to conflict.

Peace Innovation will shift the whole public perception of peace to one of dynamism and action. By strengthening the local peace building field overall and increasing its visibility and significance on the public radar, the project also aims to substantially increase the field’s ongoing fundraising capability.

The Challenge

A wave of new national and intra-national conflicts must be expected globally as a result of the following factors:

·  Environmental degradation due to climate change

·  Diminishing natural resources

· Increasing poverty driven by unsustainable economic models

·  Escalation of organized crime profiting from conflict

The Status Quo

The world has become accustomed to accepting astronomical expenditures for military operations, for example the cost of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the year 2008 was $180 billion.

By contrast, implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/Aids and providing universal primary education by 2015, would cost $150-200 billion per year until 2015.

At the same time the UN struggles to find funding for its Peace Keeping Forces and the prevention of conflict is hardly funded at all. The world continues to spend billions on violent confrontation, while emerging research shows conclusively how cost-effective it is to prevent conflict from escalating in the first place.

The way the world currently deals with conflict is either through the use of force, or through negotiated settlements, most of which do not include key stakeholders and consequently 50% of peace agreements fall apart within 10 years.

In addition conflict is costing the world trillions of dollars in opportunity cost at a time of global urgency when this can least be afforded. For example: the failure to negotiate peace in the Middle East has resulted in opportunity cost for the period 1991 to 2010 of 12 trillion dollars.

The Opportunity

In recent years we have begun to see exciting new possibilities for transforming the status quo:

· The growth of civil society, even in conflict areas, is producing thousands of small non-governmental ‘bottom-up’ initiatives started by local ‘insiders’ that are demonstrating effectiveness in preventing violence and stopping killing.

·  When this kind of ‘bottom-up’ peace building is combined with skillful ‘top-down’ mediation and negotiation, it produces a durable transformation of conflict, and can end deadly cycles of violence.

· The influence of those who profit directly or indirectly from the instigation or continuation of conflict is becoming more apparent. Addressing this issue in a coherent way could get to the heart of the engine of conflict.

·  Post the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, global public opinion has become disenchanted with the application of superior force to conflict situations.

The Project

The purpose of the project is to empower and protect ‘insider/local’ peacemakers worldwide by working with the award-winning London-based organization Peace Direct, who know where and who the most effective local peace-builders are.

To do this effectively, the project will require rethinking the entire worldwide approach to peace building. In addition to Peace Direct, we will need:

·  A proven innovation-generating methodology that has not previously been applied to this field. The leading global design company IDEO, based in Palo Alto, California, will supply this methodology.

·  Access to state of the art communications technology that can empower and protect local peace-builders in unprecedented ways. In this context we will need a leader in the field in Silicon Valley as a partner.

·  An organization that represents ‘top-down’ conflict negotiation expertise. This resides for example within the United Nations Conflict Prevention Framework Team.

·  Experts from various fields, who can bring lateral thinking and unusual insight to this challenge.

The Vision

·  A dynamic global recognition of peace building, so that its progress can be followed around the world like a major sporting event.

· A mechanism to ensure consistent and efficient funding for local peace builders worldwide commensurate with their contribution to global peace and stability.

·  An integrated creative use of technology to empower peacemakers around the world.

·  A delivery system that provides the right resources at the right time to all stakeholders, making possible the transformation of a violent conflict into an environment in which kids can grow up in safety.