how do we make a difference?
how do we make a difference?
What we do
The projects of Release Peace focus on armed violence and conflict prevention. We pursue a comprehensive approach to do this. We work together with local communities, NGOs, women’s rights groups and international organisations. Please find an overview of our work below.
Global Responses to Global Issues
We are conducting high-level advocacy in the Peace & Security field. Specifically, we are currently advocating for an innovative way to prevent non-state groups from accessing small arms and stop perpetrating violence. Non-state armed groups are responsible for atrocities and and perpetuate instability in many world regions today. This holds especially true for Africa and the Middle East. The group ISIS might be the most prominent of those examples. These global challenges require global policy approaches that reduce the number of weapons that end up with these actors. We therefore hold dialogues with relevant UN agencies, senior foreign ministry officials, and at ambassadorial levels to help reduce the number of weapons that fall into the hands of non-state actors. Specifically, we propose a mechanism that would support the periodic destruction of arms in countries before they are diverted. This reflects Release Peace’s guiding philosophy: Prevention is better than intervention. Learn more:
Our International Work is Informed by Local Projects
We have a simple philosophy: Prevention is better than intervention. Much attention and money is spent on responding to armed violence. Our work focuses instead on seeking to prevent violence in the first place.
West Africa
A major security challenge in West Africa at this moment is the unaccounted number of weapons circulating in the region. Some of the smaller arms are produced locally by individual blacksmiths in backyards and villages. This is not an organised activity and simply a way for the involved gunsmiths to put food on the table for their families. Together with local communities, our work on the ground aims to reduce the number of weapons produced in this way by offering the blacksmiths alternative, legal livelihoods. We connect them to jobs in metal-working fields where they can use their skills for a better purpose. If you want to see more about our West Africa programme, please see here.
Ethiopia
Due to the security situation in Ethiopia, our programme is currently suspended. Our programme intended to offer people in rural communities positive incentives to exchange their weapons for useful farming tools. Over 90% of the rural population in Ethiopia are farmers. Improving their harvests is a clear priority to them. We believe providing people with agricultural training, better crops and financial knowledge if they hand in their weapons is an inclusive way to reduce small arms proliferation. Find more specifics about Ethiopia and our plans below:
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, the United Nations defined 17 goals to achieve a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. We strongly believe that supporting stability and peace must be at the heart of any credible strategy to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is a clear link between how well a country can develop and how peaceful it is. It is therefore clear to us that none of the SDGs can be achieved without peace. Please see how the SDGs are connected to our work and how we contribute to the SDGs below:
Our Team
We have a small core team of currently 10 staff, with a majority being women. Our head office is in The Hague (Netherlands), with colleagues working remotely from other countries as well. We are an interdisciplinary team with backgrounds in international relations, finance, law, and journalism. Our passion for a better and more peaceful world drives us. If you want to join our team, check out our vacancies below:
Our Way of Working
Our Way of Working
Community Meeting in Ghana
We are conscious that we are a ‘Western’ organisation and we are adamant that it is not for us to tell communities in other parts of the world how to best address local issues. We believe in true partnerships and eye-level conversations. We are guided by the priorities and cultural practices of the communities we work with, not the reverse.
School children in PNG
We rely on your support to continue our projects on the ground!
How can you help?
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Work with Release Peace
