Peace it Together

What is the project about

The Peace it Together network hosted the Power of One Conference in October 2012 which brought together 200 civil society representatives from 28 countries. UNDP-ACT Photo.

The Peace it Together project was implemented in collaboration with and in celebration of the important work done by Cypriot civil society. The project intended to capture and codify the wealth of knowledge generated over 12 years of peace building and reconciliation practices. These invaluable experiences could then be easily exported to other post-conflict settings within the Euro-Mediterranean region as best-practices.

A second aim of the project was to establish a digital platform that utilizes innovation for civic engagement and peacebuilding. This digital platform would become the inter-regional “go to place” for civil society and citizen led civic engagement efforts.

The Peace it Together project served to lay foundations for catalyzing a regional network & outreach to new key partnerships, both local and international - putting Cyprus on the map. In this vein, the project organized a major conference in Cyprus, bringing together 200 participants from the MENA and Eastern & Central Europe regions for the “Power of One” conference, during which five inter-regional partnerships were funded and implemented also within the context of the Peace it Together project.

Finally, the project enabled Practitioner Exchanges, through which practitioners from Cyprus were able to visit practitioners in other countries, and practitioners from other settings visited Cyprus, for mutual learning experiences. These visits allowed practitioners to transfer tools, methods and practices of citizen-based peace building, while accumulating knowledge of reconciliation work from peers in other countries.

Output: Knowledge Platform for Reconciliation established and mechanisms for building civil society capacities in citizen peace building created.

What have we accomplished so far

Collecting, codifying and innovating local knowledge and expertise through Civic Mapping: The project undertook a detailed research process, starting with interviewing of key stakeholders, and moving onto organized several workshops and focus groups, as well as databases of major funders on the island, in order to create an interactive map that tells the story of civil society’s efforts in peacebuilding throughout several decades in Cyprus.
Multi Stakeholder Workshops & Knowledge Innovation Fund: One of the major aims of the project was to stimulate creation of innovative tools, such as apps and games, that would contribute to civic engagement and peacebuilding efforts on the island. To that end, the project launched a Knowledge Fund that eventually yielded 7 interactive tools.
Development of the Mahallae platform, including hosting of the interactive tools and civic mapping efforts mentioned above.
The organization of the “Power of One” conference, which brought together 200 participants from 28 countries: The conference was intended from the beginning to be a space for fostering innovation, sharing best practices and networking. It facilitated the exchange of knowledge and experiences between practitioners from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The three-day conference offered a unique opportunity for civil society practitioners and thinkers to share their wealth of knowledge in an interactive way. The event also allowed for user-generated innovation, directly funding five inter-regional projects as a result.

Who finances it?

Donor	Funding
USAID	630,000 Euro

Delivery

528,000 EURO