When we look on the news it does not take long to find stories of violent conflict in different parts of the world. We hear stories from places such as Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, and Ukraine among others. For some of these conflicts, they have been going on for only a short time while others have continued since before many of us and even our parents have been alive. Despite this conflict however, there are people who have devoted their profession to the work of peacebuilding. So, what is peacebuilding?
Peacebuilding is about “finding structures that remove causes of wars and offer alternatives to war in situations where it might occur.” (Galtung, 1976) In other words, the focus becomes about finding creative solutions to conflict avoid the use of violence. Within peacebuilding one can find various practices that fit into this creativity such as conflict resolution, conflict transformation, restorative justice, nonviolence, and more. These different approaches, when used in their appropriate ways and in the right context, can be helpful in the effort of peacebuilding.
While people can talk about peacebuilding and implement these various strategies the question behind all of them is simply, can peacebuilding be effective? When one begins to look deeper into the various efforts in peacebuilding, one can find the success of nonviolent movement to liberate countries, restorative justice programs that are making a difference in the judicial systems as offenders are transformed from their past lives while the victims of their crimes are heard and understood better than through traditional court proceedings. When people opt for conflict resolution practices like mediation, they may come to understand the other side in a deeper, more real way and in the best of cases make a new friend along the way.
It is stories like these that permeate the world around us. Stories of peacebuilding where there exists struggle, heartache, and pain. But also, in the cracks we see these glimmers of hope, the times where peacebuilding has changed the lives of both individuals and in turn their communities. It is for these moments of hope that peacebuilding and those who engage in it live for. Because, for every relationship mended and for every injustice answered, we come one step closer to that goal of peace.
