Peace Direct Inc.

“Finance committee reviews and approve the 990 which is shared with the board.”

“All board members review the conflict of interest policy annually at the first board meeing of the calendar year and must agree to its terms in writing.”

“To determine the executive director compensation, an analysis of salaries/compensation is conducted by the board. Current salary of the director is benchmarked to the compensation of other executives in the region, city and by annual budget and industry.”

“All information is available upon request.”

“Peace direct is an international organization working with local people to stop violent conflict and build sustainable peace. We believe that local people should be at the center of defining and driving peacebuilding in their communities. As we approach our 20th year, since our founding in 2002, we have established ourselves as a champion of locally led efforts to prevent violent conflict and build lasting peace around the world. In 2019, the porticus foundation reviewed peacebuilding organizations worldwide and ranked peace direct no. 2 in reach and influence globally, second only behind an organization that functions as a network for other peacebuilding organizations, which includes peace direct as a member. Peace direct's long-term goal is the substantial shift in power and resources to local actors working on the frontlines of conflict around the world, leading to a reduction in violent conflict in those contexts and a just, sustainable peace. Peace direct's strategic plan focuses on expanding our global impact. Our work is critical to mobilizing vital resources enabling our partners to continue their work. Our vision of dynamic support to and solidarity with our partners enables us to be nimble in our capacity to meet emerging needs, especially in times of crisis. As a part of our five-year strategy, we expanded our scope to support local peacebuilding in our own backyard by recognizing our responsibility to help undo the root causes of injustice and violence here in the us and in the americas, while we continue to support our peacebuilding partners striving to eliminate violent conflict in 13 countries globally.”

“Supporting local peacebuilders: we support local people on the frontlines of conflict who are preventing, responding to, and rebuilding after war. We support courageous local peacebuilders in 13 countries through long-term partnerships, networking, resource mobilization, and shared learning. All programs we support are designed by or co-designed with our local partners. Examples of our partnerships include supporting the reintegration of child soldiers and other former combatants in the democratic republic of congo; helping young people find alternatives to violence and become leaders for peace in their communities in somalia and the central african republic; expanding the work of peace committees to mediate conflicts in sudan; strengthening local civil society networks to prevent atrocities and promote peace in myanmar; advancing the leadership of women and girls in building peace in pakistan; and, provide flexible institutional funding to organizations in 5 provinces of afghanistan since the taliban takeover. In drc, our partners have also created the peace gold project, forming cooperatives that are producing the first ethically and environmentally sound gold in the country and securing peace and livelihoods for their communities. With local action fund- epd, acting as hub organization, will support the local csos, wros and networks in five provinces of afghanistan that are focusing on peace building initiatives and will mentor them for the effective implementation of their action plans. Through the local action fund, our partner in afghanistan will support community-based organizations immediately with flexible institutional funding for their survival needs and to enable them to pay salaries and stipend to their staff and volunteers. In next few months, epd will provide technical training to the selected cso for them to be able to work effectively at the grass root level and contribute to promotion of peacebuilding, conflict resolution and other humanitarian support in emergency context. Here in the u.s., we partner with networks working for racial healing, justice, and the prevention of violence in this country. We hold online peace exchanges to share knowledge, network, collaborate, and activate projects together. We will bring lessons from more than 15 years of experience with local peacebuilders around the world to bear on our work here at home as we listen and follow the lead of local communities on the frontlines in this country. We are also expanding our support further by exploring and building new partnerships in south and central america, a region with some of the highest rates of violence globally and a thriving civil society with which to partner for peace. Here we have developed relationships with peacebuilding partners in colombia focused on indigenous and marginalized groups and plan to deepen our support to their work as soon as funding allows.”

“Advocacy and research: peace direct is committed to holding space for local voices to be heard in international policymaking, as well as advocating alongside local peacebuilding partners for the needs and recommendations they themselves identify. Having recently been awarded ecosoc status, our seasoned advocacy team maintains extensive networks and relationships with the united nations, the european union, u.s. And uk governments, engaging key decision-makers regularly to inform and influence policy. As a leading voice within the peace and security field for locally led peacebuilding, we help shift u.s. And un policies and programs toward greater recognition and support for local peacebuilding. For example, peace direct helped advocate for the reform of the un peacebuilding architecture with greater inclusion of and support for locally led peacebuilding. In addition, we have successfully advocated for increased u.s. Recognition, funding, and support for youth-led peacebuilding, including support for the youth, peace and security act of 2020. Looking ahead, peace direct plans to engage more with u.s. Based organizations and coalitions to educate and advocate for policies that help undo racism and militarism here at home as well. This includes shifting resources from wasteful war spending to supporting real security for communities in the us and around the world, as well as decolonizing the aid, humanitarian, and peacebuilding sectors. Our advocacy is informed by the reports and publications from our research team. This year, the team is working with peace direct's partners and global advisory council to establish a core group or partners to inform our advocacy strategy to ensure it is partner led. Our research team works alongside our local peacebuilding partners and experts to undertake cutting-edge, action-oriented studies to build a stronger evidence-base for locally led peacebuilding. We have published more than 20 reports that vary in focus of country and themes, including recent reports: time to decolonise aid, race, power & peacebuilding, covid-19 and the impacts on local peacebuilding, escaping perpetual beginnings: locally-led atrocity prevention in eastern drc, local peacebuilding: what works and why, and racial justice and peacebuilding in the united states. Overall, our primary recommendation remains the same: local actors need to lead, and be better supported by the international community, in peacebuilding processes before, during, and after conflict erupts. Peace direct further promotes the work of our partners plus 1,800 locally led peacebuilding initiatives through peace insight, our comprehensive digital platform showcasing local peacebuilding globally. Peace insight is where you can find articles and stories from our network of local peacebuilding experts (lpes) based in conflict areas. Our trusted lpes provide updates and analysis on country developments, network with local peacebuilding groups and support our programs. As the ukraine war erupted, peace direct reached out to our lpe based in kyiv to provide insights and perspectives from the conflict zone. Students, academics, and policy makers have referred to peace insight to supplement their research on the effectiveness and importance of locally led peacebuilding in addition, we engage with local peacebuilders worldwide through our online forum for peace practitioners, platform4dialogue. This platform enables local peacebuilders to communicate directly with one another across the globe, building connections and sharing experiences and learnings. Additionally, platform4dialogue provides others in the peacebuilding community access to local perspectives to learn together and improve practice and policy.”

“Public engagement: although more governmental institutions and large funders are beginning to recognize the importance of locally led peacebuilding, peace direct knows this needs public support to gain momentum. One of peace direct's objectives in the u.s. Is to build a broad-based public constituency who is informed, inspired, and activated to work for peace in their own communities, and in solidarity with others around the globe. Through our growing digital engagement and direct people-to-people connections, we share inspiring stories, disseminate research and policy information, and mobilize individuals to take action with us in support of locally led peace. We are using creative ways to share our message of the effectiveness and importance of locally led peacebuilding beyond the usual crowd with the hopes of empowering anyone to be a peacebuilder. In the u.s. This includes: peacetalks: a series of events hosted by peace direct featuring local peacebuilders sharing their stories of hope and resilience in the face of violence inspiring audience members to build peace in their communities. Recently, we have highlighted the efforts of local peacebuilders from the u.s., particularly as they respond to systemic racism and militarism felt in the country.”

“Ppp funds forgiven in 2021 -65,170”