Peacebuilding 2.0: Mapping the Boundaries of an Expanding Field

into key related sectors such as development,
democracy, food security, health, and genocide
prevention. As of 2012, peacebuilding has been woven
inextricably into the missions of the United Nations, the
United States Armed Forces, the US Government, the
private sector, large development organizations, and a
broad range of social change organizations.
While the field has grown exponentially in both impact
and influence, it lacks the cohesion to operate most
effectively in fragile, chaotic zones of conflict around
the world. In order to reach its full potential, the field
must move from Peacebuilding 1.0—the existing
dynamic yet disconnected series of peacebuilding
activities across a broad range of sectors—to
Peacebuilding 2.0—a more unified field that harnesses
the collective energy of all peacebuilding interventions
and creates joint impact that leads to more stable,
resilient societies. The challenge of Peacebuilding 2.0
is to coordinate, communicate, and learn across the
current disparate sectors as well as understand how a
more expansive field can operate beyond the sum of its
individual parts.
Key Survey Findings
The Peacebuilding Mapping Project conducted two
separate surveys of a total of 119 nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs): one of 44 US-based
peacebuilding organizations (all members of the
Alliance for Peacebuilding) and the other of 75 NGOs
in closely related fields. The latter included those that
self-identify as peacebuilders and those that do not but
whose work intersects with peacebuilding and whose
personnel operate congruently with peacebuilders
in zones of conflict. The survey data have helped us
identify key principles and modalities of peacebuilding
across a wide range of NGOs and outline the
parameters of a much more expansive community of
peacebuilding practice. 3
3 See appendices 4 and 5 for complete survey instruments
online at www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org/pmp.
Data emerging from the surveys suggest the following:
AfP Members 4
• Focus primarily on core peacebuilding and
conflict resolution processes, with over 90 percent
working on social cohesion and trust building.
Interestingly, while their work focuses on these core
peacebuilding activities, AfP members also work
within a diverse array of other sectors, including
development, human rights, women, and youth.
• Work across 153 countries and at all points on the
conflict spectrum. 5 Given the fiscal constraints and
substantial demands on these organizations, many
have found it difficult to successfully implement
their full scope of work.
• Function with extremely limited financial and
human resources, with more than 60 percent
operating on peacebuilding budgets of less than
$500,000 per year.
Organizations from Related Sectors 6
Fifty-six organizations indicated that they consider
themselves peacebuilders, while 15 organizations stated
that they are not peacebuilding organizations. 7
• These organizations perform peacebuilding work
within a wide spectrum of other sectors, 8 with over
4 See appendix 1, list A for survey 1 participants (AfP
members).
5 Pre-conflict, during conflict, and post-conflict.
6 See appendix 1, lists B and C for survey 2 participants
(related organizations).
7 Four organizations only provided demographic
information, thus the total number of organizations surveyed
was 75.
8 The sectors included in this survey do not cover all the
potential fields; however, they provide a comprehensive
overview of those working in and around conflict contexts and
include academic, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and
transformation, democracy and governance, development,
environment, food security, genocide prevention, health,
human rights, human security, humanitarian aid, nuclear
proliferation, refugees and internally displaced persons,
religion, rule of law, science and technology, security, women,
and youth.
Alliance for Peacebuilding
5