Location: Africa

  Your blood rushes into your ears, muffling people’s screams as machetes slice through the air. You run faster, but you can’t escape the saccharine metallic smell coming at you from everywhere. A sudden burst of pup-pup-pup-pah-pah urges you forward, your feet peddling the air. Bullet casings fall to the…

Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest peacebuilding organization, welcomes the release of the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace, supported by 70 countries at COP28. This significant step forward, along with the first-ever day dedicated to relief, recovery, and peace as part of the official COP agenda, marks…

What is Policy Work? Policy work is advocacy. It is an effort to educate and inform the institutions making decisions to resolve conflict. Policy work influences how the Department of State, the US Congress, the UN, and other international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) adjudicate resources. At the heart of our policy…

Soumana poses outside his welding factory. Photo by Oriane van den Broeck. The staccato rhythm of hammers fills the air. In this metal workshop in Niger, Soumana, part of a diverse group of iron workers, races against the clock to fill orders. Not that long ago, this scene would have…

Read this article from Search for Common Ground’s Eoin O’Leary & Beatrice Abouya on what role European countries can have in building a peaceful future for Niger. “The withdrawal of French forces from Niger is officially underway, just weeks after French president Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a full withdrawal by year’s…

Check out this article from Search Mali Country Director, Tahirou Dounda, on the impact of AI and technology on violent conflict. “The impact of AI will not only be felt throughout the United States, but will ripple and permeate around the world, making lives easier in the west while potentially…

We began in 1982 at the height of the Cold War, and we focused on building bridges between East and West. Back then, we had two employees, a handful of supporters, and a minuscule budget. And we had the audacity to think we could change the world – from a…

Climate change, environmental degradation, and overexploitation intensify the scarcity of natural resources such as fertile land or water, minerals, and oil in the Global South. In already fragile contexts, this often leads to violent conflict. Over the past century, as much as 20 percent of all armed conflicts have been…

In light of the devastating and ongoing violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and the continued exchange of rocket attacks, we reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire and unequivocal condemnation of the killing of civilians. Given the ongoing siege of Gaza, we urge all parties to immediately open and…