Advocacy is one of our tools to transform the way institutions and decision-makers respond to conflict.
At Search, we recognize that to change the way the world addresses conflict and build healthy, just, and safe societies, key institutions must use and support peacebuilding as their preferred method of responding to conflict. However, peacebuilding is currently underemployed and under-resourced. To address this gap, Search uses advocacy at all levels of our work, from influencing local decision-makers to global institutions.
Policy & Advocacy Resources
Policy Brief – Climate Change, Gender and Youth in Gatumba
Gatumba, a peri-urban border zone in western Burundi facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has suffered recurrent and increasingly destructive flooding for the past decade. These shocks have disrupted livelihoods, housing, schooling and social cohesion. While the whole community is affected, the impacts are deeply gendered and generational. Drawing…
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Un Plaidoyer Qui Rassemble: Le potentiel d’une approche multipartiale et non-conflictuelle
Le plaidoyer prend de nombreuses formes, souvent complémentaires. Pour son programme quinquennal multi-pays, l’Alliance pour un Avenir Juste (Just Future Alliance JFA) a accordé une attention particulière à l’essai et à l’adaptation pour un plaidoyer créatif et non-conflictuel basé sur le dialogue et la collaboration multipartiale. S’appuyant sur l’expertise des…
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Advocacy that Unites: The Potential of a Multi-partial and Non-Adversarial Approach
Advocacy takes many, often complementary forms. For its five-year, multi-country programme, the Just Future Alliance (JFA) invested special attention in testing and adapting creative, non- adversarial advocacy through multipartial dialogue and collaboration. Drawing on JFA partners’ expertise in local, peacebuilding-informed practice, this approach emphasises engaging with and understanding diverse stakeholders,…
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Building Comprehensive Security: Rethinking Europe’s Toolbox for Peace and Conflict Transformation
Authored by Peter Hefele, Policy Director, Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies & Inge Brees, Policy and Outreach Manager in Brussels, Search for Common Ground Europe’s current security approach is largely shaped by an understandable focus on defence and deterrence in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Threat perceptions in…
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Policy Brief – Climate Adaptation, Local Governance and Social Cohesion in Burundi
Gatumba, a flood-prone peri-urban border zone in western Burundi facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has endured recurrent and increasingly destructive flooding for the past decade. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in 2025 and 2026, this brief examines how climate change interacts with governance, land politics and regional conflict —…
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Strategic choices to connect peace, defence and deterrence
The EU is reframing its security approach in response to hybrid threats and Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also the shift in US foreign and security policy. Moving away from its traditional ‘soft security’ identity, the EU increasingly prioritises strategic autonomy, military readiness and deterrence. This structural shift is redirecting…
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Make Space for Peace at COP30: Lasting climate action requires lasting peace
Over the past five years, progress has been made to interlink the global concerns for peace and climate action in international climate fora. Ignoring peace and conflict risks at COP30 may jeopardise effective climate action. The first of its kind, the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace called…
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Environmental peacebuilding as a climate-security priority for the EU – Examples from the Sahel
The Central Sahel faces interlinked crises of conflict, climate change and fragility, but responses have been fragmented. Environmental peacebuilding offers opportunities to promote cooperation between conflicting groups through climate-sensitive and mutually beneficial projects around natural resources. In this brief, we explore what the EU’s agenda means for environmental peacebuilding by…
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Rights Advance: Improving Fundamental Freedoms and Human Rights in Iraq
The Rights Advance: Improving Fundamental Freedoms and Human Rights in Iraq is a comprehensive 30-month project that will be implemented by the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR), Search for Common Ground (Search), and the Iraqi al-Amal Association (IAA). This project aims to contribute to the improvement of the rights to…
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Strengthening an Iraqi Community of Practice in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance – (2023-2025)
The Iraqi Community of Practice (CoP) in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance is a 24-month project implemented by Search for Common Ground (Search) and funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). The CoP is a community of 37 organizations operating throughout Iraq.…
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