Peace, as We Understand It

This report presents the findings and analysis of the survey “Peace, as we Understand it: How Organisations Define and Pursue It”, conducted under the framework of the BMZ-funded project “Shifting Power: How can HDP Nexus Actors Work Towards Locally Led Peace?” (2025-2027) at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (bicc).

The survey gathered responses from 83 organisations across Mali, South Sudan, and Syria spanning humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding mandates. Results demonstrate that organisational mandates and the degree of community embeddedness shape peace understandings and activity priorities at least as much as conflict context. They further suggest that a shared vocabulary of peace does not necessarily produce shared goals or theories of change on how to achieve it. These differences carry direct consequences for HDP Nexus collaboration and the meaningful inclusion of local actors in defining, not merely delivering, peacebuilding outcomes.