Hassan Osman Shuri lives in Garissa, northern Kenya and is the secretary of the Garissa Township Peace Committee.

Albert Atama lives in Aru, a territory in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Uganda and South Sudan. The region has long been affected by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), which moves between the porous borders of the three countries. Albert is the coordinator of peace and reconciliation activities in Aru, and supports young people to find paths away from violence. 

Mohammed Arif Urfi is a journalist and filmmaker based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistani-administered side of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with three other filmmakers, from either side of the divided region, he has made a series of films highlighting the need for collaboration across the Line of Control (LoC).

Helen Padua is a volunteer at the Teduray Lambangian Women’s Organisation (TLWOI), a federation of 35 community-based women’s organisations of indigenous peoples in the province of Maguindanao in the Philippines. The organisation aims to support the inclusion of indigenous women in decision-making processes, community development projects, and justice and peace. 

As Bougainville continues on its journey in implementing its peace agreement, Conciliation Resources has strengthened its relationship with one of the island’s foremost peace advocates, Sister Lorraine Garasu.

The UN will deploy a political mission to Colombia to verify the forthcoming ceasefire. This mission is fundamental to strengthen public confidence in a peace process that may end the longest armed conflict in the American continent.

The transnational nature of armed groups is a hallmark of contemporary conflict in Africa. Our former East and Central Africa Projects Manager, Ned Dalby, shares his reflections.

Following significant pressure from women’s organisations, on September 2014 the Colombian government and the FARC agreed to create a Gender Subcommission tasked with reviewing all documents issued as part of the peace process and ensuring that they contained gender sensitive language and provisions.

In August 2014 the World Health Organisation declared Ebola a ‘global health emergency’. Two years on, the health crisis has passed but the epidemic caused social divisions and tensions that are still having repercussions today.

The peace processes of the Philippines and Colombia have both, in the past, been hailed as shining examples to the world of innovation and negotiation.