Introduction
A guide with resources, directories and media about peacebuilding collated by the Democracy Resource Hub.
- Explore conflict resolution techniques, mediation skills, and bridge-building strategies to transform conflicts into positive change.
- Learn dialogue facilitation, collaborative problem-solving, and inclusive decision-making processes for pluralistic democracy.
- Discover de-escalation strategies and trauma-informed peacebuilding approaches for community reconciliation.
What is peacebuilding and why is it important for democracy?
Peacebuilding transforms conflicts into opportunities for positive change. It strengthens democracy by:
- Fostering collaboration across differences
- Resolving conflicts constructively
- Building trust within and between communities
- Creating more just and inclusive systems
Peacebuilding isn’t just for experts – everyone can be a peacebuilder in their daily lives and personal communities, contributing to a more robust and collaborative democracy.
Want to infuse peacebuilding skills into our democratic processes? Consider joining Collaborative Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy, where practitioners of dialogue facilitation, community mediation, collaborative communication, and conflict transformation unite to support the future of democracy.
How does peacebuilding fit into the broader movement for democratic renewal?
Peacebuilding works synergistically with other key approaches:
Strengthening Democracy enhances civic participation beyond win-lose elections, including participatory democracy and collective decision-making.
- Authentic Relational Conversations: Reaching Across Difference to Build a Pro-Democracy Movement
- Block, Bridge and Build: Playbook for an Inclusive Multi-Racial Democracy
Power-Building & Nonviolent Action Raises urgency on key issues, creating openings for peacebuilding to foster broad-based, sustainable coalitions.
- SNAP: Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding: An Action Guide
- When to Talk and When to Fight: The Strategic Choice between Dialogue and Resistance
- Bridge-Building and Power-Building: An Ecosystem Approach to Social Change
Strategic Planning Ensures peacebuilding skills are applied strategically across all aspects of democratic movement building.
- Mediation for Movements: Managing Intra-Movement Conflict
- Why coalition building isn’t about the coalition: Listening, leading, and making change happen
Narrative & Storytelling Bridges differences and unites movements by crafting compelling narratives that support peacebuilding..
Peacebuilding Skill Sets & Resources
How can we bridge differences and cross divides?
Bridging differences involves developing communication skills and creating structures for dialogue across polarized divides. These approaches break down unhelpful perceptions, build empathy, and find common ground. Key skills include pro-active listening, and structures that can manage tensions while centering our shared humanity. Explore these resources to enhance your bridging skills:
- Overcome Toxic Polarisation: A Political Courage Challenge
- A Guide to Conversations Across the Partisan Divide Essential Partners
- Fundamentals of Bridging - Othering and Belonging
- Building peace takes time: 5 steps to build it in the US now
- Resisting Polarization, Revitalizing America: A Pre-Election Curriculum (US-Based)
Case Studies: Bridge-Building
- Essential Partners Impact Stories
- Share Our America - Case Studies
- The Third Side: Stories (people transforming conflict at home, in the community, and in the world)
How can we facilitate collaborative discussions and decision-making?
Collaborative decision-making, guided by skilled facilitation, allows diverse stakeholders to make decisions together, creating policies and solutions with broad buy-in. Essential skills include principled negotiation, mediation, and facilitating inclusive processes that address multiple perspectives. These resources offer practical guidance for effective facilitation and collaboration:
- On Conflict and Consensus
- Fostering Dialogue Across Divides: A Nuts and Bolts Guide
- Convergent Facilitation Primer
- LivingRoom Conversation Guide: Democracy, Extremism, and Outliers
- Livingroom Conversation Guide: Trust in Elections
- NCDD Public Engagement Guide
Facilitation Tools
- Collaborative Discussion Toolkit
- Gamestorming: A Set of Innovative Co-creation Tools
- Beautiful Action Trainer Modules (BATMo):
Case Studies of Collaborative Process
Visit the Strengthening Democracy page for more resources about Participatory & Deliberative Democracy.
How can we manage conflicts in our communities, organizations, and movements?
Effective conflict management can lead to growth and positive change. It involves both resolving active conflicts and building resilience to prevent future issues. These skills are crucial for maintaining healthy communities and organizations. Discover strategies for constructive conflict management:
- Mediation for Movements: Managing Intra-Movement Conflict
- Principles of Co-operative Conflict Resolution
- Transformative Approaches to Conflict Resolution
- Conflict is Inevitable: Knowledge Roundup
Visit the Power-Building & Nonviolent Action page for more resources about community organizing and building movements.
What practices can support trauma healing & restore communities after harm?
Trauma healing and restorative practices help communities recover from harm and rebuild relationships. These approaches create safe spaces for truth-telling, accountability, and collective healing, addressing deep-seated issues and fostering long-term community well-being. Explore these resources on healing and restoration:
- Pathways to Repair: Guides to Navigate Healing, Trust building and Human Messiness
- Where to Start: Restorative Justice
- About Circles from Living Justice Press
- Restorative Justice Resources (Transforming Harm)
- Transformative Justice Resources (Transforming Harm)
Case Studies of Healing and Restoration:
How can we create spaces of belonging and inclusion for all lived experiences?
Creating inclusive environments ensures diverse voices are heard and respected in decision-making processes. This approach addresses systemic inequalities and supports a more equitable democracy. Learn how to design inclusive spaces, prevent hate, and develop allyship skills:
Design Spaces for Inclusion & Belonging
- Belonging Design Principles: Guide for Building Belonging
- Talking about Race: Racial Equity Resources
- Social Identity and Group Norms
- Making Your Activism Accessible
- The Welcoming Standard: a comprehensive roadmap for communities to become more welcoming places.
- Belonging: A Facilitator and Practice Guide
Visit the Strategic Planning page for more resources about building inclusive coalitions.
Prevent Hate and De-Escalate Violence
- A Community Guide for Opposing Hate
- Speaking Out Against Bigoted, Dehumanizing Rhetoric: What We Can Do
- Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence Guide
- Active Bystander Intervention and De-Escalation Guidelines
Visit the Power-Building & Nonviolent Action page for more resources about mobilizing against authoritarianism.
Peacebuilding Directory
The Democracy Resource Hub Directory is organized into three groups:
- Networks: Organizations to join and work with.
- Training Organizations: Offering workshops, trainings, webinars and courses.
- Resource Libraries: Information hubs for deeper exploration.
The directories on this page only include organizations and libraries related to Peacebuilding. (Full Directory here)
Directory Navigation Tips
- Click on the Organization/Resource tile for more information.
- Directory entries include a short “Summary,” a longer “Description,” website link, and other information.
- Use Table View for easy viewing on mobile devices, or for dynamic spreadsheets on desktops.
- Use Filter (on desktops) to focus on the specific information you’re looking for, such as skillsets, target audience, learning goals, location. (Learn more: How to Filter).
Peacebuilding Network Directory
Peacebuilding Training Directory
Peacebuilding Resource Libraries
Featured Media
Newsletters & Blogs
- Citizen Connect
Citizen Connect is a nonpartisan platform dedicated to helping Americans find ways to heal our political divides. This platform provides ways to engage with organizations (right, left and center) working to fix politics, and access to events and content. - Beyond Intractability
An almost daily substack newsletter based on Beyond Intractability‘s online conflict resolution knowledge base. Most of the newsletter is focused on big conflict problems that affect us all, such as the hyper-polarization crisis threatening democracy in the U.S. and many other places around the world. - VISTA by The Horizons Project
The Horizons project seeks to strengthen key relationships, foster collaborations, and channel resources within the system of social change to address injustice, advance societal healing, and reimagine our democracy. Subscribe here.
Books
- The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change by Bernie Mayer & Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán
- Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict by William Ury
- The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace by John Paul Lederach
- The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization by Peter T. Coleman
- High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
- Bridging Troubled Waters : Conflict Resolution From the Heart by Michelle LeBaron
- Politics, Dialogue and the Evolution of Democracy: How to Discuss Race, Abortion, Immigration, Gun Control, Climate Change, Same Sex Marriage and Other Hot Topics by Kenneth Cloke
- Pattern Language: Group Works: A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings
- The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide by Mark Gerzon.
Articles/Essays
- “Conflict and Movements for Social Change: The Politics of Mediation and the Mediation of Politics” by Kenneth Cloke
- “50 Questions You Can Ask Friends and Relatives in Political Arguments” by Kenneth Cloke
- “Connecting Across Divides, Opening Minds and Hearts” by Rosa Zubizarreta (Connecting Across Divides Resource Document)
- “Bridge-Building and Power-Building: An Ecosystem Approach to Social Change” by Horizon’s Project
- “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds” by James Clear
- “What Are the Solutions to Political Polarization?” by Lee de-Wit, Sander van der Linden, & Cameron Brick
Reports
- Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence Guide (Source: The HOPE-PV Project, 2024)
- Powering to Peace: Integrated Civil Resistance and Peacebuilding Strategies (Source: International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) Special Report Series 2017)
- The Perception Gap How False Impressions are Pulling Americans Apart (Source: More in Common) (US-Based)
Podcasts
How we handle conflict has an impact on the resilience of our vital relationships, the caliber of our decisions, the success of our careers, and our peace of mind. Mediator, conflict resolution teacher, and author Tammy Lenski, Ed.D., uses storytelling and science to help us transform our experience with conflict and inspire us to disagree better at work and at home.
Recommended Episodes (~7min!!!):
- Venting anger: Why it doesn’t help and what to do instead
- Disagree better by asking great questions
- 25 ways to disagree better from 25 years of writing about conflict resolution
- Three essential components of highly effective listening
- How to confront someone without seeming confrontational
The Common Ground Committee brings healing to the national challenges of polarization and incivility, inspiring and motivating the public to find common ground. They do this by demonstrating how influential people of opposing views can find agreement without compromising core values.
- Depolarizing America: Ending Toxic Polarization
- Daryl Davis KKKrossing the Divide: A Black Man Talks With White Supremacists
- How Curiosity Can Bridge Dangerous Divides: Mónica Guzmán
- Polarization and Political Violence: Rachel Kleinfeld
The Omni-Win Project is an effort to raise awareness of the many opportunities that exist to improve democracy. It presents ideas, paradigms, tools, approaches and people that can help us co-create a future where everyone wins.
Recommended Episodes:
- “Efficient Collaboration Through Convergent Facilitation” with Paul Kahawatte
- “We must change our Broken System”
- “Building Resilience and Relationship through Dialogue” with Raye Rawls
- “Hyper-Polariaztion vs.Massively Parallel Peacebuilding” with Guy & Heidi Burgess
Videos & Movies
Divided We Fall: Unity Without Tragedy
Divided We Fall: Listening with Curiosity
Re-United States
The Basement Talks
Currently available on U.S. Amazon
The walk from “no” to “yes” | William Ury
How to Filter the Directories
- Click on “Filter” in the top left corner
- Click on “+ Add Condition”
- Use the dropdown menu to change “Name” (red circle) to one of these options: Category, Skillset, Audience, Location or Goal
- Use the dropdown menu to change “Enter a value” (green circle) by selecting your area of focus.
- It is possible to add multiple filters.
Credit: The Artwork on the Democracy Resource Hub logo is by Veronika Belcheva (CC-BY-NC-SA).