2025 Small Grants Advancing Inclusive, Locally-led Peacebuilding Across Asia

2025

With support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (NRTP) – Asia Working Group (AWG) launched the 2025 Small Grants to back grassroots initiatives that bring underrepresented voices into peace processes. The program funded four member-led projects that translate lived experience into practical action, policy influence, and durable local structures.

Goals of the 2025 Small Grants

1. Focus: Strengthening mediators and peacebuilders from (1) women and young women of faith, (2) persons with disabilities, and (3) LGBTQI+ communities.

2. Approach: Locally designed activities that build skills, create inclusive platforms, and connect communities to decision-makers.

3. Outcomes: Declarations and action plans; standing alliances and teams; digital tools and public accountability; measurable gains in confidence, knowledge, and cross-community cooperation.

4. Geography and delivery: Member organizations across Asia led design and implementation, with NRTP/AWG technical accompaniment and donor visibility.

Learn more about the projects

Digital 4 Peace

The PeaceAbility project organized a transformative September 2025 workshop at Prince of Songkla University’s Pattani Campus, addressing the exclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) from peace and development decision-making in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces. 45 attendees, including 31 PWDs, developed the “Declaration of Persons with Disabilities for Inclusive Peace and Development,” outlining six core demands. This policy document was presented to regional authorities, who made commitments to implementation, such as inviting PWD representatives to advisory councils and pledging to embed disability inclusion in plans and budgets. The project significantly boosted participants’ advocacy confidence and rights awareness, elevated disability issues in local policy, and launched a digital platform for ongoing community-driven accountability. This replicable model for inclusive initiatives was made possible through a coalition of local and international partners. Visit the grant project page.

Bangladesh Protibandhi Kallyan Somity (BPKS)
In September 2025, BPKS trained 42 Peacebuilder Advocates with Disabilities (47% women) through a seven-day residential program in Dhaka, building leadership, mediation, and advocacy skills. Trainees adopted a shared Declaration and, with OPD partners, formed eight divisional Peacebuilding Advocacy Teams (56 members total) to drive local dialogue, conflict resolution, and inclusion. A Facebook group and eight divisional WhatsApp groups sustain coordination and reporting, while extensive local media coverage (~30 TV/print outlets) elevated visibility. The PADG model—merit-based selection, intensive training, nationwide and systemic team formation, and digital follow-through—offers a scalable blueprint for disability-inclusive peacebuilding across Bangladesh. Visit the grant project page.
Religion, Culture, and Peace Laboratory (RCP Lab) / Payap University

From August–October 2025, IRCP ran an 11‑event series that brought women of faith, Buddhist monastics and youth, LGBTQIA+ leaders, and persons with disabilities from storytelling to shared action. The program combined thematic storytelling, interfaith dialogue with a six‑site walking pilgrimage, and skills workshops in mediation and peacebuilding, culminating in a co‑refined, participant‑owned Statement of Principles for teaching, programming, and advocacy. Hosted at Payap University, each session drew between 24–56 participants – reaching an estimated 300 participants. Sessions strengthened cross‑community ties and increased speakers’ and participants’ confidence to apply dialogue and mediation tools. This low‑cost, replicable IRCP model—safe inclusive storytelling, interfaith encounter, practical skills, and a shared framework—offers a clear pathway for inclusive peacebuilding. Visit the grant project page.

Organization for the Women and Disable Care (OWDC)

From July – December 2025, OWDC advanced inclusive, locally led peacebuilding across five Union Councils in Multan. The project trained 400 grassroots actors—women and young women of faith, youth, persons with disabilities, religious minorities, and community leaders—in inclusive dialogue, conflict sensitivity, basic mediation, and rights-based practice, engaging 542 participants across activities. OWDC established the Multan Alliance for Inclusive Peace & Rights (MAIPR, 25 members) and piloted Union Council–level Civic Alliances for Rights & Peace (CARP) as standing coordination platforms and launched community-led Social Action Projects to address local tensions through dialogue and civic engagement. A sample training showed a 60% average knowledge gain (pre/post), and structured forums strengthened cooperation with Union Council representatives, faith leaders, and the District Civil Society Network. The OWDC model—targeted skills-building, fixed local platforms (MAIPR/CARP), and immediate application through Social Action Projects—offers a practical, low-cost approach to embedding inclusion in community peace processes. Visit the grant project page.

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