On Thursday, May 9, the Peacemakers Network hosted its second Inclusivity-based Community of Practice meeting of 2024, “Synergizing Peace Tech, Inclusion and SDG 16 in Connection to the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs.” In case you missed the meeting or want to review key highlights, you can find a recording of the event here.

The Peacemakers Network’s Senior Specialist on Inclusive Peace, Jessica Roland, began the meeting by welcoming the 64 participants in attendance and providing an overview of the agenda. Subsequently, discussion then went into a set of guest presentations, facilitated by Steering Committee Member, Rachida El Rhdioui, Program Officer at North African Policy Initiative.

Peter Mmbando, Founder and Executive Director of Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative.

The first guest presenter was Peter Mmbando, Founder and Executive Director of Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative. Mmbando began the conversation by saying, ‘What is going on in real life, is also happening in online life.’ Mmbando then highlighted the challenges in his peacetech work around there being a lack of a framework for cyber diplomacy and that all current peacetech approaches were top-down, instead of bottom-up. Mmbando recommended having more horizontal conversations around peacetech and engaging audiences through bottom-up approaches, while integrating interactions through a multi-stakeholder format.

The second guest presenter was Michele Giovanardi, Project Associate for the Global Peace Hub at the School of Transnational Governance. Giovanardi highlighted the ways that the Global Peace Hub was utilizing peacetech, including using technology for documenting human rights abuses and preventing atrocities, using technology for games to help increase learning, and using artificial intelligence for mediation and dialogue efforts. Giovanardi stressed that while peace technology can promote exclusion for persons who don’t have access to technology, it can also provide new solutions for communities to approach communication more strategically as a holistic unit. Further, it can help tofind innovative ways to contribute to inclusion, if designed and implemented correctly. Giovanardi stressed, ‘We always have to combine technology with offline participants, taking risks while still keeping in mind the do no harm approach.’ Giovanardi also highlighted the Global PeaceTech map and invited organizations working on peacetech to add their initiatives to the website to capture their ongoing work.

Julia Hawke, Digital Peacebuilding Lead for Build Up.

The final presenter was Julia Hawke, Digital Peacebuilding Lead for Build Up. Hawke began her presentation by highlighting that digital technologies are not just tools, they are shaping the human experience. Hawke further emphasized that peacetech is constantly evolving and a major challenge is keeping up with the evolution and applying it in their current work. Hawke gave three examples of how utilizing peace tech around data management, strategic communication and dialogue and networking can be positive and negative – from gathering analysis to being surveilled, from reaching millions of people to receiving tons of hate speech, and from connecting to driving polarization. Finally, Hawke highlighted three ways that participants in the Community of Practice could get further involved: 1) utilize the Digital Peacebuilders Guide; 2) through free online peacetech learning courses; and 3) through joining their annual Build Peace Conference.

The discussion then turned into a Q and A with participants. Some important insights that arose from the discussion included: the importance of digital training and security; organizations working to interrupt fundamentalism, such as Moonshot and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue; and the importance of food facilitation skills in the online space. Following the Q and A session, the discussion then moved into breakout groups for everyone present in the meeting to be able to share how they are utilizing peace technology in their work, while addressing the major challenges they are facing in that work. Based on the group discussions, below are key examples that others can build upon:

Want to join the next meeting on June 27 that focuses on ‘Advancing the Inclusion and Rights of LGBTQ+ of Faith in Peacebuilding Efforts? Register here!