Nonviolent Peaceforce
2025 Honourable Mention
International
Nonviolent Peaceforce’s Story
In Mindanao Philippines, men from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who once fought on opposite sides, are meeting for an afternoon of scuba diving. They will undergo skills training, followed by a joint dive, in a hard-won show of trust. Once unimaginable, this has become a reality due in part to the trust-building initiative of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, an international NGO that champions unarmed civilian protection.
Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) works with local communities in some of the most challenging environments in the world such as Ukraine, Iraq, Myanmar, and the Mindanao region of the Philippines, to co-create peacebuilding and intervention strategies that foster trust, nonviolence and inclusion. The organization’s trust-building work begins with the creation of local teams that deliberately bring together diverse actors who reach out to different segments of local society, including groups that have lacked a voice in the conflict previously.
Currently operating in nine countries, NP trains volunteers in civilian protection, relationship-building, and monitoring and reporting skills. In the Philippines, the organization has empowered former female combatants to become peace facilitators, shifting their roles from armed resistance to community peacebuilding. In South Sudan, they bridge ethnicities to strengthen the advocacy skills of women and promote their integration into the peace process. In Iraq, NP works across ethno-religious divisions and uses common activities like sport to build relationships between Sunni Arab and Yazidi communities.
NP’s nonviolent intervention projects have included several strategic international partnerships, such as in Aceh, Indonesia. Since 2023, NP and six partner organizations have been promoting a holistic approach to transitional justice and strengthening the truth and reconciliation process. Working together, they are advancing women’s and children’s rights and bringing leaders together to address past conflicts and foster a sustainable peace.
Globally, NP is rooted in solidarity and witnessing, not force, helping people reach across long-standing historical divides, cooperate and build meaningful personal ties. In addition, it stands up for unprotected civilians and works to dismantle systemic political and socioeconomic power imbalances that underpin so much of the violence in the world today. Its neutral and non-judgmental approach upholds our common humanity and reaches across differences.
