The Toda Peace Institute and the Alliance for Peacebuilding are hosting a series of policy briefs discussing social media impacts on social and political goods. Over the next several months, top experts and thought leaders will provide insight into social media’s threats and opportunities.

This policy brief outlines twenty-five spheres where technology can contribute to peacebuilding goals and describes five generations of thinking related to the evolution of technology’s impact on peacebuilding. Digital peacebuilding contributes to democratic deliberation, violence prevention, social cohesion, civic engagement, and improved human security. Digital peacebuilding contributes to the wider field of digital citizenship and “tech for good.” The policy brief concludes with seven recommendations to build social cohesion, civic engagement, and improved human security, which emerged out of a recent Peace Direct global consultation and a Toda Peace Institute workshop.

At AI for Peace, we believe AI has the potential to change our lives substantially in the next decade. It can lead to rapid improvement of our lives and welfare, but it can also lead to negative consequences, even if that is not the intention.

We believe that with a technology as powerful and complex as AI, constructive dialogue and engagement between academia, industry and civil society is critical to maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks to human rights, democracy and human security.

We want to make sure that peace-builders, humanitarians and human rights activists are well informed, and their critical voices heard in this process.

(https://www.aiforpeace.org/about)

Build Up is a global non-profit working beside local organizations through participatory interventions, research and training to combine peacebuilding best practices, participatory methodologies and digital technologies to identify and address emergent challenges to peace.

The CyberPeace Institute is a Geneva-based organization protecting the most vulnerable in cyberspace. Independent and neutral, headquartered in Geneva, the Institute investigates and analyzes the human impact of systemic cyber threats, delivers free cybersecurity assistance, tracks the enforcement of international laws and norms, and forecasts threats to Cyberpeace.

The Digital Community Stewards Training consists of 10 modules that train digital community stewards in building inclusive & safe digital experiences for their online groups. It covers various platforms & equips stewards with the skills to protect members from misinformation & harmful content while fostering collaboration & inclusivity. The training also focuses on developing leadership abilities to enhance member engagement & prioritize safety.

Digital Inclusion in Peacemaking

This online resource is based on a one-year research project funded by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). The project was implemented by Andreas Hirblinger (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva). The use cases were produced through a participatory online course, held in collaboration with Build Up.

Digital Peace Now is a global movement of over 130,000 digital citizens from over 170 countries who celebrate the internet and look to it for connection, opportunity, and inspiration. We will not allow the internet to become a battlefield.

UPDATE: Digital Peace Now joined forces with the Alliance for Peacebuilding under Cybersecurity and Peacebuilding.

Digital technologies affect how we experience conflict. Whether it’s hate speech in our social media line or bringing together diverse groups for online training, digital tools can harm and help our peacebuilding initiatives.

But where to start? How to know if it’s best to build a chatbot, make a video game or teach people about misinformation?

That’s why this toolkit asks you first: What are you trying to achieve as a peacebuilder? Once you know that, then you’ll see that there are multiple options of how to use digital tools to achieve your goals.

As the means of conflict change, so must the means to bring and maintain peace. Challenges such as geopolitical tensions, climate crisis, the spread of mis- and dis-information, as well as global systemic shocks such as COVID-19, require new approaches and solutions.

To answer this need, in 2020 the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) established a dedicated unit called the Innovation Cell. Aiming to explore, test, and pioneer new methods for peace, the Innovation Cell acts as a catalyst for innovation across the Department.

Detecting new methods to achieve can mean several things: applying new technologies to support inclusive peace processes, exploring futures foresight to bring about preventive resilience, or strengthening organization-wide innovation-friendly environment.

(https://futuringpeace.org/about)

A hub for researchers, peacebuilders, tech companies and change makers to investigate the role of technology in building peace across borders.

Based at the EUI School of Transnational Governance, we connect to the world.

This Toolkit is intended for mediators. Together with its accompanying Report, it assesses opportunities and risks related to the use of digital technologies in mediation contexts. It also provides concrete examples and advice from practitioners and experts. See the introductory video below:

ICT4Peace is a policy and action-oriented international Foundation. The purpose is to save lives and protect human dignity through Information and Communication Technology. Since 2003 ICT4Peace explores and champions the use of ICTs and new media for peaceful purposes, including for peacebuilding, crisis management and humanitarian operations. Since 2007 ICT4Peace promotes cybersecurity and a peaceful cyberspace through inter alia international negotiations with governments, international organisations, companies and non-state actors.

Out of The Box (OOTB) Media Literacy Initiative has been at the forefront of the campaign to mainstream media literacy practices in the Philippines through its Interrogate-Create-Participate framework. Celebrating its 8th anniversary in 2022, OOTB has come a long way from a humble passion project to a SEC-registered educational nonprofit that serves Filipino learners and teachers through its innovative programs, resources, and campaigns.

https://www.ootbmedialiteracy.org/about-us/

PeaceTech Lab works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data to accelerate and scale peacebuilding efforts.

A publication from International Alert, this paper offers reflections in answer to that question, drawing on perspectives from interviews with peacebuilders in Lebanon, Nigeria and the Philippines, and survey responses, as well as the wider literature on the subject.

The SDGs in Action app has been developed to highlight the Sustainable Development Goals - the world’s to-do list to end poverty, reduce inequalities and tackle climate change. It is brought to you by the GSMA, which represents the interests of nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, and Project Everyone, a non-profit global campaign to spread the messaging of the SDGs.

Don't forget that SDG 16 is Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Founded in 2008, the Sentinel Project is a Canadian non-profit organization that assists communities threatened by mass atrocities worldwide through direct cooperation with the people in harm’s way and the innovative use of technology.

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) has developed an app on the Sustainable Development Goals. They write the following:

The app will help you discover how each one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is directly related to the daily work of local and regional governments. With the interactive format you can be actively involved and see the important work being done by local and regional governments to achieve the SDGs.

For each goal, you will understand why local governments should not simply be viewed as the implementing bodies of the Agenda. Local and regional governments are indeed important policy-makers and catalysts for change and are best positioned to link the global goals to local communities.

The app’s content is based on this publication: “The Sustainable Development Goals: What Local Governments Need to Know”

Tactical Tech is an international NGO that engages with citizens and civil society organizations to explore and mitigate the impacts of technology on society.

Projects include:

• The Data Detox Kit is a guide to increase your online privacy, digital security, and wellbeing.
• Exposing the Invisible is a project about the techniques, tools, and methods of digital and non-digital investigations.
• Data and Activism is a research project that investigates the impact of data collection on activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations, exploring the potential impact and offering protection strategies and creative responses.
• A holistic guide for human rights defenders for their psycho-social health, digital security, physical security, and organizational practices.
• SECURITY IN-A-BOX: A digital security toolkit for activists and human rights defenders, developed alongside Front Line Defenders.

• Youth

Tech4YPS

We are a dedicated space for young people to showcase, learn, and exchange for innovative use of technology and social media in advancing their efforts in peacebuilding.