Why are we running this project?
INGOs still hold one of the most critical roles in the ecosystem of global collaboration on peacebuilding. They play an important intermediary role holding close relationships with local peacebuilders and larger donors. They are well placed to understand the specific needs of locally-led peacebuilding. However, they are often limited or even unwilling to accommodate those needs due to the many dysfunctionalities inherent in the current set up of the INGO system as a whole. Peacebuilding INGOs are a sub-system of this wider system, impacted by the inherent dysfunctional dynamics of the wider INGO system. Therefore, a whole systems approach is required instead of a siloed approach to the sub-system of peacebuilding INGOs.
What are our goals?
By supporting this project, we seek to harness the potential of INGOs to play a catalytic role in shifting the ecosystem of global collaboration on peacebuilding in a way that truly promotes local leadership and local agency of peacebuilding efforts. They can pilot new modalities and practices that create impactful change.
How does the project work?
The project convenes a systems change lab of 55 innovators who represent the system of INGOs. The lab will meet twelve times over the course of two years, in larger and smaller groups throughout the course of the project on specific initiatives. It will generate prototypes and seek to implement these. Smaller Action Pods (communities of practice) will be convened to help implement prototypes that emerge. The Action Pods are also vehicles for sharing learning from and with the wider community including international civil society networks, national networks, and communities of practice. Additionally, the project will develop an influencing strategy to help to secure buy-in for implementing prototypes that emerge from the lab by a wider group of stakeholders.
Who organizes and supports the project?
Rights CoLab advances human rights by fostering collaboration among experts across the fields of civil society, technology, business, and finance. They build new ways of organizing civic engagement and leveraging markets to improve the impact, resilience, and sustainability of human rights initiatives.