Making a Difference

A keynote contribution for the Social Change Initiative’s 2024 conference on the theme of “Countering Violent Conflict & Polarisation: How Can Donors Help?” In these reflections, John Paul explores five generative questions emergent from his experience navigating contexts of protracted conflicts around the world:
1. Knowing that interdependence is what makes up the ecosystems of the natural world, how might we understand the soils that lead to a more robust interdependence between peacebuilding and philanthropy?
2. What kind of coordination might we need to imagine if we would choose to hold complexity and uniqueness in a more robust relationship?
3. How might philanthropy and peacebuilding imagine ways to incentivize generosity, humility and generativeness?
4. How might philanthropy and peacebuilding explore the splendor of our generative roots? How do we imagine a theory of learning expansive enough that creativity continuously unfolds?
5. How might philanthropy and peacebuilding develop a tender tenacity capable of holding our uniqueness within the complexity for the good of the whole?