locally-led peacebuilding

The majority of John Paul's peacebuilding initiatives came through accompanying people and communities working at the grassroots level. This has led to a key lesson and ethical stance: Believe in the unique knowledge of local communities about their own context and in their capacity to engage and innovate.

Locally-led peacebuilding centers the knowledge, skill, and vision of community-based individuals and organizations as the foundation of networks and processes that create durable change. In John Paul’s writing and practice, this approach been referred to under various names: elicitive, bottom-up, grassroots, and now more commonly locally-led. The content in this section includes stories, reflections, and insights gathered through John Paul's accompaniment of local peacebuilding leaders and processes across diverse areas of protracted conflict.

collection

Zen Brain: Mind, Brain, Social Perspectives of Views, Values, Ethics

John Paul's contributions to the Upaya Zen Center's Zen Brain conference in 2017, which explored the theme, "Mind, Brain, Social Perspectives of Views, Values, Ethics."

2017

article

Forging Inclusive Peace

An article exploring challenges of inclusivity in peace processes and proposing a shift in metaphor to enhance inclusivity.

2019

chapter

Staying True in Nepal: Understanding Community Mediation Through Action Research

A chapter focusing on a community mediation initiative in Nepal that employed participatory action research as the mode for understanding practice and the development of relevant training materials for local use.

2018

chapter

The Mystery of Transformative Times and Space: Exploring a Theology of Grassroots Peacebuilding

A chapter exploring how space is articulated, defined, and redefined by people engaging in grassroots peacebuilding as a response to context-specific situations.

2003

chapter

Levels of Leadership

An analytical and descriptive exploration of a pyramid model to capture the overview of how an entire affected population in a setting of internal armed conflict is represented by leaders and other actors, as well as the roles they play in navigating the situation.

2001