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.

video recording

A Pathway to Peace: Ideas for Advancing Climate-Resilient Futures

The second episode in "The Day After Tomorrow: A Virtual Talk Story Series," hosted by the Institute for Climate and Peace.

2020

presentation

Dispatches from Nowhere Near the Promise Land: How a Peacebuilder Unlearned His Trade

A lecture delivered on the occasion of being awarded the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize at Brandeis University.

2019

presentation

How Weird Friends Change the World

A dharma talk shared at the Upaya Zen Center discussing creating friendships across ideological divides and differences.

2018

podcast

Living Now: Rehumanization in the 200 Year Present

A talk from the Upaya Zen Center sharing stories about experiences working with Indigenous communities around the world.

2016

podcast

The Art of Peace

A conversation with Krista Tippett exploring themes of the moral imagination, arts-inspired peacebuilding, and music and poetry in healing and reconciliation.

2010

interview

The Intervention in Somalia: What Should Have Happened

An interview with Joe Stork on the U.S. military intervention into Somalia and alternative avenues to provide assistance.

1993

journal article

Building Mediative Capacity in Deep-Rooted Conflict

An article making the case that the nature, purpose, and construction of mediation must be reconsidered toward the nurturing of social mediative capacity.

2002