“Peace is not created with a one-time act:  the cease-fire, accord, or reconciliation is just a public point on a timeline between war and durable peace.  True peace is built over time, with many different processes and approaches that move conflict into lasting, peaceful relationships.  It requires action at many different levels, by different people, in different ways, and at different points in a conflict.

Activities can be as diverse as alternative dispute resolution (arbitration, mediation, negotiation), reconciliation, peacekeeping (both civilian and military), conflict prevention, post-conflict reconstruction, institutional and organizational capacity building, demobilization and reintegration, monitoring and advocacy, conflict transformation, psychosocial rehabilitation, and rule of law.  These peace-building methods, as part of a cohesive long term strategy, target both the root causes of a conflict and the violence that may result. nformation and communication technologies (ICTs)– hardware and software that helps people communicate, understand data, and learn, via tools such as computers, the internet, mobile phones, and more –  can be a tremendous help in implementing these peace-building methods.”

Ronald “Skip” Cole and Teresa Crawford co-author an essay published here on ICT4Peace that complements the work of the Foundation and in particular, its ICT4Peace inventorisation. The examples in this essay and many more found in our wiki point to the fact that ICT4Peace is rapidly maturing as a field of practice and applied research.