Representatives of IMiP took part in the conference “Ukrainian Approaches to a Just and Sustainable Peace,” organized by the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation on 25 July 2023.
Purpose of the event – to support and strengthen the agency of Ukrainian civil society organizations working in peacebuilding, and to promote the demonstration of innovative approaches developed and implemented since February 2022.
Conference participants discussed lessons learned, Ukrainian peacebuilding know-how, advocacy for a Ukrainian peace formula, social cohesion, transitional justice, the use of dialogue and trauma‑informed conflict resolution, and more.
The Conference concluded that the challenges faced by the Ukrainian peacebuilding community have spurred the search for new, more effective tools and approaches and have demonstrated the high expertise of Ukrainian specialists and organizations. Since 2022, dozens of projects and hundreds of initiatives in this field have been developed and implemented, which can be useful not only in Ukraine but also in addressing the consequences of wars and conflicts worldwide.
“Peacebuilding in Ukraine under current conditions cannot occur in the classic form, with two sides to a conflict. Therefore, we are now working with one side, in particular with the concept of ‘cohesion.’ The concept of cohesion, alongside the concept of military victory, forms two key elements that make stable peace in Ukraine possible,” said IMiP board chair Alona Horova.
In the panel “Peacebuilding through Art and Media” we presented our achievements in using marketing tools and formative research to create and sustain unifying narratives for Ukrainian society.
“We collect people’s narratives about their experiences of the war in order to build narrative pillars for Ukrainians’ recovery in the future. Shared narratives can unite those who have endured very different experiences—experiences that can nevertheless bring them together and remind them of what we have in common,” said IMiP program manager Darya Bielinska.
Watch the conference at: https://youtu.be/MxcU8_QboVM