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Technology can help promote peace in conflicts such as Israel-Palestine says peace builder Helena Puig Larrauri. Photograph: ALI ALI/EPA
Technology can help promote peace in conflicts such as Israel-Palestine says peace builder Helena Puig Larrauri. Photograph: ALI ALI/EPA

Breaking the cycle of violence: technology can bring hope for peace

This article is more than 9 years old
Development projects can use technology to promote peace in Israel, Palestine and other places caught in conflict

Technology use is on the rise in local peacebuilding. We are beginning to see alternative infrastructures for peace emerging that are (to a large extent) the product of tech-enabled initiatives.

There are three alternative infrastructures that point to the future of peacebuilding at the local level. First, digital media tools provide new, creative ways for local peacebuilders to foster alternative discourses and challenge prevailing conflict narratives. These new visions can often compete with existing visions by engaging closely with their audience. Second, networking platforms provide new opportunities for local peacebuilders to foster positive contact between conflict groups, building digital trust networks. Third, online and mobile tools give power to local peacebuilders to counteract calls for violence and make peace viral.

Offering alternative perspectives

Digital media offers tools for collaborative media creation and dissemination through social media, blogs, wikis, citizen journalism and participatory maps. Local peacebuilders are using these tools to bring new voices to the public domain.

In Lebanon, Search for Common Ground ran a video competition which asked Lebanese youth to 'Shoot [their] Identity'. Videos showcasing a diversity of experiences were posted online, with a prize awarded to the best video. In Israel, the Peace Factory runs viral campaigns on Facebook that encourage people to post messages of love and friendship across conflict barriers (Israel-Iran, Palestine-Israel, Pakistan-Israel, America-Iran). In Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a website for citizen journalists to offer alternative perspectives on governance, human rights, peace building and other issues. The site is credited with being the only source for controversial topics linked to the conflict and the only media outlet regularly challenging attitudes towards peace and conflict.

peace factory
In Israel, the Peace Factory runs viral campaigns on Facebook that encourage people to post messages of love and friendship. Photograph: Peace Factory

Creating digital trust networks

Online and SMS platforms can be used not just to transmit messages instantly, but also to form longer term relationships and regular exchanges. Local peacebuilders are using groups on social media, mobile chatrooms and dedicated networking platforms to nurture exchanges between groups that are divided by conflict lines.

Soliya's Connect Programme is an online cross-cultural education programme targeting young people in the West and in "predominantly Muslim societies." Soliya facilitators accompany groups of ten students who meet online to talk about everyday life and culture, but also about controversial social and political issues.

Run by the Parents Circle – Families Forum, Crack in the Wall is an online platform for conversation and engagement between families who have lost a family member as a result of the Palestinian-Israel conflict. The platform organises roundtables for facilitated (and translated) conversation and also gives users the opportunity to watch videos uploaded by others showing their daily life, and to upload their own.

In Cyprus, UNDP has built an online community of people and organisations working to transform the island's frozen conflict. Mahallae records the history of peacebuilding and provides a space for collaboration on innovative projects.

Counteracting calls for violence

Technology tools are often used to actively solicit and organise violent actions. Local peacebuilders are using the same tools as violent groups to counter negative campaigns by mobilising collective expression of positive messaging.

Kenyan NGO Sisi Ni Amani runs the PeaceTXTprogramme, which aims to contact people in at-risk areas in order to propose a moment of reflection at critical times when calls to violence are spreading. In the aftermath of the London 2011 riots, vInspired ran the ReverseRiots campaign. The campaign provided a digital space for young people to share a positive action they had taken in their community, allowing them to take pride in positive behaviour and showing others in the community that not all youth were rioters. HarassMap is an SMS reporting system for women experiencing sexual harassment in Egypt. It is helping women reclaim spaces and counteract sexist messages that spread easily on social media.

What's really interesting about tech-enabled peacebuilding initiatives is that they shift the balance of power. Thanks to these tools and the social and organisational forms they help create, local peacebuilders are now better equipped to challenge state-sanctioned or socially normative narratives and notions of identity. Technology can shape the future of local peacebuilding.

Helena is co-founder of Build Up. Follow @helenapuigl on Twitter. This article was first published on Insight on Conflict.

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