Strengths of volunteer action in peacebuilding

• Volunteers, especially informal volunteers can contribute to increased trust and social cohesion in communities as part of efforts to sustain peace and prevent conflict.

• In addition, the High-Level Independent Panel on United Nations Peace Operations report mentions the role of volunteers in strengthening community liaison and national capacity development.  

• Building and keeping a culture of peace is a dynamic process that takes many forms within communities. It can be promoted through formal structures, such as through the establishment of volunteer district peace committees in Malawi. Or it may be approached less directly through working together on a common cause, such as volunteers in the Wadi El Kuu natural resource management project.

Gender and inclusion

• Although volunteer-led community protection is key to sustain peace, in some contexts volunteers are not accepted and their rights are not respected. 

• Volunteers might also not be perceived as neutral because of their ethnic, racial or regional identities and can be perceived as partisan or disloyal by different groups, especially in conflicts. These pose critical risks to their safety, security and well-being that need to be addressed accordingly.  

• Evidence suggests that volunteers from “external” groups, including international volunteers, can play key roles in peace-making efforts as third-party impartial intermediaries. However, there is a need for further research to critically evaluate the role of international volunteering practice in peace and conflict.
   

Gender and inclusion

• Gender mainstreaming needs yet to become a norm in conflict analyses to account for women’s everyday peacebuilding efforts in their communities that are wide but often go underacknowledged.  

• One study found that amongst the priority areas of the Cambodian government’s development strategy, volunteers have positive effects in increasing lawfulness and peace in communities, including enhancing legal protection for women.  

• Safety, security and well-being issues are particularly relevant to women in fragile contexts and echoed by evidence of gendered experiences of local volunteering in conflicts and emergencies.