Our Mission
The mission of the IPRA Foundation is to advance the field of peace research through rigorous investigation into the causes of conflict and examination of alternatives to violence. Peace researchers inform peace activities that inspire visions of a peaceful world.
IPRA Foundation News
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The application period for the 2025-2026 Senesh Fellowship is now open and will close January 31, 2025. We accept applications in English, Spanish and French.
The Application period for submitting Peace Research Grant applications is now closed and will reopen January 1, 2025.
Two Senesh Fellowships were awarded in April, 2023:
- Dorrah Munjaru (Kenya), pursuing an M.A in Arts in Gender and Development Studies, at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
- Alemnesh Kassa (Ethiopia), pursuing a Ph.D, in Peace and Development Studies at Haramaya University, Ethiopia
Two Peace Research Grants were awarded in November, 2024:
- Berhanu Libdi Bekere (Ethiopia) “Indigenous and Conventional Practices of Protecting the Vulnerable from Retaliatory Violence: A Comparative Case Studies of Traditional and State Institutions among Ituu and Humbanna Oromo, Ethiopia”
- Joyce De-Graft Acquah (Ghana) "The Emergence of Hot Spots in the Midst of Peace: A Study of Gang Violence in Ghana"
Please take a look at our new "Newsletters" page to view all past newsletters.
Recent peace research journal issues: Peace and Change and Journal of Peace Education
Our 2017 Peace Research Grantee, Colleen O'Brien's film "Strangers to Peace", partially funded by her IPRAF grant, was premiered at the Miami Film Festival March 6, 2022, where it received a Documentary Achievement Runner-Up Award.
Testimonials
“The IPRA Foundation grant helped us get off the ground with our project. After the initial pilot that you helped fund, we were able to obtain $60,000 in funding from UNICEF and the Macarthur Foundation to expand and extend the project. We’ve just confirmed a $200,000 grant from UNICEF and the UK’s Department for International Development to extend the research another year. The research has been very well received in Uganda and New York, and we’ve advised dozens of donors and NGOs on their programs in northern Uganda as a result. Your help in the very beginning was instrumental in this success. ” |
“The Nonviolent Peaceforce conducted field research to explore three potential pilot project sites for our large-scale unarmed international “peace army”: Guatemala, Israel/Palestine, and Sri Lanka. Researchers presented their findings at the Peaceforce Convening Event in India, where 130 international delegates picked Sri Lanka for the Peaceforce Pilot Project”
“We are so grateful to the Foundation for our grant that enabled us to print one of our new publications. There are Realistic Alternatives. We know of one professor who has adopted the book for his classes and we have had interest expressed by others. Clearly, this publication has been significant and had some ripple effect, which may not have been possible without the IPRA Foundation’s support”
“Our toys and violence research was started in 2002 thanks to a grant the IPRA Foundation alloted us. We are going to publish a book, illustrated with drawings and pictures. These activities take place in the framework of our Program Give Peace a Chance started in 1999 and of the Global Campaign for Peace Education of the Hague Appeal for Peace.”
“The IPRAF’s support for research on peace and conflict resolution allowed me to develop new insights on the role of economic elements in solving conflicts. Thanks to IPRAF grant, I was able to access valuable information sources, conduct interviews with key players, and perform a more comprehensive research.”
“I thank International Peace Research Association for supporting this research. Originally, I had planned to conduct this research only in Turkey, by examining Turkish-Kurdish and Turkish-Armenian conflict contexts. This grant was instrumental not only in completing the planned research, but it also made possible to extend the research to the investigation of the ethnic conflict in Burundi. The IPRA grant was used to collect research data in Turkey and in Burundi.”
“The IPRA Foundation grant has provided a very timely boost to our action research on conflict sensitivity for religious organizations in Mindanao, Philippines. For instance, the Davao Ministerial Interfaith Inc. recently hosted an IPRAF-funded workshop which brought together 15 Roman Catholic, (Protestant) Evangelical and Muslim leaders from 3 provinces to explore and document how religious leaders are using the Do No Harm / Local Capacities for Peace conflict sensitivity tool. This workshop was a key step toward next year’s publication of findings, and a major contribution to the religious leaders’ own capacity building.”
“Through the support of the IPRA Foundation, Global Education Associates has been able to develop a much needed reference for guide for peace educators on educational evaluation. The dearth of educational evaluation in the field of peace education, and the necessary training needed to conduct it properly, has been a major dilemma that few are addressing formally. By equipping educators within our networks (the IIPE, CIPE and Global Campaign for Peace Education) with some basic knowledge and skills in evaluation theory and methods we hope to make a small, but desperately needed contribution to the field. We hope to begin distributing this resource in the near future and look forward to sharing the new research that emerges.”
“We invite applicants from Mindanao, youths and adults from tri-peole -Muslims, Christians and tribal people and those who qualify go to NIU for a one-month training on peace, mediation and conflict resolution. After the training, they go back to Mindanao and do their small projects on peace in their respective communities. After three months, we assemble them for a follow-on activity where they discussed success stories as well as problems encountered in their communities.
The program was responsible for the establishment of a network of youths and adults in Mindanao for peace and development. Indeed, the Buddy Buddy for Peace was like a Pandora’s box that paved the way for a lot of activities and opportunities for the youth and adults in Mindanao on interfaith dialogue as well as other peoples of the world. Those interested to know more about it can log to:http://www.ceas.niu.edu/PhilAccess/default.htm ”
“1. The grant gave us (my office) an opportunity to document a model for a successful program on interfaith dialogue. As an offshoot of 9/11, interfaith dialogue has become a major response to many conflicts including Mindanao. The study has become a blueprint for this kind of endeavor.
2. The paper is now used in many peace studies program as a case study for interfaith dialogue.
3. Our exposure to the community provided a venue for academe-community interaction, hence the interfaith community has become one of the outreach areas of Ateneo faculty and students giving the academics a chance to serve the community and learn from the experience.
My hearfelt gratitude for the chance to undertake this study and through this, the opportunity of participating in the Calgary IPRA conference.”
“I am very grateful to the IPRA Foundation for contributing to our Creative Response to Bullying Program in the United States. We were able to see linkages between bias and bullying behavior and show a decrease in detention rates when students and staff received CRC’s bullying prevention workshops.”
“Our grant from the IPRA Foundation allowed us to maintain a collaborative action-research project on community radio, democratization and peace in Palestine. Most of the funds were devoted to conducting and documenting a training program that was attended by some thirty youth and young professionals in Nablus. Even though the occupation and intra-communal conflict prevented our radio station from being launched, the knowledge generated and training made possible by this small grant have been invaluable in our community. Thanks to IPRA for supporting our unconventional research collaboration. It sustained us for many months of work.”
“A list of the policy and journal publications that came from the IPRAF-supported research can be found here:http://chrisblattman.com/projects/sway/. In the end this became a very large project with many donors, but IPRAF was one of our first and gave us the seed funding to get it off the ground. It led to four years of work on youth well-being and post-war reintegration in northern Uganda. Thanks for the support and let me know if there’s anything more I can add.”
“The IPRA Foundation grant helped me turn my project into a reality. It allowed me to go and meet with investigative journalism trainers and journalists who were doing amazing work post-conflict in the Arab region. In turn, I was able to identify the challenges and opportunities facing Arab investigative journalists, in order to produce a set of recommendations to assist them towards their journey forwards in the pursuit of a democratic Arab sphere. The grant went towards the first stage of the project, which has already resulted in securing a book contract towards the publication of the findings of the study. I am grateful for IPRAF for providing me with this opportunity and for funding projects that need to be researched.”
“I am eternally grateful for the generous support of the IPRA Foundation. Without their support this research would not have been possible. The IPRA Foundation offers a unique opportunity for an interdisciplinary group of researchers from all over the world to explore vital issues facing our world today. I am honored to be part of such an inspiring group of researchers and practitioners.”
“Much appreciation and gratitude to the IPRA Foundation for supporting research focused on understanding the direct role that religion plays in conflict and peace through the town of Malerkotla in India. Through ethnographic fieldwork I was able to explore the overall pattern of Sikh-Muslim interactions in a town that can transcend conflict and make peace the norm. Since the grant, the work has been published as a book Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab: Fostering Resilience through Religion and has been used in practice-based work in promoting inter religious understanding, cross-cultural awareness and conflict transformation.”