Courage in Practice: How the 2024 PPA Cohort Is Transforming Communities

After completing the 2024 Peace Practice Alliance (PPA), members of the cohort brought their learning into action through powerful community peace initiatives around the world. This year, 17 initiatives were launched by PPA members, including two that were led collaboratively by multiple peace leaders. Some projects are still underway, and a few are not included here due to safety considerations. These initiatives reflect the diverse, creative, and deeply rooted ways participants are embodying peace leadership in their communities.

These initiatives emerged in a wide range of local and global contexts, engaging refugee women, schoolchildren, interfaith groups, university students, and youth affected by conflict. Through workshops, healing spaces, arts-based activities, education campaigns, and advocacy efforts, peace leaders addressed issues such as gender-based violence, trauma recovery, political division, environmental degradation, and systemic injustice. Participants reported increased confidence, deeper emotional resilience, and greater connection with one another and their communities. In each case, peacebuilding was grounded in local context and lived experience, demonstrating how transformative change begins with relationships and grows outward.

In addition to the external impact, 2024 cohort members shared rich insights into their own leadership journeys, deepening their understanding of trust, collaboration, courage, and the power of local wisdom. We invite you to read on and learn more about the transformative peace practice initiatives sparked by this year’s cohort.

The following descriptions are compiled and written by 2024 PPA leaders and the Euphrates team. Several initiatives are still in progress or not shared publicly due to security concerns.