This is the second year of the Peace Research Partnership (PRP), undertaken with our partners Conciliation Resources and International Alert. The three-year programme, funded by the Department for International Development, provides evidence, analysis and recommendations for policymakers and practitioners on how development in conflict settings can be more inclusive. It focuses on economic development, peace processes, decentralisation, and security and justice. It also looks at causes of conflict from a gender perspective, and mainstreams a gender focus throughout the research process.

In 2018, we published a report and podcast on how Kenya’s devolution process has affected inclusion and conflict dynamics at the local level. We published research on security and justice providers in south-east Myanmar and their perceived legitimacy and effectiveness. In 2019, we carried out research in South Sudan through a similar lens, and we are also undertaking comparative research into the federalisation process in Somalia.

We carried out research with Yemeni partners into the changing roles of women as peacebuilders in Yemen, and a subsequent study looking at relationships within and between South Sudanese refugee and host communities in northern Uganda.

In all cases, the research and reports produced under the PRP have provided detailed evidence and nuanced analysis to the UK government and other policymakers. The findings have been presented in a series of workshops and other events, and the research evidence has been widely appreciated – in a number of cases, informing official analyses and strategies. In the third and final year of the research partnership, we will focus on working with policymakers and practitioners to translate the research findings into practical lessons for policy and programming.

Saferworld’s Head of Research and Learning, Ivan Campbell, commented: “Policymakers face a variety of constraints that often prevent a straightforward response to the evidence. Our aim is to use the PRP research on inclusion as a means to engage officials in grappling with the consequences of the analysis: creatively thinking through how – despite the constraints – they can be more inclusive in their interventions in conflict settings.”