Our Unique Strategy

Our vision is simple yet grand. Before war, before famine, before devastation – BEFORE reaches out to people with the opportunity for peaceful transformation in their communities.

Every year 4 -7 conflicts go from an unstable peace to a full-scale outbreak of violence. It is not inevitable for those conflicts to become violent. By starting just 1-3 new early response and conflict prevention programs in countries of risk each year, BEFORE can help stop the chain of events that lead to violence and drastically reduce, if not eliminate, the outbreak of violent conflicts around the world.

Here is how we will get there together:

• Synthesis of Various Early Warning Information and Analyses

  There are identifiable factors that indicate if a conflict is likely to cause the outbreak of violence. BEFORE monitors early warning information from a wide range of sources to identify countries at risk of violent conflict. BEFORE then determines whether targeted peacebuilding can prevent political violence in the country in question.

• Conflict Analysis

  After detecting a potential country at risk, BEFORE sends an assessment team to the country at risk. This team does a preliminary analysis of the situation and identifies local and international partners who could engage in peacebuilding.

• Comprehensive Peacebuilding Strategy & Comprehensive Involvement

  Once the root causes of the conflict and local partners are identified, BEFORE then works with local individuals and groups to establish a plan of action for defusing potential violence, including a comprehensive and country-specific peacebuilding strategy.

  With the following unique combination of tools and our local partnerships, BEFORE untangles and addresses the potentially preventable web of discrete events that can cause wars:

  Private & public funding
  Quick response to early warning information
  Close and on-going analysis
  Alignment of international resources with local needs
  Support to local leadership
  Diverse expertise and international partnerships
  Programmatic flexibility

  To BEFORE, comprehensive strategies also necessitate long-term commitment. People already possess a deep desire for stability and security. BEFORE makes a long-term commitment to fostering the peaceful environments in which hope can emerge. We don’t end our projects when grants or contracts end, but when societies are strong enough to internally resolve conflict without large-scale political violence.

• Monitoring For Flexibility

  As conflict dynamics change, BEFORE conducts on-going monitoring of all its projects and regularly evaluates its performance to ask whether the basic BEFORE approach is beneficial for the local population. This enables BEFORE to be flexible and to adapt easily to changing structures and situations.

• Regional Yet Global

  Peacebuilding is a partnership process among local organizations, with the support of international and regional experts. BEFORE creates networks among regional and local experts, international organizations and local stakeholders.

  Building upon our model of partnership, as BEFORE grows its projects will expand from West Africa into other regions of the world that are at risk of violent political conflict.

Together these relationships and strategic commitments act as a catalyst for peaceful conflict transformation, creating a sense of local ownership and a renewed sense of hope for stability, peace and justice. To learn more, read about our unique BEFORE 10-Step Approach to Peace.

We know the time to act is before the outbreak of war, before hope for a better future becomes too distant. Before it’s too late. Become a part of preventing political violence today .