Amid China’s rise and in the face of Russian aggression, accepted norms of international behavior are coming under intense pressure. Reliant on outmoded forms of intervention, the multilateral institutions mandated to prevent, mitigate and resolve conflict are struggling to build effective partnerships with local actors to advance peace while facing crises of both legitimacy and funding.

The research projects USIP selected focus on peacebuilding in a dozen countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The new U.S. Institute of Peace grantees are:

• American University (Washington, D.C.): The university will research how local actors influence the effectiveness of multilateral conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts via formal and informal networks in Burundi, Colombia and Sudan ($149,721).
• Atlantic Council (Washington, D.C.): The non-partisan think tank will analyze how core global trends and uncertainties will reshape multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations, specifically focusing on emerging challenges such as rising multipolarity, climate change, nonstate actors and disruptive technological development ($123,660).
• Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (South Africa): The independent non-governmental organization will analyze how the African Union’s transitional justice policy has been used in practice by different multilateral initiatives and what the impact of different multilateral initiatives has been on creating inclusive transitional justice partnerships with local actors ($150,602).
• United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (New York, NY): The Centre, an independent think tank within the U.N. system, will assess why some conflict-affected states developed severe problems with organized crime over the past 10 years and how multilateral organizations can more effectively address organized crime in the future ($149,134).
• United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (New York, NY): The Centre will analyze how the U.N. can translate broad prevention strategies at the regional level into integrated interventions in fragile, conflict-prone areas by identifying which tools and approaches enable the U.N. to better partner with national and regional actors ($128,700).
• University of Denver (Denver, CO): The university will assess how effective multilateral U.N. missions and African Union special political missions are in facilitating political transitions, settlements and durable institutions to prevent conflict in six African countries ($120,508).
• University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada): The university will examine why insurgent organizations sometimes become integrated into political, economic and social sectors of society, while at other times they remain partially or fully precluded from participation in the post-conflict state, using field research from Burma and the Philippines ($140,047).

Since awarding its first grants in 1986, USIP has funded dozens of projects focusing on research, training, capacity building and educational activities related to multilateral agencies, regional organizations and related bodies.

The Institute will be launching a new grant competition in early 2023 focused on the importance of human rights in promoting peace and global stability.