Humanity United’s global survey of peacebuilding practitioners highlights the urgent need to shift power and resources toward those closest to conflict, reinforcing the recommendations outlined in A Pathway to Peace: An Engagement Framework for the Next Evolution of Peacebuilding.
In late 2025, Humanity United published A Pathway to Peace: An Engagement Framework for the Next Evolution of Peacebuilding. The framework was built through a collaborative process with proximate peacebuilders from conflict-affected countries who worked together to define priorities for the next decade of Peacebuilding. As part of this process, Humanity United conducted a global survey to solicit feedback and insights from peacebuilders around the world. In a year of unprecedented disruption and broad funding cuts, the survey offers critical insight into the challenges peacebuilders and communities are facing today.
This global survey of peacebuilding practitioners finds that local peacebuilders remain significantly underfunded and excluded from key decisions, despite growing international commitments to locally led peacebuilding. The survey identifies critical structural reforms to funding systems and partnerships to ensure those closest to conflict are empowered to lead peacebuilding efforts.
The findings come at a time when the increase of global conflicts and decrease in foreign aid budgets have created new pressures on organizations working to prevent violence and sustain peace processes. The survey report examines how funding systems, partnerships, and power dynamics affect peacebuilding outcomes and systems change.
Key Findings:
The findings highlight the need in the international system to shift power and resources toward those closest to conflict. This is a critical moment to ensure that donors, philanthropies, and international institutions adopt new partnership models that prioritize local leadership and long-term investment, as outlined in the Pathways to Peace framework.