The Right Tools. The Right Hands. The Right Time.

THE RIGHT TOOLS. THE RIGHT HANDS.

THE RIGHT TIME PEACETECH LAB STRATEGIC PLAN 2022-2024

PEACETECH LAB www.peacetechlab.org

Media Monitoring Africa ADECOP- Youth Action for Community Development and Peace Terre de Paix Local Youth Corner INSM - Iraqi Network for Social Media Andariya BWOCD - Better World Organization for Community Development Yukalish AYSS - Awake Youth South Sudan CITAD - Centre for Information Technology and Development Since 2014 PeaceTech Lab Loyola Saferworld John Hopkins University SecDev Foundation Suleyman Demirel University Morgan University International Youth Foundation Baltimore City Community College Kazakhstan​ TV & Radio JSC St. Vincent De Paul Baltimore Central Asia Institute for Strategic Studies Ushahidi Tajikistan's Center for Strategic Studies IDEA Central Asia Kyrgyz State Law Academy HolaNews and Cabar.asia Marifatnoki RANSIF Group and Central Asian Development Institute Saken Seifullin University (NurSultan) has partnered with Intilish Astana Hub OSCE Social Fund for Civic Initiatives for Internet Politics Public Foundation International Debate Education Association in Central Asia Y-Peer Youth Network Ata Zhurt Social and Youth Fund ZhaStar for Peace Mir Techno Inspire Pakistan Organization IMC Worldwide PEAD Peace Education And Development Foundation uElect Laajverd CRY- Coalition on Rights & Responsibilities of Youth Chadar Mishal Pakistan HHRD - Helping Hand for Relief and Development College of Youth Activism and Development Renaissance Foundation for Social innovation The Diplomatic Insight Minerva Empower Pakistan Amm Admi Lets Innovate Biggin Hill Child Development Center AWARE GIRLS Daastan Women Through Film 2,000 Local Organizations Suffah Foundation Global Voices, Global Teen Connections, Youth Development Association A World At School Hazara Student Federation BALL HOPE- Health Oriented Preventive Education Pakistanis Against Conflict & Terrorism MentHub Rabtt SABAQ Karachi Biennale Habib University Kiran Foundation PeaceNiche/T2F Orenda Project SPADO - Sustainable Peace And Development Organization Lyaari Say Yaari in 30 Countries Seed Ventures ZIP Institute Institute for Democracy 'Societas Civilis' Metamorphosis Eco Guerilla Transparency International Macedonia Analytica Macedonia Coallition All for Fair Trials LEAD Skopje Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women CIVIL Skopje Center for Sustainable Development ALKA BIRN Macedonia Inkluziva MK Ajde Makedonija Nexus - Civil Concept National Youth Council of Macedonia Amcha Ghar ANANDI - Area Networking and Development Initiatives Apanalaya Apne Aap Women's Collective Asha Kendra Deepak Foundation Maharashtra State Women's Council Kranti Saheli across the globe. Rescue Foundation Stree Mukti Sanghatana Ka Nyut Youth Technology Group Myanmar Alin Thit Education Network Myit Tar Mon Free Clinic Kachin Lawyers' Group Kyal Sin Lin Let Youth Volunteer Group Loving Child Network Monywa MCPA Yangon Youth Forum Rakhine Women Network Adamawa Coalition on Election and Good Governance

Dear Friends, I am pleased to share with you PeaceTech Lab’s new 2022-2024 Strategic Plan.

As of this writing, it’s been ten years since an extraordinary group of activists, technologists and conflict resolution experts gathered at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to consider establishing the nation's first facility dedicated to using tech for peace. They agreed that advances in technology presented virtually unlimited opportunities to find new approaches to longstanding problems, from corruption and climate change to ethnic and religious conflict.

Three years later, in October 2014, PeaceTech Lab came into being as an independent non-profit organization, dedicated to doing more, better, faster to amplify tech’s power for good above its power for harm and hatred.

This, I am proud to say, is the very essence of what we have been doing since I first coined the word peacetech to describe our work: using technological innovation to tackle age-old drivers of conflict. We operate as both a laboratory for developing new ideas and a partner for those seeking to implement them.

To date, we have worked in more than thirty countries with thousands of peacebuilders – although few describe themselves as such: “I’m a journalist, just trying to give people the facts.” “I fight hate speech – it’s tearing us apart.” “I look for ways to prevent violence against women and girls.” “I expose corruption.”

“I’m trying to find jobs for ex-combatants.”

These are the voices of local activists, community leaders and non-profit organizations – a global network of 2000 organizations we have been wildly honored to work with - always mindful that we must remain in the background, in a supporting role, as they pursue their courageous missions.

Our new Strategic Plan builds on these accomplishments, both by looking back and by looking forward.

What has the Lab already achieved? What has worked best? And how can we do a lot more of that which we’ve learned really works?

We know that building a culture of peaceful problem-solving and social progress does not happen overnight. But we also know – not only from our experiences but also from important new research on the drivers of social progress – that the Lab’s laser focus on putting innovative tech tools into the hands of local change makers can yield powerful results.

We believe we can – and must – do more: develop better peacetech, put it into more hands, and make an even greater impact. To get there, the Plan re-imagines our relationship with technology, recognizing that, at the very moment when the threats we face are growing in frequency and intensity, billions of people already have the tech tools they need to secure positive change. To that end, we will expand our work to include not only activists but the everyday citizens they serve.

We hope that you will join us. Together, we will build Generation PeaceTech – activists and citizens working together to harness technology to fight existential threats and secure peaceful change. Together, we can build a world where everyone has the power of peacetech in their grasp.

Gratefully,

Sheldon Himelfarb President and CEO, PeaceTech Lab

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

IN THIS PLAN 01

OUR MISSION

02

03

HOW WE THINK ABOUT "PEACE"

OUR APPROACH

04

OUR IMPACT

05

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

06

07

OUR STORY

OUR LEADERSHIP

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

OUR MISSION To relentlessly develop and mobilize peacetech – innovative technology, tools, and strategies that help build just and peaceful communities.

Photo credit: T. Peter/ Reuters 2019

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

“We can and must embrace the unprecedented opportunities we have to solve the most intractable and ongoing conflicts that continue to plague our world. But we will only succeed if we beat technological swords into plowshares for the good of humanity.”

– Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

HOW WE THINK ABOUT "PEACE" The world has made great, measurable progress on issues like reducing extreme poverty and infant mortality, improving literacy, ensuring access to electricity and clean water, and curing disease.

Yet violent conflict remains a constant scourge, undermining gains in all areas, and threatening to stall or reverse progress on these problems.

At PeaceTech Lab, we are dedicated to the idea that “putting the right tech in the right hands” must be central to any effort to substantially and sustainably reduce violence and improve social well-being. Whether we are working to identify and counter online misinformation in Myanmar, helping a group of girls in Mumbai develop an app to challenge gender violence, or supporting social justice champions from Nairobi to New Orleans, we remain laser-focused on one question:

How can we use tech to help build peaceful communities?

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan Peace is an incredibly powerful and motivating idea that drives social and political change around the world. But it’s also a system in which every individual – regardless of race, gender, identity, or religion – can thrive.

It’s a society where people trust the legal system to be accessible, just, and accountable.

It’s a community where people have access to education, health care, and social services.

It’s an environment where people feel safe and secure from violence – and from global threats like pandemics and climate change.

It’s an economy that encourages sustainable growth without sacrificing equity.

And it’s a political process that provides ample opportunities for civic participation in stable governmental institutions that respect human rights, ensure political accountability, and operate transparently.

Sound Rule of Law

Social WellBeing

Safe & Secure Environment

Sustainable Economy

Stable Governance

Just legal frameworks, public order, accountability, access to justice, culture of lawfulness.

Access to basic needs, services & education, return/ resettlement of refugee and internally displaced persons, social reconstruction.

Cessation of largescale violence, public order, legitimate state monopoly over means of violence, physical & territorial security.

Macroeconomic stabilization, control over illicit economy, economic sustainability, employment generation.

Provision of essential services, stewardship of state resources, political accountability, civic participations & empowerment.

“Technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship are powerful foreign policy tools, and they should be used more to promote stabilization along fragile geopolitical fault lines — to move upstream in tackling problems like migration, terrorism, and genocide.” – Mark Cuban, Shark Tank Investor on why he invested $1M into PeaceTech Accelerator Alum, Hala Systems

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

OUR APPROACH Working with dedicated social advocates around the world, PeaceTech Lab innovates, collaborates, and reimagines our relationship with technology, media, and data. Our agile, cross-disciplinary, multinational, and intergenerational team passionately believes in our mission to use technology for social good. We leverage our diversity both as a lab, serving as a crucible for innovation, and as a movement, bringing together people from around the world to use tech for social good.

We are a lab because we research, experiment, and create. We develop and share new ideas so that we (and others) can scale the strategies and tools that best advance peace.

We seek out and support advances in data science that can help anticipate and prevent violence. We support a global network of innovators and changemakers, working with them to apply existing and emerging technologies for peacebuilding. And we are building a global network of labs that can develop solutions to the specific challenges their communities face.

Shortly after the pandemic started, we developed a first-of-its kind COVID-19 Violence Tracker. In partnership with Map Box, Vizonomy, Rongo University (Kenya), Georgia Tech, and PeaceTech Lab Netherlands we have mapped, categorized, and visualized more than 20 million reports of pandemic-related violence from around the world. Early on, the Tracker identified then-hidden trends that would become more evident later: the dramatic rise in anti-Asian violence, the explosive growth of domestic violence and child abuse, and the proliferation of misinformation-inspired attacks. We are now developing a data model that can help us (and others) not only understand the role that the pandemic has played in the global spike in violence but also isolate and identify other potential drivers.

We created the world’s first PeaceTech Accelerator, which has helped develop, refine, and raise funds for impact-oriented startups from around the world. In partnership with Amazon Web Services, SAP NS2, and C5 Accelerate, we identified 36 particularly promising social entrepreneurs to take part in a rigorous eight-week workshop. Working with PTL’s network of mentors and experts, they developed their ideas, challenged their own assumptions, and hustled to get their ideas investment ready. Ultimately, participating companies received more than $26 million in venture capital, created thousands of new jobs, and won numerous awards for social impact.

Photo credit: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post 2019

Startup Spotlight Peacetech entrepreneurs work in every country and in every sector, united by a common goal: to address to the root causes of conflict, reduce violence, and promote safe, stable societies through technology. Meet six inspiring PeaceTech Accelerator companies who are leading the way:

Junub Games, founded by a South Sudanese developer and former refugee, develops mobile apps and board games designed to foster empathy and understanding among the youth of South Sudan.

Red Crow developed an app that provides real-time security intelligence in the Middle East and North Africa, enabling humanitarian and relief organizations to operate more safely.

Coven Works, based in Nigeria, uses an online platform to provide tech training to youth in post-conflict regions and help them identify employment opportunities with multinational corporations.

SeAB Energy manufactures award-winning, carbon-reducing technology that turns organic waste into clean energy and contributes to the environmental health of companies and communities it serves.

TerraBlue XT, a health/tech company from India, builds sensor-based medical grade wearables to predict, detect, and manage chronic diseases and disorders including post-traumatic stress, contributing to individual health and well-being.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

We have developed innovative Hate Speech Lexicons, which social media companies, governments, and the United Nations have used to identify and mitigate online misinformation and on-the-ground violence. In partnership with over seventy organizations around the world, we have produced thirteen country- and culturespecific lexicons in Africa and the Middle East. Each identifies and explains specific inflammatory terms and phrases – including many unique to local conditions – and offers alternative language to counter the spread of hate.

We are leading the creation of an Intergovernmental Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) to provide science-based recommendations on reducing hate speech and misinformation. Our proposal earned international acclaim when it was first discussed at the Nobel Prize Foundation Summit in April 2021. Since then, we have partnered with Oxford University and catalyzed support from prominent human rights, media, and technology experts.

We pioneered the first-ever Master’s degree in Peace Engineering in the United States. Working with Drexel University, we developed the graduate degree program in Peace Engineering, which incorporates principles of peacebuilding and conflict management into conventional engineering education and training. Now in its fifth year, students have helped develop water, sanitation, and shelter systems for refugees in Greece; worked with local activists in Philadelphia to design sustainable engineering and tech solutions to local problems; and partnered with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority during the COVID-19 pandemic to help prevent the spread of the virus on public transportation.

We are a movement because we believe that everyone can use new and existing technology to build a more peaceful world. We are a go-to resource for those thought leaders and everyday citizens from all over the world (including here in the United States) who want to develop tech-focused solutions that inspire nonviolent, positive change. We help identify gaps in community-level skills, equipping activists and leaders with the training, tools, strategies, and resources they need to promote the rule of law, social wellbeing, and stable governance. We work with social entrepreneurs to explore how they can use technology to encourage sustainable economic development. We rally people to celebrate the power of tech for social good.

PeaceTech in Action A group of 13-year-old girls came to PeaceTech Exchange (PTX) Mumbai with an app prototype called Women Fight Back, which gives women the ability to use their phones to set off an emergency siren and send an alert to family and friends. We helped them further develop and release it. Their story has been featured in Forbes and Reuters, among others.

PTX trainer Jorge Luis Sierra worked with PTL staff to develop Salama, an app that helps journalists, bloggers, and media organizations stay safe by providing assessments and customized advice on their physical and digital security. More than 130 news organizations around the world have used Salama to conduct risk assessments.

During PTX-Pakistan, a team of young tech activists who call themselves From Apathy to Empathy (FATE) created a video game that promotes greater religious and class understanding among young people. The game took first prize in the U.S. State Department’s global “Challenging Extremism” challenge and was subsequently distributed to high schools across Pakistan.

After attending PTX-Macedonia, Nexus-Civil Concept worked with the city of Gostivar to implement the National Democratic Institute’s platform Fix My Community, which helped local citizens use their phones and computers to more easily communicate with the city government about unsolved infrastructure and city services problems.

Building on his participation in PTX-Iraq, journalist Ibrahim Alsragey launched Mapping Attacks against Iraqi Journalists and Bloggers, a project in partnership with the International Center for Journalists. It crowd-sourced instances of violence against journalists across Iraq. The project won numerous awards and was recognized as a valuable tool by Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

We have worked with 2,000 organizations from 30 countries to strengthen and amplify their local peacebuilding efforts through technology. Through our pioneering PeaceTech Exchange (PTX) program, we’ve shared tech tools and peacebuilding strategies with human rights activists, local technologists, social entrepreneurs, journalists, and local governments. We’ve assisted groups working on ending genderbased violence, combating online hate speech, and countering violent extremism, among other issues. Most have taken what they’ve learned and shared it with the people they serve.

In the United States, our Road to Equal Justice program has trained nearly 300 participants from 150 organizations, who collectively serve more than 100,000 people. In partnership with Hogan Lovells and local NGOs from across the country, we have organized workshops to explore how media, technology, and data tools can support local efforts at criminal justice reform, heal the police-citizen divide, and secure fair housing, economic justice, digital security, and voting rights. As of publication, we have completed workshops in Baltimore, Denver, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans.

“…The goal of justice in today’s America starts to become more achievable through programs [Road to Equal Justice], which equips and empowers our communities to use technology for social change.”

- Opal Tometi, 2021 International Peace Honoree and Co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

To further support the 70 organizations involved in creating our Lexicons, we founded the Countering Hate Action Network (CHAN), an alliance of community leaders and practitioners throughout Africa and the Middle East who are dedicated to tackling the root causes of hate speech and mitigating online toxicity.

We created the annual International Peace Honors to celebrate change makers who are using technology, media, and data to build peace – and inspiring others to do the same. In its inaugural broadcast, the International Peace Honors brought together more than 20,000 viewers from around the world to learn about courageous leaders whose work demonstrates the game-changing power of using technology, media, and data for social good.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

OUR IMPACT Since our establishment in 2014, our award-winning work has helped increase the peacebuilding capacity of communities around the world.

What follows are three examples of how we have helped promote and sustain meaningful change in communities around the world.

Amplifying Life-Saving Tech through Targeted Mentorship John Jaeger is a diplomat-turned-entrepreneur who has been credited with saving thousands of lives amidst Syria’s bloody civil war.

John is the founder of Hala Systems, a platform that warns Syrians by SMS, radio, and live tweets of incoming missile attacks. The platform reaches an estimated two million civilians inside Syria’s borders, giving them an average of 8 minutes to find shelter. In addition to saving lives, Hala Systems has been able to provide evidence of war crimes and information on aircraft activity and ceasefire violations to governments, NGOs, and the United Nations.

Photo credit: Qasioun News Agency, 2017

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Photo credit: Reuters, Umit Bektas 2018

“Being an entrepreneur is a challenge under optimal circumstances, but Hala is working to save lives and produce a positive impact in some of the world's toughest conflicts. To have the entire PeaceTech Accelerator team on our side-- offering expertise, mentorship, community, and strong business development networks -- was invaluable to scaling our mission effectiveness and our business.”

- John Jaeger, Hala Systems CEO

As part of our PeaceTech Accelerator program, we had the privilege of supporting the growth and development of Hala Systems, which uses data scraping, in-field sensors, and crowdsourcing to alert civilians of potential violence. Their team credits the Accelerator with helping to refine their vision, develop a new strategy for scaling, build connections with corporate, nonprofit and government experts, and identify opportunities for seed and angel investors.

Hala Systems has been featured on CNN and BBC, and in The Telegraph and received a number of honors, including the Enabling Tech Award, as part of the Extreme Tech Challenge, and the Innovator Awards in Global Affairs and Benefit.

We’re humbled and honored to have played a significant role in helping Hala to realize its potential as a peacetech company whose impact Hala investor Mark Cuban has noted, saves lives “where they’re nearly impossible to save. . . . [Hala] is a great example of using AI for good in one of the toughest places on earth.”

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Photo credit: Reuters, Baz Ratner 2017

Mitigating Election Violence through SMS in Kenya Kenya has a history of hard-fought elections that turn deadly. During the 2007-2008 elections, the country suffered unprecedented violence and unrest, with more than 1,100 people killed and 650,000 displaced. While a range of factors contributed to the crisis, analysts and activists alike quickly recognized the impact of what was then a novel development: perpetrators on all sides had used text messages to increase ethnic divisions, spread misinformation, stoke fear, and organize violence.

What followed was a decade in which Kenyan activists worked to reclaim the power of SMS, leading to increasingly calm and peaceful elections. In the run-up to the 2017 election, PeaceTech Lab and Mercy Corps partnered with these enterprising activists to develop Jihusishe na Amani (Swahili for “Engage in Peace”), a SMS-based early warning system that used citizen messaging to target misinformation, rumor-mongering, and hate speech before they inspired violence.

In the months immediately before the vote, more than 200,000 Kenyans – the majority of whom lived in the counties worst hit by the 2007-08 violence – subscribed to Jihusishe na Amani. With the Lab’s support, Kenyans sought to transform texting from a vector for hate to a driver of peace. Citizens and activists used real-time, ground-verified information to identify hot spots, counter misinformation, and deploy violence interrupters-- leading U.S. News & World Report to declare “The peace-tech industry has found an ideal laboratory in Kenya.” In the end, the Lab’s network-based model was integral to local efforts to reduce violence and save lives in that contested and tense election.

Photo credit: Qasioun News Agency, 2017

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Building a Hub for Activists and Peacebuilders in Niger In response to the alarming increase of Nigerien youth joining regional terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, PeaceTech Lab partnered with the GeoAnalytics Institute to organize a series of PTX workshops for 124 local leaders.

Participants learned how to reach at-risk audiences on Facebook and WhatsApp; experimented with creating podcasts and radio programs to connect with populations who were particularly vulnerable to violent extremist recruitment; and discovered techniques for measuring the pulse of a community by building and disseminating surveys.

The enthusiasm and shared sense of purpose that came out of the PTX led the community to establish TechHouse, a lively hub for young leaders and activists to exchange ideas, to continue developing innovative tech solutions to local problems, and to build a network of like-minded citizens passionate about coupling technology with social activism. Building off the PTX model, TechHouse regularly organizes “Burst Trainings” – intense, locally-led, two-hour sessions that help participants develop tech-focused peacebuilding solutions.

The trainings cover a wide range of topics, including geomapping; website development; using social media analytics to increase the effectiveness of NGO programming; bridging the digital gender divide by supporting women content creators; and strengthening digital security for at-risk communities.

For a country like Niger, which consistently ranks as one of the least peaceful nations in Africa, TechHouse has offered a constructive space for citizens to participate in the process of making local change. By providing tangible tech resources and opportunities for collaboration among local activists, it stands as a symbol of hope, as a new generation of Nigerians discover how they can better use technology to drive social change.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

These are just three of many examples of how PeaceTech Lab’s mission has produced meaningful changes in the local peacebuilding landscape. They demonstrate how we operate as both a lab and a movement, as both an innovator and a catalyst. Our work has taken many forms over the years, but our goal has remained consistent: to relentlessly create, develop, and deploy peacetech in partnership with talented and dedicated people, organizations, and communities around the world.

There’s still much to be done – which is why we have identified specific goals and objectives to guide our work through 2024. We are determined to build on our past success to create a more promising future. With clarity and urgency, we will use this plan to identify new approaches and solutions to the most important question of our time:

How can we help communities use tech to wage peace?

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

GOAL 1

Identify, develop, and share the technologies that build and promote more peaceful and just societies – and make sure that they get to the people who can best utilize them.

Tech disrupts everything. It has changed how we make vaccines, how we move money and information, and how we interact with each other. And as we have seen over the past few years, it has become very efficient at spreading hate, prejudice, and violence.

PeaceTech Lab was founded to do the opposite: relentlessly gather and share innovative technologies and strategies that help build just and accountable societies – in the process becoming a go-to resource for entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and activists working to promote social justice and non-violent social change. We are a Lab because we develop and share new ideas so that we (and others) can identify and scale what works best.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Identify and drive advances in data science that can help anticipate and prevent violent conflict before it happens.

Consistent with our role as a Lab, we will drive greater innovation in the development of next-generation early warning and early action analytics. We will build on our Hate Speech and COVID-19 Violence Tracker programs to identify and refine these data models while providing insights to individuals and organizations positioned to reduce the spread of misinformation and violence.

Expand our network of self-sustaining PeaceTech Labs. As part of our commitment to putting the power of peacetech into everyone’s hands, we are building a global network of local Labs that will give activists, community leaders, and NGOs the opportunity to develop and refine approaches and solutions to defusing violence. Over the next three years, we will build on our experience in Kenya and the Netherlands to develop at least two new labs. Each will bring together civil society organizations, technologists, journalists, and the private sector to explore how low-cost technologies can respond to and address the drivers of conflict.

Build a world-class online hub where activists and community leaders can find and share technologies and tech strategies for tackling the drivers of violence in their communities. The open-source platform also serves as the connective tissue between new Lab entities and their partners, encouraging changemakers, community leaders, social entrepreneurs, and visionaries to share innovative approaches to peacetech, find ways to develop them further, and work collaboratively to adapt and apply them to their own circumstances.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

GOAL 2

Inspire and support a movement dedicated to using peacetech in pursuit of more stable and prosperous communities.

We live in a world where, for the first time in human history, anyone with a cell phone or an internet connection can use technology to promote nonviolent solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

To this end, we support, work with, and train leaders, activists as well as everyday citizens to better use technology for social good.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Objective 4

Train social advocates, community organizations, and local government leaders through best-in-class online and in-person learning. Through our work in everything from divided neighborhoods to active war zones, we’ve learned that there are significant gaps in community-level skills and knowledge. Our PeaceTech Exchange (PTX) program will continue to fill that need by offering opportunities to learn about and experiment with low-cost, easy-to-use, and accessible tech that promotes safety and well-being.

Accelerate U.S. social justice efforts. If we are to continue inspiring a global movement, we need to apply the same standard to the crisis at home. To that end, we will build on our Road to Equal Justice initiative to support the continued development of an energetic peacetech movement in the United States. We will work with local partners and communities across the country to identify key issues and develop the tech, tools, and training people need to peacefully confront racism, inequality, and injustice.

Promote the role of the private sector and peacetech entrepreneurs in expanding economic development.

Sustainable and equitable economic growth are critical to fostering peaceful societies. We will build on the success of our PeaceTech Accelerator to expand access to private sector mentoring, training, and capital. We will work with peacetech entrepreneurs to develop, build, and scale companies and organizations that create jobs and build social capital. We will encourage the private sector to prioritize partnerships for peace based on our shared interests in building secure, just, and prosperous communities.

Share with everyday citizens the knowledge and skills they need to use peacetech. Generation PeaceTech is now.

Billions of us are equipped with unprecedented computing power, in the form of low-cost, readily available technology. Whether by enabling communities and consumers to fight misinformation or by leveraging the reach of broad appeal events such as our International Peace Honors, PeaceTech Lab will help citizens use this power to become agents of positive social action.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

GOAL 3

Ensure that PeaceTech Lab has the financial resources and human capital it needs to achieve these ambitious goals and objectives.

World class-programming and world-class talent go hand-in-hand. Building on the Lab’s past successes and expanding into new areas of work will require significant additional investment and support, particularly from the tech community, where know-how and capital abound.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Strengthen and diversify the Board of Directors, and work with them to ensure the organization’s continued operational excellence and financial growth. PeaceTech Lab has been fortunate to enjoy the support of talented directors who have provided exceptional guidance and direction. We will work with our current board members and other thought leaders to build a stronger and more diverse board that reflects the communities we serve.

Secure the unrestricted funds necessary to sustain and expand the Lab’s existing capacity to innovate, take advantage of new opportunities, and respond to rapidly developing situations. One of the keys to PeaceTech Lab’s success is its agility. Building on our experience of rapidly developing the COVID-19 Violence Tracker, Countering Hate Action Network, and Road to Equal Justice initiatives, we will seek the funds necessary to anticipate, research, develop, and launch other innovative approaches and solutions.

Continue to build a talented, diverse staff and partner network dedicated to the cause of peacetech. One of the major challenges facing any organization is how to attract top talent and impactful partnerships. Over the next three years, we will work to identify thought leaders and innovators who represent the diversity of the global peacetech movement, and are motivated to devote their time and talents to our mission.

OUR STORY In 2011, the United States Institute of Peace partnered with the National Academy of Engineers to investigate how an innovative alliance of activists, engineers, innovators, and business leaders could work together to develop and more effectively use technology to promote and secure peace and stability. In 2014, PeaceTech Lab was created to do just this, an independent non-profit on USIP’s campus where it would benefit from unparalleled access to public and private sector expertise.

To date, PeaceTech Lab has supported nearly 2,000 community organizations and entrepreneurs in 30 countries, including, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. Our international partners utilize low-cost, easy-to-use technologies on projects ranging from countering hate speech and preventing election violence, to addressing resource scarcities and countering corruption.

PeaceTech Labs we support in Kenya and the Netherlands further extend the reach of innovations in peacetech.

In 2020, as part of the extraordinary global movement to challenge racial injustice and violence, PeaceTech Lab established The Road to Equal Justice to bring our flagship training program to 16 U.S. cities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that same year, we launched the Covid-19 Violence Tracker, a data initiative to better understand the relationship between the virus and the violence it was causing. We also established the International Peace Honors to highlight leading global humanitarians and inspire new peacebuilders.

PeaceTech Lab’s work has been profiled in publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, CNN, New Scientist, and U.S. News and World Report. In 2012 our Iraq-based teen reality television program Salam Shabab, won the UNESCO Prize for Intercultural Dialogue at the Prix Jeunesse. Partners who have made PeaceTech Lab’s work possible include IBM, Google, Amazon Web Services, Channels Broadcasting, Covington and Burling, and global law firm Hogan Lovells, who selected the Lab as its Global Citizenship Partner for 2020-2022.

PEACETECH LAB Strategic Plan

OUR LEADERSHIP Board of Directors Nicholas Donofrio, Chair Former Head of Innovation at IBM Bernard Amadei, Vice Chair Founder, Engineers Without Borders Sanjiv Ahuja CEO and Chairman, Global Tillman Holdings John Momoh CEO and Chairman, ChannelsTV Colin Rule Founder, Modria Diane Strahan Former COO, Motion Picture Association of America Sheldon Himelfarb, Ex-officio President and CEO, PeaceTech Lab

Distinguished Board Alumni Nancy Lindborg Former President, USIP Tom Monahan President and CEO, DeVry University Amb. George Moose Chair, USIP Board of Directors Tara Sonenshine Former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Nancy Zirkin Former EVP, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

CONTACT US

2301 Constitution Ave NW Washington, DC 20037 facebook.com/peacetechlab @peacetechlab @peacetechlab

www.peacetechlab.org

“What impresses me most about PeaceTech Lab is their ability to approach the world’s oldest challenge - human conflict - through a new lens.

Through technology and training, they are helping the fight against corruption, misogyny, and violent extremism in some of the most dangerous places on earth.”

- Leopold von Gerlach, former Global Chair, Hogan Lovells