A Letter from AfP's Executive Director, Liz Hume

September 16, 2026

Dear Members,

As we head into the final months of 2026, it is easy to be cynical because we are still grappling with record-breaking global violent conflict trends and major wars—from Ukraine, to the Middle East, to Sudan—that show no signs of abating, and of course, doing more with diminishing resources and capacity. But we are always inspired by our members and network that are working to advance and build the prevention and peacebuilding sector. Remember: we work for you, so please reach out to the AfP team! Below, please find highlights of what we have done and where we are going.  

After a long hiatus, PeaceCon is back, and we are overwhelmed by the excitement and support. Join us for PeaceCon 2027: Reimagining and Transforming the Future of Peace and Security Together on  January 11th – 14th, in partnership with George Mason University's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute and Keough School of Global Affairs. The conference kicks off Monday, January 11th in Washington, DC at the Keough School, then moves to the Carter School in Arlington, VA (January 12th – 13th), and closes with a fully virtual day on January 14th. There is still time to submit your session proposals by 11:59pm ET on Friday, September 18th here. Sponsorship opportunities are also available, and ticket information is coming soon.

I want to first discuss the frenzy of the recent alarming comments on the potential existential risks of AI, with Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon (also formerly with OpenAI) resigning, claiming “neither company is acting responsibly” and “gambling with our lives.” As AfP Board Member Ravi Iyer recently stated, “Human beings built these systems, and human beings can decide to build them in ways that don't ‘kill us all.’ AfP is a part of that effort to design systems that don't divide and polarize us toward conflict.” AfP is calling for strong, coordinated action across governments, the UN and other multilateral institutions, and technology companies to work with peacebuilding organizations to prevent and mitigate risks. Government regulation must safely oversee companies that develop and deploy AI tools to anticipate and eliminate any catastrophic, violence-related risks by integrating conflict sensitivity. The UN must use its convening power to outline principles and best practices (including by building off of the work of its AI Advisory Body). And civil society must boldly call for and engage with technology companies and policymakers to embed peacebuilding best practices across the entire AI design cycle. If you would like to get involved with this effort, please email AfP’s Digital Peacebuilding lead Nick Zuroski. 

As we get closer to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and the selection of the new UN Secretary-General, AfP has been meeting with candidates and urging them to put peacemaking back in the UN and focus on conflict prevention. We are encouraged by many of the candidates specifically calling for more robust peacebuilding and prevention, including a new conflict prevention hub! To keep this campaign up, AfP is co-hosting a hybrid side event in New York during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Week with the Asia Foundation, Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies, Stimson Center, Saferworld, and the Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network on how the UN can reclaim its founding peace and security mandate amidst record conflict and shrinking prevention funding—including proposing metrics and a 10-year vision for the next Secretary-General. If you are at UNGA, please join us by registering to attend in-person here and virtually here. Please submit any event you are hosting to AfP’s compiled calendar here, and see what partners are hosting here.  

Unfortunately, in the U.S., development foreign assistance and policies have been decimated, and while these actions are devastating, there is an opportunity to rebuild this work so that conflict prevention and peacebuilding are prioritized and centered. AfP’s Future of Peace and Security Coalition published its charter, which lays out a bipartisan framework for a new, bold, and innovative U.S. architecture for peace and security to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflicts. 40 organizations have officially signed on as founding Coalition members, and we're eager to grow the coalition, so please reach out to Nick Zuroski if you’d like to join. As conflict trends rapidly evolve, we are also working with members to assess the geopolitical and threat trends that will shape the peace and security landscape over the next decade and, more importantly, how we change social norms and behaviors so the public demands peacebuilding and holds leaders accountable.  

But it is important to know that Republicans and Democrats on the Hill still support this work, and we recently partnered with the Friends Committee on National Legislation and Humanity United Action to host the Invest in Peace Advocacy Days. Approximately 50 volunteers met with more than 30 Congressional offices to urge robust peacebuilding funding in Fiscal Year 2027, stronger oversight to ensure peacebuilding programs are effectively implemented, and conflict expertise at the State Department. Thank you to everyone who joined us on the Hill—your voice and expertise made a real difference, and the information gathered is vital to our advocacy work. There was significant broad bipartisan receptiveness from Congress to provide oversight and support for prevention-oriented legislation (the Global Fragility Act, the Women, Peace, and Security Act, and the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act), and our work on the future of peace and security. 

After the U.S. Government failed to submit its legally-required report to Congress as mandated by the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, AfP's Prevention and Protection Working Group (PPWG) published a shadow report. It found the law’s potential remains constrained by the decimation of atrocity prevention expertise in the U.S. Government, while also offering examples of what has worked in the past, what could be pursued currently, and opportunities for Congress to anticipate, prevent, and address alarming levels of atrocities globally while advancing U.S. national interests. 

AfP is the Secretariat of the Civil Society Working Group on WPS, approximately 60 organizations strong and working to strengthen the WPS Agenda despite budget cuts, rising strongman authoritarianism, and conflict that disproportionately impacts women and girls. On the five-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover, AfP called on the international community to recognize gender apartheid in Afghanistan (the worst country in the world to be a woman), protect Afghan women and girls, and press Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act and Afghanistan TPS Act.

While we are breaking conflict records globally, the Global North is not immune from rising instability and conflict, with the U.S. experiencing increasing political polarization and mistrust and now entering an era of populism that is normalizing political violence. While the U.S. is polarizing faster than other Global North countries, we are seeing these conflict trends in other states, including Germany, where a recent historic election saw the far right receive significant support not seen since World War II, and where left wing environmental/climate extremist violence is rising. AfP recently started a new Pluralism Ecosystem Community of Practice and is developing a  Standardized Pluralism Framework (SPF-US), an integrated measurement and guidance tool that will help practitioners, funders, and communities strengthen pluralistic/peacebuilding values and practices needed to address conflict drivers in the Global North and beyond. Ask Eirene is being designed to allow natural language dialogue with the Eirene Peacebuilding Database, in partnership with the Effective Peacebuilding Initiative. 

As always, thank you for everything you do to advance this field. Our network continues to grow—now over 300 organizations and hundreds of individuals strong—and every one of you makes this work possible. 

All my best,

Liz Hume
Executive Director
Alliance for Peacebuilding