March 2025.
Policy brief by the Creating Safer Space project ‘Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia’.
Authors: Mark Owen, Sapai Khaing, Karen Arteaga Garzón, Andrei Gómez-Suárez, Luke Abbs, Flora Bringi and Moses John.
March 2025.
Policy Brief by the Creating Safer Space project ‘Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua: Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives’.
Authors: Arfiansyah, Reza Idria and Delsy Ronnie
This documentary explores the potential of local semilleros (seedbeds) in facilitating community-based research on strategies for the protection of unarmed civilians and wider issues of (in)security.
This documentary was produced by participants in the Creating Safer Space project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.
The documentary was created by two students at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) in Colombia, Santiago Hernandez and Manuela Romero, who presented it as their final year project under the supervision of Dr Natalia Campo (Co-Investigator on the Creating Safer Space project).
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at Quaker House Brussels from 4-7 February 2025, and it was accompanied by three policy events.
On the first day, we held a policy event on “Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management”, with several speakers: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space), Rosemary Kabaki (Head of Mission, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan), Gaëlle Nizery (Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, European Commission) and Nora Loozen (Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
During the week, we also held two brown bag lunches. The first brown bag lunch focused on protective accompaniment and community-led Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia, with Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International) and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space). The second focused on protecting human rights defenders, with speakers from the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network and Nonviolent Peaceforce.
We published two policy briefs for the occasion, for the EU and its member states:
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at Quaker House Brussels from 4-7 February 2025.
On the first day, we held a policy event on “Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management”, with several speakers: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space), Rosemary Kabaki (Head of Mission, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan), Gaëlle Nizery (Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, European Commission) and Nora Loozen (Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
During the week, we also held two brown bag lunches. The first brown bag lunch focused on protective accompaniment and community-led Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia, with Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International) and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space). The second focused on protecting human rights defenders, with speakers from the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network and Nonviolent Peaceforce.
The Creating Safer Space network has published a new brochure.
The brochure provides information about our activities and achievements over the last five years. It also features a summary of our key research findings, and an outline of the Creating Safer Space model of carrying out research with and for (not “on”) self-protecting communities and UCP practitioners.
The brochure also dedicates two pages to each of our 26 commissioned projects, highlighting the diversity of research approaches and research findings within our network.
March 2025
Factsheet by the Creating Safer Space project “Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict”.
Authors/Auteurs: Gordon Crawford, Nancy Annan, James Kiven Kewir, Atim Evenye Niger-Thomas, Bernard Nsaidzedze Sakah, Zonziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh.
Available in English and French.
March 2025
Factsheet by the Creating Safer Space project “Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict”.
Authors/Auteurs: Gordon Crawford, Nancy Annan, James Kiven Kewir, Atim Evenye Niger-Thomas, Bernard Nsaidzedze Sakah, Zonziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh.
Available in English and French.
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at Quaker House Brussels from 4-7 February 2025.
On the first day, we held a policy event on “Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management”, with several speakers: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space), Rosemary Kabaki (Head of Mission, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan), Gaëlle Nizery (Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, European Commission) and Nora Loozen (Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
During the week, we also held two brown bag lunches. The first brown bag lunch focused on protective accompaniment and community-led Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia, with Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International) and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space). The second focused on protecting human rights defenders, with speakers from the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network and Nonviolent Peaceforce.
We published two policy briefs for the occasion, for the EU and its member states:
