On 10 June 2026, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Conflict Prevention, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding and members of the Creating Safer Space research network held an event at the UK Houses of Parliament on “Stories of Self-Protection: Centring Agency in the Protection of Civilians”.

The event arose from the observation that, at a time when the need to protect civilians from armed violence is more urgent than ever, the capacity and willingness of the international community to respond appears to be in decline. This reinforces the need to better understand and support community-led protection. 

Building on evidence from the Creating Safer Space research network, the event highlighted a critical yet often overlooked dimension of civilian protection: the strategies and practices that individuals and communities use to protect themselves when international assistance is delayed, insufficient, or absent. 

Moderated by Lord Jack McConnell, the event brought together academics, civil society practitioners, Members of Parliament, and civil servants to: 

• Share evidence on community self-protection from conflict and atrocity contexts.
• Identify priorities to strengthen UK policy and practice on community self-protection. 

Panel contributions by CSS researchers Nancy Annan, Chas Morrison, Marwan Darweish, and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara explored: 

• Why and where this matters, from neglected crises to high-profile conflicts. 
• Practical strategies for community self-protection, with evidence from Cameroon. 
• How it functions through embedded mechanisms, with evidence from South Sudan. 
• Policy blind spots in external support to self-protection, with evidence from Palestine. 

Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Aberystwyth University) introduced the terrain of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) and community self-protection, noting that it comprises a wide range of proactive nonviolent approaches, including early warning and early response, negotiation with armed actors, and protective presence and accompaniment, among others, which are carried out by self-protecting communities and are sometimes supported by specialised NGOs and INGOs. Some of the key points she raised were:

• These proactive nonviolent strategies help civilians in different violent contexts effectively to keep themselves and others safe. 
• Local initiatives matter today more than before, especially in the wake of an increase in armed conflicts across the world and in their duration and complexity. 
• Data from Humanitarian Action, the Peace Research Institute Oslo ( PRIO) and the UN show that the number of civilians in need of protection from violence has risen significantly in recent years, with record levels of displacement and humanitarian need globally. 
• At the same time, there has been a reduction in funding from donor states which has hollowed out previous humanitarian and peacebuilding system. However, this is both a challenge and an opportunity to rethink some of the old practices used in civilian protection that may need re-invention. 
• The reduced funding does not mean that people in the UK are not concerned about conflicts happening elsewhere. Drawing from the numbers of solidarity protests and civil action, it is evident that people do care, while at the same time there is a reluctance to support military interventions. 
• Over the past 5 years, the international Creating Safer Space research network comprising 70 organisations has studied in 26 projects across 11 countries how unarmed community self-protection works and formulated recommendations of how it can be supported better. This research provides clear evidence that community-led unarmed protection works in a wide range of violent contexts .

She hence concluded by suggesting that community-led UCP could be supported to address the massive gap between rising protection need and stagnating or declining protection capacity, and that the UK focus should shift towards supporting local action, rather than imposing external interventions. 

Dr. Nancy Annan (Coventry University) reported on findings from her research in Cameroon, focusing on how civilians caught in a conflict lasting almost a decade find ways to protect themselves. Some of the approaches she mentioned include: 

• Early warning strategies: Affected communities have come together to form what they call ‘unarmed vigilante groups’- a community watch groups composed of young men, mainly unarmed (with whistles and phones) who keep watch at strategic locations in the communities to alert community members of impending violence in order for them to escape to safe locations. Families and communities maximize Whatsapp and social media platforms to share regular security updates either through group calls or messages to alert fellow civilians. In remote communities where internet and electricity access is limited, people use alternative methods such word of mouth, coded languages (verbal and sign language -e.g.waving means ‘don’t move/stand still’), whistles, church bells, pots and pans as well as the town crier to raise alarm of impending violence. 
• Women-led Protection Networks: Women are also actively engaged in mediation, dialogue, and advocacy. Groups such as Southwest Northwest Women’s Taskforce (SNWOT) and the Northwest Women Peace Builders (WOFEM) have been engaging in mediation and dialogues with warring factions calling from an end to the violence. They use their traditional ‘lamentation’ campaign (nonviolent resistance protests where women sit down wailing with peace branches) to call for peace. They also negotiate the release of kidnapped civilians. Women have also mobilised themselves forming what we call the ‘sisterhoods of protection’ where they move and work in each other’s farms in groups to prevent sexual violence from armed groups. Older women also use their role as mothers and grandmothers to physically position themselves as protective barriers (interpositioning) between armed groups and communities to help avoid and prevent attacks. 
• Safe passages and accompaniment: Communities have also built safe passages and paths behind their homes or villages to enable them run to safe locations including – farms, church, palace, neighbouring villages or regions. At night, community members with boats or canoes accompany vulnerable groups to cross the river to neighbouring towns and regions for safety. Some community members, particularly those who own farms, have hosted people fleeing the conflict. An example is one local farmer who provided safety for 100 people in his farm while feeding the vulnerable. They do so out of a sense of mutual responsibility and the belief in supporting and protecting one another. 

She concluded by noting that it is important to recognise and maximise the agency of communities experiencing conflict as this is crucial to ensuring sustainable and nonviolent forms of protection. 

Dr. Chas Morrison (Coventry University) discussed some of the embedded mechanisms that are important to observe in conflict settings. These mechanisms, which draw on his team’s research in South Sudan and have much in common with spiritual practices elsewhere, include: 

• Ethnic identity and its role in shaping political and social life. He observed that this has become particularly prominent in recent years in South Sudan. In fragile political contexts, people tend to identify more strongly with their tribe or ethnic group than with the nation. 
• Leadership and authority are often tied to traditional structures (elders, chiefs, spiritual figures) within ethnic communities. Self-protection often features symbolic and esoteric practices. 
• Christianity and Islam are commonly blended with traditional African beliefs as communities consider that spiritual practices and rituals play an important role in community life and are often linked to health, protection, prosperity, and livestock, particularly among pastoral groups. 
• The idea of protection extends beyond purely physical security to include spiritual and communal dimensions (“one’s body is not more important than the soul”). Many everyday practices involve blessing or cursing objects, and elevating them to the realm of the sacred, with the power to defend, ward off, confuse, blind or harm the enemy by esoteric means. These might be cursed animal skins, charcoal, water, fire/smoke, leaves, ash circles, drumming, song, and dance. 
• Covert and hidden meanings only accessible by the in-group. Symbols and signs to indicate (stones, arrows, vegetation). 
• There is also hierarchy of spiritual power. For example, some ethnic groups’ elderly women practice a ritual whereby they pray and fast and don’t bathe. These austerities serve to protect the community. 

He concluded by noting that such traditional mechanisms are undermined by the criminalisation and politicisation of modern conflict. Rather than asking whether these community-based approaches to civilian protection work, we should instead ask what it means to engage with communities with these cultural practices and worldview, even as the violence in South Sudan is extreme. 

Dr. Marwan Darweish reflected on the ongoing conflict in Palestine and how Palestinians survive under these conditions. Some of the observation he makes from his research include: 

• Social solidarity: The Palestinian extended family is form of support and resilience and serves as an important source of support in the face of attacks by the settlers and the army and they help them cope with daily risks and uncertainty 
• Collective presence (strength in numbers) helps to reduce or deter violence, as larger groups are less vulnerable when moving through contested areas. 
• International and Israeli organisations such Ta’ayush (means co-existence) Operation Dove, Italian, World Council of Churches accompaniment programme, and the Centre for Jewish nonviolence- US provide support by accompanying individuals in daily activities (e.g. going to school or farms). Their presence, particularly when they speak the language and understand local cultures, enhances feelings of security and solidarity among Palestinians, while also offering a degree of international visibility and protection 
• Despite the conflict, there is a strong sense of pride and attachment to the land. Leaving is often seen as shameful and tied to loss of identity and belonging and this is why many keep holding on even as the situation worsens 

He concluded by calling on the UK government to support such initiatives of civilian protection in Palestine by civil society organisations. Increase the leverage on Israel from top and grassroot level and impose sanctions on Israel and settlement products and leaders and help this process to stop. 

Roundtable participants were then invited to reflect on: 

• How the evidence reinforces or challenges current understandings of civilian protection. 
• Opportunities for UK policy and programming to support community self-protection. 
• One step the UK Government can take and how the expertise in the room can contribute. 

Participants highlighted the important role that local initiatives, including women’s groups, inter-community networks, and broader civil society organisations, can play in reducing violence, building trust, and creating bridges across divided communities. Such initiatives can foster cooperation and position communities as active agents of peace and protection. However, their effectiveness is often constrained by retaliation, escalating violence, entrenched divisions, and the fragility of local agreements in conflict settings.

Documentation of human rights violations, atrocity mapping, hotspot identification, and international monitoring were recognised as useful tools for civilian protection. These efforts can help communities anticipate risks, strengthen early warning systems, and improve preparedness. However, participants stressed that documentation does not automatically lead to accountability. Significant gaps remain between evidence collection and actual justice or protective action at national and international levels. The impact of documentation is often shaped by political power dynamics and geopolitical realities. While reporting, filming abuses, legal advocacy, and strategic litigation can sometimes contribute to practical gains and may have a limited deterrent effect, local communities face clear limits in their ability to hold perpetrators accountable on their own.

There was broad agreement that external actors should support community-based protection efforts, but that assistance must be: context-specific; driven by local expertise and priorities; sensitive to cultural and spiritual understandings of protection; designed to strengthen rather than replace community agency. Speakers argued that current localisation efforts are often constrained by bureaucratic systems that misunderstand what meaningful localisation involves. Effective support requires working closely with local experts, amplifying community voices, and creating flexible funding and implementation mechanisms.

Speakers noted several practical challenges when supporting civilian-led protection: difficulties in monitoring and reporting outcomes; risks that participation may expose communities to additional threats; questions around long-term sustainability. The model of directly asking communities what they need to feel safer was highlighted as a promising approach. Through locally managed grants, communities are empowered to design their own protection interventions. Participants emphasised that sustainability and local ownership are more important than creating long-term dependence on external funding. There were also calls for greater transparency from donors regarding existing programmes, funding allocations, and results in order to improve coordination and reduce duplication.

A significant discussion centred on the fact that some locally effective protection strategies may not align neatly with international norms or Western expectations. Examples included: informal mediation; marriage alliances; negotiated arrangements with armed actors; payments or accommodations aimed at preventing attacks. Speakers stressed the importance of understanding how communities themselves define protection and avoiding simplistic judgements about local survival strategies. However, they also cautioned against transferring excessive risk to communities or expecting them to compensate for failures to address wider conflict drivers at national and international levels. There was recognition that legal and policy barriers, including aspects of counter-terrorism financing frameworks, can sometimes restrict pragmatic engagement with local protection realities.

The discussion highlighted persistent underfunding of civilian protection efforts. Funding currently comes from international donors, private philanthropy, and volunteers and community contributions. Many community-led protection initiatives continue to operate with little or no formal funding. Participants noted the importance of: building trust through transparency; ensuring communities understand the objectives of external support; developing stronger communities of practice and learning networks among donors and practitioners; investing in research to better understand local social dynamics and conflict drivers.

Discussion addressed how the FCDO might more effectively support community self-protection, peacebuilding, and early warning systems. Participants suggested that: early warning and early response mechanisms have demonstrated value; support for community self-protection should be carefully tailored to local contexts; programmes should avoid politicising protection efforts; external interventions must not undermine local leadership, ownership, or agency. The overall view was that community-led approaches can make an important contribution to civilian protection but should complement, rather than substitute for, action at national and international levels to address the structural causes of conflict.

Acknowledgements

The event was co-organised with the APPG Secretariat – Miranda Hurst and Jack Farrell – hosted by Search for Common Ground and kindly supported by Coventry University’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. 

Dr Gillian McKay (Leeds Beckett University) submitted evidence to an inquiry by the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee into “FCDO’s approach to higher education and research partnerships”, which she drew from insights of her impact tracing study into the Creating Safer Space research network.

The following is the summery section of the submitted evidence. The full submission can be accessed HERE.

Summary

This submission responds to the Committee’s questions: What have been the benefits of investment in higher education and research partnerships for the UK and international partners? What further benefits can be harnessed? It draws on emergent findings from an ongoing impact evaluation of a UKRI-funded international research collaboration, Creating Safer Space (CSS). CSS brings together researchers and practitioners across 13 countries, seeking to advance understanding and operationalisation of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) and community self-protection (CSP) in 11 low- and middle- income countries affected by conflict. Using CSS as a case study, the submission highlights the benefits of higher education and research partnerships for five actor groups, namely: academic, community, practice, institutional, and public. The findings are presented for each actor group in turn.

First, CSS has enriched the academic evidence base, enhanced methodological capacities, and improved coherence of UCP/CSP as a field of research and practice. Second, it has enabled communities to recognise, validate, and strengthen existing protection practices, and to apply them more intentionally, collectively, and confidently. Third, it has supported the translation of community knowledge into actionable frameworks, developed practitioner capacity and legitimacy, and enabled the integration and diffusion of UCP/CSP approaches across organisations and initiatives. Fourth, it has facilitated incremental incorporation of UCP/CSP principles into policy discussions, training systems, and advisory processes. Finally, CSS has enhanced the visibility and legitimacy of nonviolent approaches to protection and created an enabling environment for their uptake. Three considerations emerge for His Majesty’s Government (HMG): (i) invest in long-term, equitable research partnerships, (ii) strengthen impact pathways from research to policy and practice, and (iii) recognise and resource the full value of research partnerships.

Access the full submission HERE.

The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at the Temple of Peace and Health in Cardiff, UK, from 24-28 March. It was co-organised with Academi Heddwch Cymru and the Welsh Centre for International Affairs.

We were delighted to receive a visit from the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, who is the leader of the Welsh Government. We provided her with a tour of the exhibition, and a copy of our new Creating Safer Space brochure.

In conjunction with the Exhibition, we also co-hosted a Lunch & Learn policy event on Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management. Speakers included Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator), Prof. em. Colin McInnes (Academi Heddwch) and David Warren (Head of International Relations at Welsh Government). Discussion centred on how community-led civilian protection initiatives can be supported by Welsh politics and civil society, and how lessons from other contexts can enrich Welsh initiatives and policies, such as Academi Heddwch’s ‘Wales as a Nation of Peace’ report.

A new Creating Safer Space policy brief was also published for the occasion, Nonviolent Community Strategies Make Civilians Safer (available in English and Welsh).

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 project ‘Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua:
Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives’ has disseminated its research to Indonesian military officers. This was part of a training programme on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights facilitated by the National Human Rights Commission.

The Commission invited Delsy Ronnie, the Principal Investigator of the Creating Safer Space project and the Nonviolent Peaceforce Regional Representative for Asia, to hold a presentation on Human Security Aspects in Military Operations. He shared Nonviolent Peaceforce experiences in the Philippines, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Ukraine, and insights from the Creating Safer Space project in Papua. About 20 Indonesian middle-rank military officers from the Navy, Air Force and Army participated in the event.

The officers suggested that Nonviolent Peaceforce bring its experience to Papua, and recommended that it carry out work there to help the government reduce violence. This recommendation requires follow-up, since military decisions have to be made by officers of higher rank. Through this engagement activity, Nonviolent Peaceforce and its partner ICAIOS has influenced actors’ perspectives about violence and the importance of civilian protection in the armed conflict in Papua.

The Creating Safer Space network had the pleasure of co-organising a Protection of Civilians (POC) Week side event in New York on 23 May 2024.

The event was organised together with CIVIC, Global Protection Cluster (GPC)/UNHCR, HPG/ODI, Oxfam, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), NORCAP, and PAX along with the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the UN and the Permanent Missions of El Salvador, the Netherlands, Philippines, and South Sudan.

The event was chaired by Tiffany Easthom (Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce), and speakers included Prof. Nerve Macaspac (Creating Safer Space Co-Investigator), Ambassadors from the Netherlands, El Salvador, South Sudan and the Philippines, peacemakers from South Sudan, and representatives of the African Union, ODI/HPG, MONUSCO, and other organisations.

Prof. Nerve Macaspac shared Creating Safer Space research, conducted by 26 project teams in eleven countries across three continents. Our research has found that communities and civil society organizations around the world often engage in practices of UCP without calling them such.

Our projects have uncovered and systematized a wide variety of hitherto unknown community activities and mechanisms of protection, including different forms of early warning and early response, protective accompaniment, and ways of negotiating with state officials and armed actors.

Prof. Macaspac highlighted the importance of recognizing local and community protection as an essential component of PoC; of including community protection strategies, capacities, and needs currently in place directly in the baseline of any assessment and funding decisions; and of ensuring that communities are included as decision-makers regarding how to use funding, who is involved in high-level meetings, and what protection approaches work in any given context. The full speech is available here.

We are very grateful to Gay Rosenblum-Kumar, Nonviolent Peaceforce’s Representative to the UN, as one of the main organisers of the event. A summary of the event is available here.

The Creating Safer Space network hosted an exhibition in the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2024, and took this opportunity to inform UN delegates, UN staff, and other interested stakeholders about Creating Safer Space research.

The exhibition was held at Delegates’ Entrance of the UN Headquarters from 29 April – 3 May 2024. The exhibition includes objects, images, and voices from Creating Safer Space research projects, and explores the unexpected power of nonviolence in the protection of civilians living in the midst of violence.

Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Prof. Rachel Julian and Prof. Nerve Macaspac accompanied the exhibition, and informed UN delegates, UN staff, and other interested stakeholders about Creating Safer Space research. They shared the Creating Safer Space policy briefs on the potential role of Unarmed Civilian Protection in the Protection of Civilians (PoC) and other publications from Creating Safer Space projects.

Visitors described the exhibition as timely and important, and some raised personal reflections on the artwork. A member of a UN mission from a country in Africa remarked that the use of whistles as a method of early warning and early response, as illustrated by our exhibition material from Cameroon and South Sudan, was also used in their own country – and this practice had once saved their life.

An exhibition event was held on Tuesday 30 April for members of UN missions and other interested parties, with drinks, food and introductory speeches. Prof. Arlene Tickner, Ambassador of the Colombian Mission to the UN in New York, highlighted that, “[o]ne of the most fascinating things about this project, I think, is not only its work with communities affected by violence, but also the insistence on nonviolent mechanisms of protection and self protection to accompany civilians in contexts of violence and conflict”. Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara highlighted how Creating Safer Space research across 11 countries has shown that we can find community-level unarmed civilian protection everywhere. Civilians are not just victims waiting to be saved by strangers – they are protectors in their own right – and these nonviolent protection strategies work in making people safer across a range of different violent contexts. There is a real opportunity for the UN and its member states to boost the protection of civilians by recognising and supporting the many civil society and community based protection activities that already exist across the world.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, for being our official sponsor, for all their help in making the week a success, and for enabling us to bring community voices from around the world to this global centre of power.

Prof. Rachel Julian and Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara travelled to Washington, DC, from 5-9 May 2024 to share Creating Safer Space insights. With the help of local UCP Community of Practice members, they presented the findings and projects to policymakers and peace advocacy organisations.

Among the highlights was a roundtable organised by Alliance for Peacebuilding attended by c.30 people from around the world with an interest in de-escalating violence and local peacebuilding. In a meeting with the Friends Committee On National Legislation, Rachel and Berit spoke about the importance of Creating Safer Space research and projects to current crises and the need to work together to bring new ideas and thinking into discussion on how to create spaces of safety and peace. Rachel and Berit also talked to several people from the policymaking space on preventing violence, atrocity prevention, and civilian protection about how UCP in and by communities could fit into their work. The Network’s concrete examples of what people do and how safer spaces are used in communities helped these policymakers and practitioners understand the importance of thinking more about how we support community-led UCP and unarmed self-protection.

The Creating Safer Space project ‘Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia’, has engaged policymakers to strengthen unarmed civilian protection in Nariño, Colombia.

The team organised an event to disseminate their policy brief, Civilians Protecting Civilians, in London on 21 March 2024. The event included the participation of H.E. Roy Barreras, Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom, Louise Winstanley, from the British civil society organisation ABColombia and Victoria Bird, from the UK Foreign Office.

The policy brief was published by Rodeemos el Diálogo and written by Karen Arteaga Garzón and Andrei Gómez-Suárez, with illustrations by Sebastián Bucheli. The policy brief is available in English and Spanish.

Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator) and Prof. Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space Co-Investigator) submitted evidence to a UK Parliament inquiry in April 2024, relating to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The UK Parliament’s International Development Committee had launched an inquiry into the FCDO’s approach to supporting civil society and civil society organisations through its programming (more information here).

Drawing on Creating Safer Space research findings, Prof. Bliesemann de Guevara and Prof. Julian recommend that the FCDO acknowledge Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) and community self-protection as a credible and important practice in protection policy that is broadly applicable and effective in a range of situations of armed conflict. They recommend that the FCDO support civil society’s protection work through funding, inclusion in situational analysis, and recognition as one of the components of peace infrastructures and operations. They further recommend that communities are included as decision-makers regarding how to use funding, who is involved in high-level meetings, and what protection approaches work in any given context.

The full report is available here.