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.