Our Projects

The Creating Safer Space network supports research projects around the world that further our understanding of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) and community self-protection. Read here about our projects – more are to come soon.

Thailand, Myanmar

Scholars at Risk: Understanding vulnerability and violence faced by Myanmar refugee scholars in northern Thailand

Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the political turmoil caused by the regime has...

Kenya

Using multimedia approaches to increase visibility of and preference for Unarmed Civilian Protection approaches

The purpose of this project is to increase the understanding, visibility, preference for, and advocacy...

Myanmar

Understanding Changing Strategy and Practice of Civilian Protection Under a Military Junta: The case of Kachin and Northern Shan, Myanmar

This research studies the changing practice of UCP in Myanmar during and after the 2021...

Thailand

UCP in Southern Thailand: Developing civilian protection guidelines for violence-prone communities

The conflict in the Deep South of Thailand has lasted for over 18 years, with...

Colombia

Water conflicts, violations and forms of self-protection: A multi-case study in Eastern Antioquia, Colombia, phase 2

Water is currently a structuring axis of hydro-social relations and the conflicts that arise over...

Dormilón river, San Luis
Colombia

Art that Protects, phase 2: Networks as strategies for self-protection in the context of urban conflict in the city of Medellín, 2023

The first phase of the Art that Protects project documented the place of artistic and...

Colombia

‘Ritualising’ protection in conflict: A collaborative visual ethnography of the cultural and spiritual protection practices of the Nasa people in Colombia

Indigenous peoples in Colombia are caught in the midst of an armed conflict that has...

The Saakhelu is a ritual that celebrates fertility, fecundity, and prosperity. (Source: https://www.ritualisingprotection.org/blog)
Colombia, South Sudan

Strategies for Safety and Solidarity: Understanding protection through creativity in South Sudan and Colombia

Artists who create political and socially engaged work are increasingly at risk. In contexts of...

Nigeria

Unarmed civilian protection through collective impact: Learning from the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace for enhanced civilian protection in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria

This research project involves learning from a collective impact initiative for unarmed civilian protection launched...

Colombia, Nigeria, Philippines

Gender-just landscapes: Gender based violence and community protection in land, natural resource and climate conflicts

Gender-based violence (GBV) is experienced by one in three women worldwide; however, the risk of...

Colombia

Development of civil protection capacities in women displaced by the armed conflict through popular communication and Community Legal Empowerment

This research project takes a qualitative approach based on a research-action design, to explore experiences...

Palestine

Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta)

In the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta) of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) there are...

South Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia

Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia

In recent years important research has explored how civilians engage in unarmed civilian protection (UCP)...

Colombia

The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca

Within the context of the social, political and armed conflict that persists in the Bajo...

South Sudan

Visualising early warning and preparedness in civilian protection: Investigating local vernaculars of community adaptations to insecurity

Using three field research sites in South Sudan, this research will investigate Early Warning as...

Colombia

Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned

This project investigates and seeks to strengthen the extraordinary capacity of Colombian communities to navigate...

Myanmar

Exploring Community Perceptions and Coping Strategies on Violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar

This research sees how local ethnic groups in the Rakhine state, Myanmar, identify and cope...

Photo of people digging a well in Rakhine
Colombia

Mapping and Responding to Vulnerability through Nonviolent Collective Actions in Buenaventura, Colombia

Buenaventura, Colombia has a long history of civilian resistance and collective action in the midst...

The territory of the AINI Women's collective in the Naya river
Cameroon

Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict

This research investigates community-led initiatives of unarmed civilian protection in the ongoing ‘Anglophone conflict’ in...

Kenya

Nonviolent Artivism Against Police Brutality in Kenya

This research explores youth and civil society nonviolent artivism against police brutality in two Kenyan...

Kenya

Strengthening Local Capacities for Unarmed Civilian Protection in Uasin Gishu, Kenya

This project seeks to generate new, evidence-based knowledge and understanding regarding civilians’ agency in local...

Indonesia

Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua

Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives The continuing armed conflict in Papua, Indonesia, has highlighted the...

Thailand

Introducing Unarmed Civilian Protection in Thai Society: Opportunities and Challenges

While nonviolent resistance is known to the general public in Thailand, “unarmed civilian protection” is...

Colombia

Art that Protects, phase 1: Contributions of artistic-cultural initiatives to the self-protection strategies of young people and women in the context of the urban conflict in Medellín, 2022

This project aims to focus on two issues less explored in the existing literature on...

Colombia

Water conflicts, violations and forms of self-protection, phase 1

A multi-case study in Eastern Antioquia, Colombia Socio-environmental conflicts are understood as those arising from...