What is the Civil Peace Service?

ZFD Gemeinschaftswerk Stand 20260702

The Civil Peace Service (CPS) was developed in the mid-1990s by a number of organisations from the German peace movement – including KURVE Wustrow.

Since 1998, the Civil Peace Service has been a funding programme run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ).

The Civil Peace Service (ZFD) is a programme dedicated to violence prevention, civil conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Together with local partner organisations, nine German peace and development organisations are working towards a world in which conflicts are resolved without violence. ZFD experts provide long-term support to local people in their commitment to justice, human rights and peace. Currently, around 380 international ZFD experts are working in some 45 countries. The Civil Peace Service is funded by the German Government.

Violence prevention is one of the ZFD’s key objectives. The fact that the ZFD frequently works in countries where conflicts have already escalated is not at odds with this objective. In these so-called post-conflict situations, peace is often fragile. The situation can quickly descend back into armed conflict. The Civil Peace Service and its partners work to smooth over tensions, bring hostile groups into contact with one another, balance interests and thus make reconciliation and peaceful coexistence possible once again.

The concept of social justice is also central to civilian conflict management. This is because conflicts always offer an opportunity to initiate a process of social change. This idea is implicit in the term ‘conflict transformation’.

Civil society – partners of the Civil Peace Service

The CPS works primarily with civil society organisations committed to nonviolence in conflicts. These organisations receive training in civil conflict transformation and are supported in articulating their positions and making their voices heard by key decision-makers. Peace work requires time and patience: the CPS promotes social change in its partner countries and thus focuses primarily on medium- and long-term impacts.

The CPS’s approaches are as diverse as the conflicts and regions in which it operates. Human rights, the media, psychosocial support – all of these can be the focus of the CPS’s work. Whether it be dialogue forums or peace negotiations, the legal prosecution of human rights abuses or reconciliation with former enemies – the CPS’s project partners tailor their work to the specific situation and its needs. In doing so, they are supported by foreign and local Civil Peace Worker.

The CPS works with local partner organisations that

  • develop cooperation and dialogue structures, thereby, for example, strengthening traditional mediation instances,
  • create contact points and safe spaces where parties to a conflict can meet,
  • strengthen information and communication structures that investigate the causes and effects of violent conflicts (including by promoting peace journalism, networking peace organisations and monitoring the course of conflicts),
  • support groups particularly affected by violence and reintegrate them into society (for example, through psychosocial support or work with traumatised people),
  • provide advice and training on approaches to nonviolent conflict resolution,
  • promote peace education and break down stereotypes of the ‘enemy’,
  • strengthen the rule of law at a local level and advocate for human rights.

Dateien