Partnering with the Fund for Peace

THE FUND FOR PEACE

Investing in Sustainable Security

An Introduction to The Fund for Peace

Copyright © 2011 The Fund for Peace This program description is proprietary to The Fund for Peace. All rights reserved. The Fund for Peace 1720 I Street NW 7th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 T: +1 202 223 7940 F: +1 202 223 7947 www.fundforpeace.org The Fund for Peace Publication PD-11-07-FP (11-03G) Circulation: PUBLIC

www.fundforpeace.org 3 The Fund for Peace

About The Fund for Peace

We promote sustainable security through research,

training and education, engagement of civil society,

building bridges across diverse sectors, and developing

innovative technologies and tools for policy makers.

A leader in the conflict assessment and early warning

field, the Fund for Peace focuses on the problems of

weak and failing states. Our objective is to create

practical tools and approaches for conflict mitigation

that are useful to decision-makers.

What Makes Us Unique

• The Fund for Peace adopts a holistic approach to

the issues stemming from weak and failing states.

We work at both the grassroots level with civil

society actors and at policy levels with key

decision makers.

• The Fund for Peace has worked in over 50

countries with a wide range of partners in all

sectors: governments, international organizations,

the military, nongovernmental organiza-

tions, academics, journalists, civil society net-

works, and the private sector.

• Combining social science techniques with

information technology, we have produced the

patented Conflict Assessment System Tool (CAST),

a content analysis software product that provides a

conceptual framework and a data gathering

technique for measuring conflict risk.

• We produce The Failed States Index, an annual

ranking of 177 countries across 12 indicators, that

is published by Foreign Policy magazine.

Our Approach

The Fund for Peace offers a wide range of initiatives

focused on our central objective of promoting sustain-

able security, the ability of a state to solve its own

problems peacefully without an external military or

administrative presence. Our activities relate to three

interconnected themes:

• Transnational Threats

• Conflict Early Warning and Assessment

• Sustainable Development, Sustainable Security

T he Fund for Peace is an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit

research and educational organization that works to prevent violent

conflict and promote sustainable security.

cause conflict, ultimately resulting in sustainable

security for all.

Our programs fall into three primary thematic areas:

• Conflict Early Warning and Assessment

• Transnational Threats

• Sustainable Development, Sustainable Security

With a wide variety of current—and former—

programs, The Fund for Peace is able to leverage its

considerable experience in numerous fields of

expertise. Beyond our active programs, The Fund for

Peace has also focused on issues such as genocide

prevention, peacekeeping reform, small arms and light

weapons trafficking, the rule of law in transitioning

societies, and civil-military cooperation, and has

facilitated national dialogues and town hall meetings

on a range of pertinent foreign policy issues.

T he Fund for Peace boasts a broad portfolio of programs, experience and

expertise. Though diverse, all of our programs share a common

denominator of seeking to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that


An Overview of Our Programs

Transnational Threats

Sustainable Development, Sustainable Security

Conflict Early Warning and Assessment

• Threat Convergence

• Prevention of Identity-Based

Violence

• Identifying Hotspots for

Political Violence and Radicalization

• The Failed States Index

• Content Analysis

• Universal Network of Local

Knowledge (UNLocK)

• Military Training

• Peace and Stability

Operations

• Better Business for Better

Communities

• Human Rights & Business

Roundtable

• Voluntary Principles on

Security & Human Rights

• Private Security and Human

Rights

Fund for Peace staff have conducted conflict

assessments and field research, implemented projects,

engaged with civil society and established

comprehensive programs for the benefit of local

populations. This also means that as The Fund for

Peace takes on new projects, it is able to draw upon a

wealth of internal country-specific expertise, not to

mention our content analysis programs, which cover

every corner of the globe.

T he Fund for Peace has conducted programs in over 50 countries

throughout the Americas, Europe, Central Asia, East and South-East

Asia and Africa. From Timor to Tblisi, from Brazil to Bangkok, The


Where We Partner and Operate

institutions with whom we partner.

The Fund for Peace has extensive experience in

partnering with offices within international

organizations and governments. Some noteworthy

partnerships have included The Fund for Peace:

• producing country case studies and alert memos

for the United Nations Special Representative for

the Prevention of Genocide;

• assisting the World Bank to develop a set of Peace

and Stability Indicators to analyze progress on

Millennium Development Goals in the context of

fragile states;

• creating tools and training for assessing progress

in stability operations for the U.S. military;

• working with the African Union to develop a

comprehensive early warning mechanism for

anticipating violent conflict;

• partnering with NATO to reduce global stockpiles

of small arms and light weapons; and

• providing key data and analysis for USAID’s

Country Compass web site.

The Fund for Peace has also been highly active in

partnering with both corporations and the NGO

community in assessing and assisting with the

implementation of international frameworks, such as the

Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

T he Fund for Peace believes fundamentally in comprehensive stakeholder

engagement. This core value is reflected in the manner in which we

design our projects and the broad variety of organizations and

International Organizations Government Agencies

The Private Sector The NGO Community


Who Are Our Partners?

serious repercussions not only in that state itself, but

also on its neighbors and on states halfway across the

globe. Given these dynamics, it is of vital importance

that the international community understand the

conditions that create weak and failed states and be

prepared to help a state deal with those issues or take

the necessary actions to mitigate their effects.

The Failed States Index, produced by The Fund for

Peace, is a critical tool for highlighting not only the

normal pressures that all states experience, but also for

gauging when those pressures are pushing a state

towards the brink. The Failed States Index is an

important resource in fueling constructive discourse

and informing the actions and decisions of

governments, NGOs and civil society the world over.

The Failed States Index ranks 177 of the world’s

countries based on an analysis of risk and pressures.

The analysis is based on thousands of articles and

reports that are processed by our own software from

electronically available sources. The Failed States Index

W eak and failing states pose a serious threat to international security,

stability and prosperity. In today’s highly globalized society, the

actions of, or developments in, one weak or failed state can have

Alert Warning Sustainable Moderate

Failed States Index 2010



The Failed States Index

spurs conversations, encourages debate, and most

importantly, helps guide strategies for sustainable

security.

Currently published annually by Foreign Policy

magazine, the Failed States Index is widely read by a

broad worldwide audience. Government leaders,

countless academics, NGO experts and journalists use

and refer to the Failed States Index because it is

empirically-based and has proven to be objective and

relevant. Perhaps the most telling barometer of its

credibility is the steady increase in the number of

governments that respond to it, by seeking ways to

improve their standing in the Failed States Index or

using it as a component in making decisions related to

foreign aid assistance.

The Failed States Index utilizes The Fund for Peace’s

proprietary Conflict Assessment Software Tool (CAST)

software platform. Based on comprehensive social

science methodology, the software triangulates data

from three primary sources and subjects them to

critical review to obtain final scores for the Failed States

Index. The strength of the Failed States Index is its

ability to distill those millions of pieces of information

into a form that is easily digestible and informative.

Conflict Early Warning and Assessment: The Failed States Index

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s

November 2010 presentation to Congress

of her strategic planning initiative for the

State Department included a slide drawn

from the Failed States Index.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’

presentation of the Defense Department’s

“Quadrennial Defense Review” earlier in

2010 contained material based on the

Failed States Index.

In June, 2010, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei,

former head of the IAEA and 2005 Nobel

Peace Prize Winner, said “Egypt's presence

near the top of The Failed States Index is

a disaster that demands the urgent

attention of the Egyptian people.”

In response to his country’s position in

the 2007 Failed States Index, Moldovan

Prime Minister Vasile Tarleve formed a

task force to study the causes for

Moldova’s scores.

Every year, Foreign Policy magazine publishes a list of

the worst 60 countries in the Failed States Index. The

special feature attracts some of Foreign Policy’s highest

readership figures and traffic to foreignpolicy.com. The

special feature also includes concurrent analysis from

leading experts

such as Paul Collier, Mo Ibrahim, Paul Wolfowitz,

Senator Benjamin Cardin, Robert Kaplan, Peter Galbraith

and General Roméo Dallaire.


regional- and provincial-level analysis.

Along with the Failed States Index, The Fund for

Peace’s Conflict Assessment Software Tool (CAST) has

been the foundation of the Fund for Peace’s Country

Assessments Reports Service and Country Profiles

Program, using the content analysis to provide in-

depth assessments country-by-country.

CAST has been used to perform analysis at a sub-

regional level, from providing an assessment following

the floods in Pakistan’s Sindh province to

demonstrating how the situations in Mindanao in the

south of the Philippines and Luzon in the north can be

significantly different. Such regional-level analysis is

critical in properly understanding state instability. As

nations vary greatly from one another, often the

regions within countries will also vary greatly. A

country with a significant amount of instability in one

region may be perceived as itself unstable overall,

although the rest of the country is not experiencing

instability. Instances such as these may include

countries like Colombia (where although the FARC

insurgency continues deep in the jungles and along the

frontiers, the major cities such as Bogota, Medillin, Cali

and Cartagena enjoy relative calm) or the Philippines

(where the situation in the capital Manila is

significantly different to that experienced in the

southern island of Mindanao). This regional analysis

can not only further expand the understanding of a

country’s situation, but can also be used to highlight

precisely where the pressure points exist for a country,

and under precisely what conditions.

This analysis, coupled with regional contextualization,

provides a unique informational tool for policy-makers

to identify serious pressures and to enact sensible, well-

informed policies.

T he Failed States Index itself is just one of the many capabilities of The

Fund for Peace’s content analysis software. The software has many other

applications including specific risk assessment, and in-depth national-,



Content Analysis

Below: Demographic pressures differentiated regionally throughout Pakistan, pre-flood (left) and post-flood (right).

Above: An analysis of various indicators applying to Sindh province, pre-flood (left) and post-flood (right)

Regional Analysis: Sindh Province, Pakistan

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and the private sector are dated, uneven or

questionable. The most persistent shortcoming is the

absence of input from populations living in conflict

zones, whose perspectives are vital for accurate

analysis. To address this challenge, The Fund for Peace

has developed UNLocK, a project that links global

information technologies with local social networks for

the benefit of all stakeholders.

From 2007-2010, The Fund for Peace has been

conducting workshops in the conflict-affected countries

of Liberia, Uganda, and Nigeria, training local

participants in our Conflict Assessment System Tool

(CAST). They, in turn, train others at the community

level, including traditional leaders, local political

leaders, youths, women, school teachers, religious

leaders, and others. Data collected from the field by

participants are passed up the communications chain

to The Fund for Peace for analysis and shared on a

dedicated website for the network as a whole.

Aggregated data are made available in the form of

meaningful reports and graphical representations of

social, economic, and political pressures that can drive

conflict. Findings presented at both the community and

national levels warn of potential flashpoints and

advocate for responsible action by all stakeholders.

Working with local networks, The Fund for Peace

disseminates the findings, creates alerts, and offers

policy recommendations to protect civilians and

promote sustainable security.

The UNLocK project serves many purposes. First, it

provides local civil society as well as the international

community with a way to obtain more immediate early

warning and conflict prevention information. Second, it

is used to resolve disputes and build local capacity.

Third, it is useful for governments and external parties

as well as local civil society to identify priority issues at

the community level for resource allocation and

investment for economic and social development

projects in conflict-affected areas.

This top-down, bottom-up methodology for data

collection and analysis also strengthens

communications among civil society organizations in

different parts of the at-risk countries. Participating

organizations develop a big-picture view of the conflict

environment while learning practical ways to manage

conflict, utilize best practices, and adapt lessons

learned from others in similar situations. The UNLocK

project represents a unique approach to strengthen the

ability of all stakeholders to take appropriate steps to

protect civilians, achieve sustainable security, and

improve development.

O ne of the ever-present challenges in conflict early warning and post-

conflict reconstruction is obtaining relevant and reliable data. Too

often, data used by governments, NGOs, international organizations,



The UNLocK Project

bound by the rules of a system of states, new

international criminal and terrorist networks flourish in

the facilitative environments of weak and failing states,

cultural enclaves in strong states, and ungoverned

spaces. These networks of criminals and traffickers,

terrorists and radicals, and the volatile environments

that enable their activities, represent an entirely

different threat from that envisioned by the crafters of

today’s policies and institutions meant to secure and

safeguard weapons of mass destruction. The Fund for

Peace’s Threat Convergence program explores the

linkages among the three biggest threats to global

security: fragile states, the proliferation of WMD, and

terrorism. The Fund for Peace aims to:

• raise the profile of the challenges in vulnerable,

fragile and ungoverned regions on the

nonproliferation agenda;

• explore how these regions may serve as enabling

environments for nuclear terrorism;

• promote more coherent and strategic policy

approaches to prevent nuclear terrorism and illicit

nuclear trafficking; and

• become a hub for threat convergence-related

analysis.

To meet these objectives, Fund for Peace staff has

conducted field research and workshops throughout

the world, including the South Caucasus and Black Sea

region, Eastern Europe, the Tri-Border region of Latin

America, East and the Horn of Africa, and Southeast

Asia. A critical component of the our work centers on

T he proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), global

terrorism, and problems emanating from weak and failing states

constitute the main threats to global security in our time. No longer



Threat Convergence

engaging local actors in each region to develop action

plans for preventing nuclear terrorism using a broad

range of holistic and regionally-appropriate tools.

Through engaging local civil society groups, we hope

to raise awareness of the threats to both the

international and human security that weak and failed

states and WMD terrorism represent, and also shape

U.S. and international policy on the issue.

In addition to working to find solutions to

transnational threats posed by the confluence of weak

states, WMD proliferation and terrorism, the Fund for

Peace also works globally to explore ways in which

regional organizations and their member states can

better protect local populations caught in conflict

zones. Building upon the landmark, UN-endorsed,

document, The Responsibility to Protect, the Fund for

Peace has brought together hundreds of

representatives from regional and subregional

organizations, national governments, and civil society

in Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and

Europe to examine the most critical ongoing and

potential conflicts confronting their regions and

develop concrete strategies to mitigate these conflicts.

To that end, the Fund for Peace has also worked closely

with regional and subregional organizations around

the world to develop and improve their capacities for

undertaking humanitarian interventions to protect

civilians caught in conflict. Our work included research

and advocacy on the development and deployment of

regional peacekeeping forces and the creation of

regional peacekeeping training centers. We have also

examined how U.S. military-to-military training

initiatives have impacted the capacity and performance

of other national militaries in peacekeeping operations,

specifically in respecting human rights.

Transnational Threats: Threat Convergence


economies beyond d i rec t employment

opportunities. When operating in tense social and

political environments, however, companies can easily

be seen as part of the problem instead of part of the

solution. To operate effectively in areas lacking strong

government institutions and a respect for the rule of

law, companies need partners.

We have spent more than a decade analyzing the best

practices and lessons learned from companies and their

partners through their efforts to increase a company’s

ability to operate with the highest standards despite

local obstacles.

Combining that experience, our extensive global

networks, and proprietary software based on our

conflict assessment framework (CAST), FfP has

developed a suite of tools to help companies operate in

the most sensitive environments. Our tools can assist

companies to navigate through complex situations. By

turning challenges into opportunities, companies can

become known as a good neighbor in the communities

where they operate and a preferred investor or

supplier.

FfP frequently supports companies in their

development of the following activities:

• Human Rights & Security Polices

• Conflict and Human Rights Assessments

• Community Relations and Stakeholder

Engagement

• Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms

T he Fund for Peace has long recognized that companies are an essential

part of creating sustainable societies. Companies provide infrastructure

development beyond their immediate operations and support local



Better Business for Better Communities

There is no better protection for business and

communities than a strong relationship.

The work of The Fund for Peace places a heavy

emphasis on implementation. We aim to not only

pursue policy research and dialogue, but to also follow

through with implementation in the field.

Human Rights and

Business Roundtable

A sustained dialogue begun in 1997, the Roundtable

promotes understanding between actors operating in

conflict-prone environments to increase collaboration

to promote the rule of law and open societies. The

Roundtable model allows actors from different sectors

the opportunity to build the trust and relationships

needed for collaboration.

Today, the Roundtable focuses exclusively on the

extractive industry, although the lessons learned and

case studies of the Roundtable provide value to all

sectors. The Roundtable is an invaluable resource for

corporations, NGOs, governments and international

financial institutions to work together to promote

sustainable development.

Voluntary Principles on Security

and Human Rights

Initially conceived at a Fund for Peace Human Rights

& Business Roundtable meeting, the Fund for Peace is

an active participant in the Voluntary Principles on

Security & Human Rights.

Through partnerships, we support Voluntary

Principles implementation by companies. Working

with both oil/gas and mining companies, we have

helped draft human rights policies, created assessment

capabilities related to security and human rights,

undertaken conflict and human rights assessments, and

developed human rights and Voluntary Principles

training materials.

In Indonesia, working with local institutions we have

helped develop one of the most active national

working groups to encourage adoption of the

Voluntary Principles in Indonesia by companies and

the Indonesian government.

In 2010, we produced with our partner, International

Alert, a Guidance Note on Implementation of the VPs

at the National Level, which is being applied in

Indonesia, Iraq and D.R. Congo.

Health and Business Roundtable

With our partner Public Health Institute, we have

replicated the Roundtable model in Indonesia to

support partnership development to increase

availability of resources to improve health. Over 80

companies and NGOs have joined the Roundtable in

Indonesia.

Private Security and Human Rights

Private contractors are an important component of

various governments’ defense and foreign affairs

strategies. But the behavior of private security

personnel can also negatively affect local communities,

undermine nation-building and thus national security

goals. It is therefore important that a mechanism exists

for contractors to be properly accountable and

overseen.

The purpose of the Private Security and Human Rights

program is to promote better oversight and

accountability of private security contractors in

contingency operations. By engaging with government,

NGOs, the private sector, and local communities, the

program seeks to better facilitate understanding of and

adherence to the International Code of Conduct for

Private Security among all stakeholders.

Sustainable Development, Sustainable Security: Better Business for Better Communities



If you would like more information about how to support The Fund for Peace and invest in its mission to prevent

violent conflict and promote sustainable security, please contact our senior professional staff.

We also invite you to visit us online at www.fundforpeace.org.

A s a nonprofit educational and research organization, The Fund for Peace

relies on support from foundations, corporations, governments and

individuals for specific projects and its general operating budget.

Investing in Sustainable Security

Ken Brill PRESIDENT

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 207

E: [email protected]

Krista Hendry EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 212





J. J. Messner SENIOR ASSOCIATE

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 206


Nate Haken SENIOR ASSOCIATE

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 221


Patricia Taft SENIOR ASSOCIATE

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 203


Krista Hendry EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 212


J. J. Messner SENIOR ASSOCIATE

T: +1 202 223 7947 ext. 206


Senior Programmatic Staff

Organizational Leadership

PD-11-07-FP

www.fundforpeace.org

Partnering with the Fund for Peace

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