At the United Nations Peace Foundation, we believe a shared future is within our reach, and that our shared identity and common aspirations as members of the human family establish the basis for sustainable peace.

UNPF supports peace building activities that operate at the local, or community level. The key premise is that lasting peace can and must be built from the bottom up by ordinary citizens. We believe that power resides not just with high level decision makers, but at the grassroots level as well. Each individual can make a difference.

UNPF operates under the Contact Theory, a central tenet of peace building, based on the belief that separation and unfamiliarity between conflicting groups can, and often does, breed negative attitudes such as stereotyping and prejudice which can potentially escalate into hostility and violence. The Contact Theory believes that these negative attitudes can be reduced by promoting contact and familiarity between conflicting groups.

As both a fundraiser and a grant maker, UNPF is uniquely committed to long-term investment in the peacebuilding process. Rather than following a short-term and quantitative results-driven approach, UNPF focuses on long-term goals, supported by qualitative results. UNPF realizes that it will take many generations to undo the hatred, fears and violence that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Our aim is to break this cycle and contribute to the building of sustainable peace all children deserve.

UNPF continues to develop an innovative model that combines advocacy, due diligence, and Precision Micro-Granting ($500 to $1,000 grants earmarked for specific programs or projects) to increase awareness of the culture-transforming work currently underway among ordinary citizens. Our model also provides donors with an opportunity to create their own impact through financial contributions.

Governments sign treaties and aid organizations spend billions of dollars a year, but only people can make peace. The change in attitude and beliefs, which happens in the formative stage of a young person’s life, creates the conditions necessary for youth to form lasting relationships built on mutual trust and respect. Amid complex and shifting landscapes, this trust is the bedrock for sustainable peace.

This allows UNPF to adopt a pure approach when selecting grantees and carrying out our core programming. We support organizations that operate locally, regionally, nationally, and globally so long as they can demonstrate a continuing commitment to our criteria, regardless of where their operational base is.