The Working Group on Peace and Development (FriEnt) is an association of governmental organisations, church development agencies, civil society networks, and political foundations.

FriEnt aims to pool capacities, support networking and cooperation, and contribute to conflict-sensitive development cooperation. FriEnt's members are committed to working together to promote a range of approaches and highlight the potential of development-oriented peace work to policy-makers and the public at large.

FriEnt's members are united by their great commitment to peace and development. They vary, however, in their size, mandate, international partners, projects and approaches. They aim to utilise their diverse perspectives and experience as an asset for their shared productive work on peace building in the context of development cooperation.

Each FriEnt member organisation delegates one staffer to the FriEnt team. They split their working time between FriEnt and their own organisation. This structure ensures that there is intensive interaction between the FriEnt team and its member organisations. 

A steering committee with one representative from each member organisation sets the political guidelines and is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Working Group.

Creating space

As a platform for networking and cooperation, FriEnt creates space in which to promote joint learning and critical reflection. The various institutional perspectives and experience of its members are utilised to generate impetus for cooperation and address challenges on a joint basis.

To that end, FriEnt organises:

• country-specific round tables,
• expert discussions, international workshops and conferences, and
• public events.

Pooling information

As an information and knowledge hub, FriEnt pools and channels information about its thematic and country-specific priorities. It also shares knowledge about its member organisations’ diverse range of activities and summarises the lessons learned.

FriEnt provides information via

• its newsletter "FriEnt Impulse”
• its website www.frient.de, and
• its publication series “FriEnt-Briefing”.

Building Capacities

Through its advice and capacity-building, FriEnt provides practical guidance and methodological expertise.

FriEnt offers

• country- and issue-specific advice at strategic and project level,
• inter-institutional training measures, and
• conflict analyses, guidelines and documentation.

Download:
FriEnt-Flyer (english)