Civil peace building comprises all non-military measures adopted before, during or after a violent conflict. It is aimed at the peaceful conflict transformation and/or the support and establishment of structures and mechanisms for non-violent conflict management. Peace cannot be created at the highest political level alone; instead, the whole of society - the economy and business, academia and education, the faith communities, the foundations, the media and NGOs (multitrack diplomacy) - must be involved in the peace process. Moreover, peace building is always an intra-societal process which external actors can at best support but cannot implement. Promoting local peace actors and peace constituencies is therefore especially important in facilitating the peace building process.

Peace building is a challenge which requires a coherent, holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Development cooperation plays a key role in this context. The aim is to address the causes of conflict, support structural stability, promote state and non-state peace actors through social and political programmes, and contribute to a sustainable peace in post-conflict societies, e.g. through reconciliation work.

The commitment to conflict sensitivity in all official development activities shows that peace building has now become a priority cross-cutting theme in development cooperation. Non-government actors are equally committed to pro-active development-oriented peace work and are working together and cooperating with official development agencies in order to contribute to peaceful conflict transformation at various levels of society (the state, the churches, NGOs, trade unions, media, etc.).

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