Project Approach

InterChange research and projects fundamentally define and solidify the organization and its work. Projects are multi-dimensional in that they integrate with all other aspects of the organization’s work including education, action, community building and relationship building. Members must commit to play an active role in the organization’s activities and projects provide opportunities for involvement.

One of InterChange’s core principles is to integrate peacebuilding theory and practice. Projects involve a cycle of praxis in which the process of each project is inseparable from its outcome. For instance the process of research, using participatory and collaborative processes, involves community development, education and empowerment. Dissemination of this research, in turn, brings together and engages communities, validates peacebuilders and provides further tools for their work.

Research and projects also contribute to InterChange’s identity as an organization that is both international and intensely local. Projects are international in scope but are rooted at the local level, taking their shape from and contributing to the local context.

Project themes emerge from the interests of members. Two themes that InterChange members have identified as priorities are Cultural Approaches to Peacebuilding and Diaspora Dialogues. Both of these themes have the capacity to link and engage members from around the world.