Peacework is a cross-sector solution provider with a 25-year track record of accelerating personal, social, and economic opportunity through collaboration across sectors and cultures. Peacework engages communities, academic institutions, and corporations in cross-sector initiatives for sustainable development across seven development disciplines: agriculture, business, education, engineering, health, public service, and technology. Peacework has coordinated projects in over 25 countries that foster global awareness, empower communities, and expand economic opportunity.

Our approach brings together communities, academic institutions, and corporations to apply their unique knowledge and skills to create innovative solutions to global challenges. Actualizing the capacity for this kind of change and scale means bringing together the right people and the right resources, at the right time: Peacework is that convener. Peacework believes that everyone possesses skills and talents that can meaningfully impact sustainable development around the world. Our projects support local leadership, bridge targeted resources, and promote reciprocal benefits for all stakeholders.

Peacework began in 1989 with a belief in the power of collaboration to build a better world. We started small, bringing together volunteer engineers from the U.S. and the Soviet Union to Esteli, Nicaragua in the wake of the Cold War to rebuild communities alongside displaced families. In that first project, we learned that the best way to make positive social change is through diversity ? of sectors, cultures, and ideas ? and we've been doing it ever since. We bring together dynamic agents of to foster global awareness; apply their knowledge and skills for innovative solutions to global challenges; and ultimately empower people to support self-determination, ensure social justice, and expand economic opportunity.
Peacework?s initiatives span 25 countries, and have delivered lasting impact through diverse cross-sector projects in the fields of agriculture, business, education, engineering, health, public service, and technology. Over 20,000 participants have taken part in our projects, gaining global awareness and addressing some of the world?s most pressing challenges by supporting local, community-driven initiatives. We support local leadership, bridge targeted resources, and promote reciprocal benefits for all stakeholders. We are advocates for local solutions, connectors to required resources, and promoters of long-term relationships, local ownership, and tangible resources. Peacework believes that change must be community-driven in order to be most effective, and we are best able to support that process by connecting communities to the financial, technical, and human resources they need to advance key areas for social change and economic prosperity. Our projects have benefited over 100 communities around the world, with over 23.7 million USD invested in community-driven development, and reached 1 million children.

Peacework engages communities, academic institutions, and corporations in cross-sector initiatives for sustainable development across seven development disciplines: agriculture, business, education, engineering, health, public service, and technology. Thus, our work is closely tied to the three overarching Global Goals of ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and injustice, and fixing climate change. More specifically, our expertise in creating and managing cross-sector and cross-cultural partnerships for social impact relates directly to Goal 17, while our initiatives are creating impact in the areas of Goals 1, 3, 4, 8. Additionally, our newest initiative, Greenwork, seeks to apply this expertise to our newest initiative around the socially inclusive deployment of clean technology ? relating to Goal 7, 8, and 13.

Peacework has extensive experience in university partnerships, and has partnered with over 70 institutions during its 25-year history. More recently, Peacework established its first global corporate alliance. This corporate alliance led to the creation of Project Belize, which has been accelerating financial literacy education and entrepreneurial opportunity across Belize since 2008. Project Belize, in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, is a partnership to advance youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy alongside the Belize Ministry of Education. By harnessing PwC?s financial expertise, business acumen, and professional skills to create shared value for 1600+ employees, 6,000+ students, and 800+ educators, Peacework has retooled the Belizean national curriculum and built an ecosystem for youth economic opportunity.

Peacework has worked in countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Additionally, our unique partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, based in London, the United Kingdom, further expands our international network by offering us direct connections to the local governments of its member countries. The Commonwealth Secretariat is a voluntary association of 53 independent countries spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. In 2015, Peacework is managing academic and corporate programs in the following countries: Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, Russia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Vietnam. Peacework?s initiatives span 25 countries, and have delivered lasting impact through diverse cross-sector projects in the fields of agriculture, business, education, engineering, health, public service, and technology. We do not currently work in the United States, although in the past we have worked with the Hopi and Navajo in Arizona. In 2015, we currently have active projects in 17 countries: Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, Russia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Vietnam.

These projects range across our development disciplines, as noted above, and are customized around community-identified needs and the skills, experiences, and resources of the stakeholders involved. Our work ranges from supporting medical clinics in Cambodia to rural education and development projects in Ghana. We believe in community-driven development, and view our role as a convener to provide targeted human, intellectual, financial, technical, and social capital to complement local community leadership and support long-term social and economic development. As a result, while our community partnerships are ongoing, each project is different in accordance with community needs and priorities.

One example of a a Peacework project is Project Belize- in which we work in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Belize Ministry of Education to advance youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Given the high rate of youth unemployment in Belize, this initiative was created to apply PricewaterhouseCoopers? expertise in finance to this pressing issue. Our deep relationship with the Ministry of Education has enabled this initiative to take off, not only as a stand-alone project, but as a sustainable and long-term effort to foster entrepreneurial spirit and financial literacy across Belize. Since Project Belize began in 2008, over 6,000 students in Belize City have participated in the program in addition to over 800 educators that continue the work of this initiative throughout the academic year.

Another example of a project that exemplifies the Peacework model relates to our newest initiative, Greenwork. Greenwork is accelerating the green economy by addressing climate change through socially inclusive economic development initiatives in partnership with clean technology companies. One of our first projects under this new initiative was in Roatan, an island in Honduras, where diesel fuel is the primary source of electric power. This is expensive and generates pollution that threatens the island?s natural resources. Our community partners raised this as a concern, and Peacework is now supporting solutions for sustainable power sources on the island by convening partners, knowledge, and resources. One of the greatest barriers to accessing solar energy is the initial cost of investment in solar technologies. Through Peacework?s Academic Partner Network, we identified Penn State?s Sustainability Institute as a good fit for a solar energy initiative in Roatan. The Institute provided equipment to install the solar rays and education to community members about the maintenance and repair of the equipment. Our community partners identified sites for installation and continue the maintenance following the project. As a result, solar energy is now available on the island, and Peacework is excited to continue supporting the socially inclusive transition to a sustainable economy.
NO - Peacework's Board of Directors are as follows: Deborah Spencer (USA), Patricia Wilbourne (USA), Doug Wilbourne (USA), Anthony Songer (USA), Peter Ozolins (USA), and Randi Buerlein (USA) PeaceworkArticlesofIncorporation.pdf