Supporting civil society is an important area for development assistance in countries experiencing conflict or undergoing political transitions. Specifically, movements for social change that espouse non-violent means can enhance a country’s successful transition and longer-term peacebuilding and statebuilding goals. There is a growing body of evidence which finds that not only are non-violent movements more successful in achieving their goals, but that such changes are far more internally peaceful and more durable if they have been achieved through non-violent means rather than through violent conflict. As Martin Luther King, Jr. advised us, “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows;” we need to integrate support for non-violent social movements into our strategies for achieving lasting and equitable change.

Sadaf Lakhani