The countdown is on. Only one week to go before season three of The Peacebuilding Practitioner podcast will be launched. A season packed with amazing interviews shedding light on a still developing aspect of our work that is both an immensely exciting and hope-inspiring force for good as well as a scary and potentially very destructive force layering additional complexity to conflict situations.  

Starting on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, there will be a new episode every second week. In each episode, a guest will be joining me and together we will be exploring specific angles of this still emerging and up until now only vaguely defined field of digital peacebuilding.

How can the existing international humanitarian law help to protect civilians from cyber threats during violent conflict; and can it be used to hold state and non-state actors accountable for their actions? What does it take to create safe and trusted digital spaces to move a face-to-face dialogue process with participants from across a conflict divide online? How can open-source mapping platforms and crowd-sourced information about conflict dynamics be used for participatory early warning and early action systems? Can an improved analysis of social media content help us to inform our understanding of a conflict situation to inform policy and practice? What is the potential of a participatory open source investigation method to uncover gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and make them public? And what does it take to make the information admissible in court? In how far are existing biases and power imbalances programmed into emerging tech and digital tools and what are the implications for conflict transformation and peacebuilding practitioners? These are just some of the questions we talk about.

In each episode I will be joined by an acclaimed expert in his or her field. While they come from a wide variety of backgrounds - computer programmers and data analysts, human rights lawyers and journalists, community organisers and advisors to the United Nations - they all have two things in common: They have a proven track-record of shaping pioneering digital peacebuilding initiatives. And they are willing to share their knowledge, their skills, and stories here on the Peacebuilding Practitioner podcast.

So who will join me? Well, there is Anne-Marie Buzatu from ICT4Peace, Nina Strumpf from Berghof Foundation, Daniel Duke Odongo from Ushahidi, Matilde Vaca Torrico from ZFD GIZ Bolivia, George Katz from Bellingcat Justice and Accountability Unit, Emma Baumhofer from swisspeace, Martina Richard from AGIAMONDO, Helena Puig Larrauri from Build Up ^ and many more.

So, that means we are in for an exciting ride. Infotainment at its best. We will start on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. And then every two weeks after that.

Here is your direct link to all the episodes.