How we got here
CSP grew out of conversations with local peacebuilders who were reflecting on what it would take for international support to genuinely strengthen their leadership. These practitioners held deep contextual knowledge and viable solutions, yet the systems around them often failed to recognise, resourceor follow their lead. The issue was not a lack of local capability, but systems that were not designed to be conducive to it.
These insights converged with systems change thinking and a growing recognition that peacebuilding and development models needed more than adjustment. They needed transformation. CSP was founded in 2016 to explore how global collaboration could shift toward approaches that centre local agency, redistribute power and enable those closest to conflict to shape the decisions that affect them.
As global conditions have shifted, so has our work. Local actors remain central, but our focus has expanded from improving existing systems to helping co-create alternatives. Rising geopolitical fragmentation, shrinking civic space and pressure on multilateral institutions have reinforced a conclusion we reached early on: incremental reform is not enough.
Today, CSP works to co-build and test new forms of collaboration that can take root amid uncertainty. Our journey has moved from diagnosing constraints to helping lay the foundations for more equitable, durable and civic-led forms of global cooperation.
Building Bridges Across Boundaries
We bring together actors from different contexts, sectors and movements to explore new possibilities for collaboration and civic solidarity. These encounters build relationships, shared understanding and foundations for collective action.
- Through RESPACE, peacebuilders, social movements, artists and civic actors co-developed future scenarios that are being used to support learning, strategic reflection and adaptation in a more fragmented global environment.
- Launched exploration across borders in four continents to strengthen civic collaboration among locally rooted actors navigating marginalisation and polarisation.
Creating Spaces to Learn, Reflect and Act
We design and host convenings that centre trust, creativity and shared inquiry, creating space to move from reflection toward joint experimentation.
- Supported practitioners to learn across contexts, navigate uncertainty and develop shared approaches to collaboration, legitimacy and action beyond single places or institutions.
- Facilitated learning spaces with civil society, UN, donors and INGOs to rethink approaches to peacebuilding and governance, grounded in lived experience.
- Strengthened the role of Danish civil society in peacebuilding through sustained collaboration, knowledge sharing and advocacy, including through the Network for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding.
Turning Ideas into Tools for Change
We translate systems insights, scenarios and lived experience into practical resources that support change agents, reformers and civic actors to reflect, align and experiment in their work.
- Developed Dialogue Inputs, videos and RESPACE Community Engagement Guide used to support strategic reflection and collective next steps by diverse actors.
- Developed and supported the uptake of Chain of Influence Framework, Innovative Practices knowledge products, highlighting pathways toward more equitable partnerships.
- Produced Systems Change is Driven by People, supporting donors and INGOs to ground systems change efforts in lived experience.
Accompanying Reformers and Change Agents
We work alongside practitioners inside institutions who are testing new ways of working rooted in inclusion, equity and local leadership. Examples of this accompaniment include:
- Convening a growing cohort of Danish civil society representatives as they strengthen their engagement on local leadership.
- Facilitating workshops and learning exchanges with European peacebuilding NGOs and bilateral and multilateral officials.
- Launching the Innovators Hive platform, enabling peer learning and dialogue across geographies.
Bridging Grassroots Insight into Policy and Practice
We bring grounded civic perspectives into institutional and multilateral spaces where global agendas, norms and architectures are shaped.
- Contributed systems-informed perspectives to UN peacebuilding reform processes, including the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review.
- Brought equity-focused perspectives into regional, multilateral and national peacebuilding debates.
- Published insights that surface structural inequities, including on structural racism in the Danish–Greenlandic context.
Building Bridges Across Boundaries
We bring together actors who rarely share the same space to explore new possibilities for global collaboration and civic solidarity. These gatherings create relationships, shared understanding and foundations for collective action. Examples of what this has enabled:
- Through the RESPACE Initiative, peacebuilders, social movements, artists and civic actors from 17 countries co-developed scenarios for the future of global collaboration for peace.
- Launched a sustained translocal exploration across four continents to reimagine infrastructures and spaces for peace.
Creating Spaces to Learn, Reflect and Act
We design and host gatherings that centre trust, creativity and shared inquiry, supporting different actors shift from reflection to joint experimentation. This has included:
- Convening cross-sector actors in Denmark, West Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to reflect and strategise around alternatives to dominant peace and development models.
- Hosting in-person and online gatherings, from Copenhagen to Limuru, Dakar and New York, where participants built working groups, coalitions and shared experiments.
- Facilitating learning spaces with civil society, UN agencies, donor governments and INGOs focused on rethinking approaches to global peace and development challenges.
- Strengthening Danish civil society organisations’ focus on conflict prevention and peacebuilding through advocacy, knowledge generation, and resource sharing, as part of the Network for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding.
Turning Ideas into Tools for Change
We translate systems insights, scenarios and lived experience into practical resources that support change- makers, reformers and civic actors. Tools and frameworks developed include:
- Thirteen Dialogue Inputs and a RESPACE Community Guide used to spark strategic reflection and next steps.
- The Chain of Influence Framework and Innovative Practices Initiative, highlighting real-world approaches to more equitable partnerships.
- Systems Change is Driven by People, a guide helping donors and INGOs anchor systems-change efforts in lived experience.
- An interactive KUMU Map that visualises alternative models across the global aid ecosystem.
Accompanying Reformers and Change Agents
We work alongside practitioners inside institutions who are testing new ways of working rooted in inclusion, equity and local leadership. Examples of this accompaniment include:
- Convening a growing cohort of Danish civil society representatives as they strengthen their engagement on local leadership.
- Facilitating workshops and learning exchanges with European peacebuilding NGOs and bilateral and multilateral officials.
- Launching the Innovators Hive platform, enabling peer learning and dialogue across geographies.
Bridging Grassroots Insight into Policy and Practice
We help bring grounded perspectives into institutional and multilateral spaces where global agendas and architectures are shaped. This has contributed to efforts such as:
- Providing inputs to the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review, centring civic legitimacy and inclusion.
- Supporting partners and funders through multi-stakeholder dialogues that shape strategies and funding approaches.
- Bringing equity-focused perspectives into regional and multilateral peacebuilding spaces.
- Contributing to Denmark’s multilateral engagement strategies, including the Africa Strategy and Danish Development Strategy.
- Publishing reflections in Danish media on structural racism affecting Greenlanders.