Our History
We are really proud of our peacebuilding heritage. As Concordis celebrates it's twentieth year, we look back on our history and the skillset it has given us.
1987 - 1994 Mediation to end the apatheid in South Africa
Concordis’ roots are in the Newick Park Initiative (NPI), which was created in 1986 to facilitate confidential dialogue between leading members of the African National Congress (ANC) and the white establishment in South Africa. They aimed to contribute to a peaceful end to apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela and elections in 1994.
Gave Concordis skills in... Mediating with huge impact, building trust to enable vital lines of communication across highly contested political and racial divides.
1994-1999: Rebuilding Rwanda after the genocide
NPI helped to mobilise research and innovation, which rapidly increased yields on very small plots of land, underpinning the economic revival of the country. Their work to devise alternative judicial processes helped bring to justice those accused of having participated in the killings, whilst helping to restore relationships within communities.
Gave Concordis skills in... In-depth research into the root causes of conflict. Developing solutions with the affected communities. Building judicial systems to underpin restoration, alongside agricultural solutions to yield peace dividends.
1999-2005: The partition of Sudan and South Sudan
NPI and then Concordis facilitated talks between Sudanese and Southern Sudanese diaspora groups in the UK, helping them negotiate terms that could lead to a peaceful end to the Sudanese Civil War. Talks focused on how, practically, this new international border would function, including distribution of oil revenues from Abyei, use of Nile waters, and provision for the movement of people, goods and livestock across the new border.
Gave Concordis skills in... Long-term commitment to people and to a locality. Mediation over contested territory in times of war. Putting in place systems for the smooth functioning of the borderlands
Peace conferences in Abyei, 2023
The borderlands of Sudan and South Sudan were the frontline of the Sudanese civil war and continues to
be a place of great turmoil and land conflict between national governments and local communities. The work continues.
Concordis’ skillset: built over the twenty years working with communities here :
Developing markets for exchange of goods and services between groups on different sides of the conflict, building resilient livelihoods, resilience to future conflict, and economic incentives to peaceful collaboration, all through trade, not aid.
Including marginalised groups: Finding creative ways to ensure the inclusion of groups often marginalised from decision making or formal peace processes, bringing in meaningful participation by women as well as men, young as well as old, those who take up arms as well as those who choose not to, national governments as well as civil society.
Working with customary and state legal systems
to establish and train quasi-judicial bodies that are acceptable to all sides.
Concordis is founded as a peace building charity in 2004
2005-present: Sudan, South Sudan and Abyei
Concordis staff in Maban, South Sudan, 2012.
Advisory group meeting in Darfur Sudan, 2024
2009: Israel and Palestine
Arguably the most polarised and divisive conflict in the world. Concordis brought together people from different perspectives to produce a single booklet that explained clearly and dispassionately the range of different perspectives on the conflict.
Concordis’ skillset: Bringing together people who continue to disagree passionately, but now at least understand one another’s point of view, and can help others do the same.
2007-2011: Kenya
Following devastating electoral violence in 2007, Concordis was invited to bring together people from different groups, with different interests to work collaboratively on practical policy recommendations.
Concordis’ skillset: Engaging with highly contested and complex legal and economic issues like land reform, land banking, informal settlements and political violence, and find policy recommendations that are acceptable to people from all sides of the conflict.
2012-2016: Ivory Coast
Concordis was invited to support the national Commission for Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation, and then The Convention of Ivorian Civil Society Organisations, to rebuild social cohesion after serious electoral violence.
Concordis’ skillset: Providing technical assistance and support so that national organisations can lead their own peacebuilding processes.
2013-2023 Mauritania
Ten years work with communities locked in land conflict. Created shared systems for governance of contested spaces, and a significant increase in women’s land ownership, which released women to develop livelihoods and economic stability for their families.
Concordis’ skillset: Conflict transformation and profound attitudinal change, both between protagonists and between men and women. Legacy skills left with the community for solving future issues without need for further international support.
The contested territory between Sudan and South Sudan is a volatile place, having been at the front line of the war and now a critical border-crossing for people and livestock. Concordis devoted two years to community dialogue to create the conditions needed for the first successful peace conference in 2016. This conference led to the foundation of the Amiet market, now a crucial trading hub with over 3,000 shops and restaurants, and the foundation of our work ever since.
Concordis’ skillset: Creating the conditions for positive peace through long-term, trusting relationships built with each group. Addressing intercommunal tensions through inclusive, constructive dialogue to address blockages to peaceful co-existence. Using trade to build peace.
2014-present: Abyei
Amiet Market
2015-present: Central African Republic
The borderlands of northern CAR, into Cameroon, Chad and Darfur, are important routes for seasonal cattle movements, and have witnessed numerous armed conflicts, slave raiding, coup d’états and cycles of inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence. Concordis has developed a recognised expertise in managing conflict around these migrations and other borderland issues affecting these communities.
Concordis’ skillset: Transforming cattle movements from being a key driver of conflict to being a source of trade and livelihoods. Negotiating cross-border agreements between Prefects from both sides of the international border, to agree shared security protocols and revenue collection that is accountable to the populations. Putting in place extensive networks of local peacebuilders to provide and early warning of conflict and to respond quickly, preventing violence from escalating.
Darfur is a vital trading hub for a huge region but has witnessed catastrophic violence: in 2003 and since April 2023. Despite disruptions caused by this war, our Sudanese teams have continued to work amongst grassroot conflicts affecting communities:
Concordis’ skillset: Effective and impactful peacebuilding work, managing intercommunity conflicts peacefully, in a war zone.
CAR Advisory group meeting, 2024
2021-present: Darfur, Sudan
A Concordis Programme Officer conducting a community consultation in Darfur