Our history

25 years of making peace possible

We began with just two second-hand computers and donated office space. Our first activities were with The Citizens Constitutional Forum in Fiji. We still work there, supporting the country’s return to a full constitutional democracy and helping address ongoing divisions within society.

Soon after this, we began working in war-torn Sierra Leone and Liberia, helping to mediate community-level conflicts.

Even as the organisation has grown to over 60 staff, working with over 70 partners, we are still committed to operating at a human scale. Our success is made possible by the trust we have earned through our long-term relationships, and the years of experience we have gained providing practical support to hundreds of people living with war and violence.

Our reach now includes the Caucasus, countries across East and Central Africa, the Horn of Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia and additional parts of West Africa and the Pacific. 

Early on we recognised there was a lot to learn about building peaceful societies by undertaking and sharing in-depth analysis of violent conflicts. Our publication series Accord was launched on this principle. The renown of this series has grown and it is now a common reference point for people working in peacebuilding around the world.

In 2019, Conciliation Resources formed a strategic partnership with Brussels-based mediation support organisation, mediatEUr, identifying clear synergies with their work. 

Following this, mediatEUr and Conciliation Resources brought their strategy and operations closer together until in 2021, mediatEUr was renamed Conciliation Resources EU. The two organisations remain separate legal entities but now have combined operations, strategies, and a shared vision and purpose.  

mediatEUr was formed in 2007, to build initiatives to support the peaceful transformation of conflicts around the world. Since their inception, they have provided direct mediation and facilitation support, advice to conflict resolution efforts, and capacity-building for individuals and organisations that seek to engage in peace work. mediatEUr has been a major mediation support partner of the European External Action Service, implementing framework contracts in coordination with consortium partners. 

Conciliation Resources registered Conciliation Resources Australia in 2020, to reflect the substantial growth of our work in the Southeast Asia and Pacific region and our burgeoning staff team based out of Melbourne. 

Despite our organisational growth, Conciliation Resources holds the same values and principles today as when we started – in order to build sustainable peace, the people experiencing the impact of violent conflict must be involved.

In this film, our founders Andy Carl and David Lord discuss their vision for Conciliation Resources when the organisation first began, what changes they’ve seen over the past 25 years and why they think peacebuilding is more important than ever.