Much of traditional peacebuilding hasn’t been an investment in enduring change. If we want sustainable peace, we need to invest in systems that make peace self-reinforcing.

Inspired by Jim McKelvey’s The Innovation Stack

The idea that peace is the absence of war has left peacebuilders spending decades trying to prove a negative: “We did this thing, and then violence didn’t happen.”

Peacebuilding has historically relied on government grants and development aid. That model isn’t just strained—it’s structurally unfit for the scale and speed of crises we now face. If we want to build peace at scale, we need a seat at a different table. And to get it, we need to do something we’ve tended to resist: We need to learn to speak business, finance, and investment.

Last week, I outlined three ways the peacebuilding field can adapt in this era of global disruption. Over the next three posts, I’ll dive deeper into each one—exploring the reasoning and practical implications. In this first installment, I unpack what it truly means to integrate peacebuilding and why this approach is essential. What does milk have to do with peace?

As disruption is shifting global systems, peacebuilders are poised to build smarter, broader, and more lasting solutions. This article outlines three key adaptations: integrating peacebuilding across sectors, attracting new forms of capital by making the business case for peace, and redefining success through a positive peace approach. If we want peace to scale and endure, we need to change what we do, how we fund it, and how we measure impact.