The peacebuilding field struggles to explain what peacebuilding is and why it matters. This inability to communicate effectively keeps peacebuilding as a second-order priority behind other development sectors, resulting in a lack of adequate funding, strong policies and laws that center peacebuilding and conflict prevention, and weak public constituencies. The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), in partnership with the FrameWorks Institute, conducted multi-method research on how evidence-based narrative approaches can effectively make the case for peacebuilding. This guide, using the examples of the GFA and WPS Act, outlines strategic, evidence-based narrative and framing approaches for U.S. policy and lawmakers to reframe their advocacy and communication. By applying these reframing narratives, advocacy within the government and the public will be more successful at effectively making the case for what peacebuilding is and why it must be centered, integrated, and robustly resourced in strategies, policies, and laws.
