Opinions & Insights

Opinions & Insights

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Showing 206 items for Opinion and Insights
November 10, 2021

Connecting a Sustainable Planet to Sustainable Peace

As we work to create a sustainable planet, we must equally prioritize sustainable peace. Our work in Somali fishing communities has shed light on ways science and natural resource conservation come together to reduce conflict and build community and environmental resilience. 
Jon Bellish
September 14, 2021

Blurring the Lines of Separation; Localizing Ourselves for Peace

The recent presence of military coups covered in the news may lead people to believe that coups are more prevalent in 2021 than they have been in recent years, however, this perception may warrant further questions pertaining to what qualifies an event as a coup, and how loosely should the term be u...
September 07, 2021

Coastal Catch Up: Progress on Project Kalluun

Secure Fisheries Project Kalluun, a partnership with four Somali universities and Somali fisheries ministries, aims to enhance fisheries data collection throughout the region and train the next generation of Somali marine scientists. As participants in the project, students gain training from Secure...
September 01, 2021

Military Coups in 2021

The recent presence of military coups covered in the news may lead people to believe that coups are more prevalent in 2021 than they have been in recent years, however, this perception may warrant further questions pertaining to what qualifies an event as a coup, and how loosely should the term be u...
July 09, 2021

Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion

June is Pride Month and in the U.S. we also commemorate “Juneteenth” on June 19th, the marking of the end of slavery in the U.S. Already widely recognized, we applaud the U.S. House of Reps for recently voting overwhelmingly to formalize Juneteenth as a national federal holiday. OEF wants to extend ...
June 17, 2021

Peace Field Peers Agree: Evidence-Based Practice Is Key

OEF and Alliance for Peacebuilding released a report last month detailing the findings of a survey of professional peacebuilders on their ideas about evidence-based practice in peacebuilding. The results suggest that despite the debate, the field has a pretty developed understanding of what evidence...
May 14, 2021

Using Coordination as a Key to Peacebuilding

The challenges of peacebuilding involve maximizing the contribution of multiple technical experts in an often quickly changing environment, and one where participants may not always trust all other participants or where they may be concerned about maintaining their individual authority to make decis...
April 20, 2021

How Do We Get to an Earth Without War?

OEF’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Office, Jon Bellish talks about OEF’s commitment to Relentless Empiricism as core to its belief in and support of iterative problem-solving and careful, analytical design. He discusses how OEF relies on evidence to cut through complexities in order to sol...
April 08, 2021

Why Do People Choose to Rebel?

Answering the question of why people rebel is central to understanding civil war. Research shows that civil wars and rebellion are neither driven by ancient hatreds between ethnic groups nor simply by opportunistic greed.
April 07, 2021

Is the World Getting More Peaceful?

This blog post briefly reviews the current state of research on armed conflict, discusses the predictors of peace, and addresses the opportunities for OEF, dedicated to fostering sustainable peace.
March 30, 2021

Building Community

Community work involves more than physical presence and specialized expertise. Join Oregon State University graduate student, Ashley Peiffer, in exploring what it means to build meaningful relationships that inspire community-led projects and how research with Secure Fisheries illuminates both perso...
March 18, 2021

Peacebuilding Requires a Coordinated Effort

OEF’s goal is ultimately the elimination of war. In order to achieve this admittedly lofty goal, we need to have a working theory of the causes of war and how we can help to disrupt them. Fortunately, there is a large body of research in “peace science” and, more broadly, political science. In devel...
March 12, 2021

African Actors Leading the Way

Southern African regions are increasingly shaping global norms around security. A recent blog series by OEF Research explores these.
Marcel Arsenault
Conor Seyle
February 24, 2021

Balancing long-term thinking, short-term metrics, and flexible project planning

Over the past several decades, a number of different critiques of nonprofit work have emerged. Inevitably, these critiques have a strong basis — they identify real and specific issues in how nonprofits work — but collectively they may present a problem by calling for approaches that aren’t easily r...
February 04, 2021

A Deep-Dive into OEF's Theory of Peace

Peacebuilding organizations like OEF face a surprising problem: deciding what we mean by peace. In developing our theories of impact and articulating how we do our work, we start with our end goal: the elimination of war and large-scale organized political violence.
January 10, 2021

The Future of Fishing: The Greatest Challenges Facing Somali Fishers

When fisheries are managed effectively and fairly, there is less competition over resources, less food waste, more economic opportunity, and therefore, fewer drivers of conflict. Secure Fisheries is working to combat the challenges surrounding the fishing industry, from overfishing and illegal fishi...