Social innovation is an expanding practice in the peacebuilding sector. In this article, three peace scholar-practitioners reflect on our experiences as peacebuilders and consider the utility, tensions, and possibilities for peace and social innovation in theory and in practice. We draw insights gleaned through a focus group workshop with peacebuilding colleagues and highlight three case study examples from Colombia, the Philippines, and Kenya, each demonstrating the challenges and opportunities of social innovation in the peace sector. In doing so, we offer a reimagining of- and recommended action steps to engage innovation through a collaborative, feminist design approach. This article contributes to debates on peace and social innovation by reframing innovation as a relational, feminist, and temporal practice grounded in lived experience rather than in novelty-driven, technocratic models.
Author Bio(s)
Michelle Helman, PhD, is a Doctoral Fellow with the Global Center of Peace Innovation at the University for Peace where she developed an evidence-based design framework to support leaders in navigating organizational culture change processes. She brings over twenty years of experience partnering with global leaders on community-driven change projects such as the Colombian peace process, peace-tech and health innovation in East Africa, and gun violence prevention in the USA. Michelle holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University for Peace, a MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Queensland as a Rotary Peace Fellow, and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Illinois. She also leads a consultancy practice. hello@michellehelman.com
Katherine Ronderos is a Senior Consultant specialising in Women, Peace and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean. She advises international and regional organizations on multi-country programmes, with a focus on gender, peacebuilding, protection and security. She has held senior leadership and advisory roles across civil society and international organisations, bringing over a decade of experience in programme design, implementation, and strategic engagement. Katherine holds an MSc in Development Studies from London South Bank University (U.K.) and an MSc in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University (Sweden) as part of the Rotary International Peace Fellowship. katherine.ronderos@gmail.com
Mariafernanda Burgos-Ariza is a peacebuilder who is currently working as Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for Colombia and the Philippines with the Kroc Institute's Peace Accords Matrix team at the University of Notre Dame. She has over ten years of experience designing and managing peacebuilding and social impact programs across diverse, conflict-affected, and complex settings, including Colombia, Turkey, Greece (Lesvos), the Philippines. Mariafernanda holds an MSc in Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford, UK and a Bachelor's degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá. She is currently engaged in utopías through the Peacebuilding Hub Net, an organization that she envisioned in 2020 while in Istanbul, Turkey and founded in Bogotá in 2021. mafepeacebuildinghubnet@gmail.com
Keywords
social innovation, feminism, global south, relational change, participatory practice, peace design
Recommended Citation
Helman, PhD, Michelle; Ronderos, Katherine; and Burgos-Ariza, Mariafernanda
(2026)
"Social Innovation in the Peacebuilding Sector,"
Peace and Conflict Studies: Vol. 33:
No.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs/vol33/iss1/2
