Business for Peace: Understanding and Assessing Corporate Contributions to Peace

Suggested Citation: Bardouille, Dost, Chloe Berwind-Dart, Sarah Cechvala, and Anita Ernstorfer. “Business for Peace: Understanding and Assessing Corporate Contributions to Peace.” Discussion Paper, Cambridge, MA: CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2014.
This paper aims to advance the practical analysis of and discourse about how the private sector can contribute to peace.
This paper combines grounded, evidence-based learning on conflict sensitive business practice in complex and conflict-affected environments and peacebuilding relevance, impact, and effectiveness.
Companies, for their part, may not see themselves as “peace actors” and may be quick to discount their role in peace and even in conflict. Even companies that publicly commit to principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are wary of terms such as “peacebuilding” or “conflict transformation.” The absence of a shared understanding or lexicon, uncertain mutual expectations, and varying perspectives regarding companies’ role in conflict further contributes to the divide among various actors about the role of business in these contexts.
The paper was presented at the UN Global Compact’s Business for Peace (B4P) conference on 29 September 2014.
Suggested Citation: Bardouille, Dost, Chloe Berwind-Dart, Sarah Cechvala, and Anita Ernstorfer. “Business for Peace: Understanding and Assessing Corporate Contributions to Peace.” Discussion Paper, Cambridge, MA: CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2014.