Can unarmed civilians be protected? A conversation with Tiffany Easthom of Nonviolent Peaceforce.
At a time when armed conflicts are protracted, violence against civilians is escalating, and humanitarian actors are facing increasingly restricted access, a crucial question must be asked: how can civilians be protected when traditional protection mechanisms are proving inadequate?
In this episode of "At the Heart of Possibilities," hosted by Christian Cirhigiri, Tiffany Easthom, Executive Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), discusses the Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) approach, the cornerstone of civilian-led protection work in conflict zones such as South Sudan, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and others. At the heart of this discussion, Tiffany explores the challenges of gaining recognition for local protection actors within the civilian protection system, the erosion of trust among actors, and many other critical issues that underpin civilian protection in an uncertain geopolitical context.
"We've really committed to what it looks like from our organizational footprint to try and continue to orient ourselves to where we can be the most useful, where there's the most acute violence, and in terms of direct implementation. ...We can take our 22 years of experience and help infuse that, and the language we use is scaling it out, rather than [scaling it] up. So we don't become in service to our own institutional systems, but we remain in service to the mission, and the mission is increase safety and security for everybody, because we all deserve it." -Tiffany Easthom, Executive Director, Nonviolent Peaceforce
Before becoming Executive Director, Tiffany Easthom was Nonviolent Peaceforce’s Middle East Program Director, then Country Director in South Sudan and, prior to that, in Sri Lanka. Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Master of Arts in Human Security and Peacebuilding from Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She also completed peacebuilding field training in Uganda and served as Country Director for Peace Brigades International in Indonesia.