Publications Library
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July 2026
Gender norms and protection: navigating agency, risk and backlash
Research Report
This report identifies six critical takeaways for humanitarian, protection and gender actors to strengthen the intersection of gender norms with protection action in the current hostile geopolitical context. It draws from research in Iraq, Myanmar, South Sudan and Ukraine, with a diverse spectrum of gendered protection actors and responses in support of communities. It identifies critical ways forward for humanitarian actors to strengthen gender-sensitive protection.
July 2026
Expanding the protection toolbox: community partnership in African-led peace operations
Research Report
The AU's 2023 civilian protection policy is ambitious, but communities remain sidelined. What would real partnership look like? African-led peace operations are playing an increasingly prominent role in continental peace and security. At the African Union, commitment to protecting civilians is growing through new policies and frameworks, including the 2023 Protection of Civilians policy. This report presents the challenges limiting the policy’s implementation and proposes expanding the African Union’s protection tools by recognising communities as protection actors and linking mission capacity to community-based approaches.
May 2025
Civilian peacekeeping: Lessons from Civilian-Led Ceasefire Monitoring in the Philippines
Research Report
In the absence of a UN peacekeeping mission, civilians in Mindanao, southern Philippines, built one of the most structured and effective civilian-led protection systems in a conflict zone. Their experience offers perhaps one of the clearest evidence base that unarmed civilians can lead on core elements traditionally mandated to international peace operations, namely monitoring ceasefires, deterring violence, and directly protecting communities from the threat of violence. This short issue paper argues that the Mindanao case offers a compelling rationale for recalibrating global peacekeeping mandates. Civilian-led protection is not a niche supplement to military peacekeeping – it is a core strategy, especially in complex, protracted, or hybrid conflicts where armed presence may be limited, mistrusted, or politically constrained. Yet despite mounting evidence, local civilian capacities remain systematically undervalued and under-supported in the architecture of UN peace operations. The lessons from Mindanao call for a rethinking of what protection looks like, who can lead it, and how international actors can best support it.
December 2021
Gaps in Formal Education in Iraq
Research Report
A research study conducted by the Education Consortium of Iraq (ECI) – comprised of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, and NP– has identified areas to improve in education infrastructure, personnel, and reintegration of students into the formal system across six governorates.
March 2021
Building Peace Changing Lives: Role and Participation of Women in Peace and Security in Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand
Research Report
This study, conducted by NP Philippines in collaboration with the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI). This study presents lessons learned and conclusions to highlight the significant gains of women peacebuilding and emphasize the need for concrete actions to implement and institutionalize WPS agenda in the three countries in particular and in ASEAN in general.
October 2020
Strengthening the Safe School Community
Research Report
Exploring the Work and Objectives of School Safety and Security Specialists. Conducted by Rand Engel for Nonviolent Peaceforce & Nonviolence International.
March 2019
United States Celebrates Women’s Contributions to Peace in Myanmar
Research Report
The study, conducted NP in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), collected data from August 2018 to January 2019. The map, intended as a quick guide, lists 674 women from 383 organizations who contribute to peace building.