Civil Peace Service

Our Civil Peace Service development workers are active in regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. You can find a detailed overview of our programmes on the map.  

CPS workers endeavour to prevent conflicts, reduce violence and promote post-conflict rehabilitation. This includes:

• Reintegrating people who have been persecuted and displaced as a result of civil wars and other violent conflicts
• Psychosocial and trauma work with population groups that are heavily affected by violence
• Training in non-violent conflict management
• Developing cooperation and dialogue structures
• Creating points of contact and safe spaces as gathering places for the parties to a conflict
• Strengthening information and communication structures relating to the causes and effects of violent conflicts
• Reintegrating and rehabilitating groups that have been severely affected by violence, including psychosocial support, remembrance work and trauma therapy
• Consulting and organisational development in civil conflict management
• Peace education (including educational measures to dispel the image of an “enemy”).
• Strengthening local legal standards, e.g. monitoring the human rights situation
• Preventing human rights violations

CPS partners in the target countries are church, church-affiliated and other civil society organisations, including the Catholic Commissions for Peace and Justice at national and diocesan levels.

Our CPS programmes in the host countries and regions focus on the long term picture, since peacebuilding is always a long-term process. In keeping with this approach, the service contracts of CPS workers generally provide for a period of three years and are in many cases extended.

The overall objective of the CPS is to prevent the violent escalation of conflicts (violence prevention) and contribute to peaceful conflict resolution (violence reduction) and post-conflict peacebuilding measures (post-conflict rehabilitation). The development workers in the CPS host countries and regional AGIAMONDO programmes are integrated into the partner organisations at the project level. They support them in achieving the overarching objectives that are specifically defined for each country and regional programme.

CPS specialists should have an academic degree as well as professional skills and expertise that are lacking in peace work in the host countries. Central to this are skills in the areas of adult education, organisational and individual counselling, knowledge of network building, experience in public relations, management skills, expertise in the areas of peace and conflict research and civil conflict management, and skills in planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME). However, interpersonal and social skills are generally even more important for successful cooperation with partners in the host countries.

The CPS helps to support the worldwide activities of the Catholic Church to foster peace. We make this contribution as just one player in a collaborative effort by a wide range of state, church and civil society partners – each with its own approaches and expertise – who are committed to the non-violent promotion of peace and justice through concrete projects. Our work is based on four pillars: the gospel message of peace, the concrete commitment of church and civil society partners around the world, the unique potential of the Universal Catholic Church as a global player on the road to world peace, and the opportunities that arise from networking and cooperating with religious, civil society and state players. It is especially important for AGIAMONDO to encourage its church partners to contribute to solutions for peace in the knowledge that the church has often been part of the underlying problems. We do not turn a blind eye to the shared responsibility of our own society for violent conflicts and their causes, but instead strive to contribute solutions, working both from Germany and at international level.

The CPS is geared towards people with professional training and several years of work experience in a field that is relevant to our organisation. Consequently, AGIAMONDO does not place interns or volunteers abroad. However, it is possible to apply for an internship with the CPS team at the AGIAMONDO office in Cologne. To do so, please send an e-mail to the following address with the subject line “Internship” and indicate your preferred period of time: jobs@agiamondo.org

The Civil Peace Service (CPS) is a programme aimed at preventing violence and promoting peace in regions affected by crisis and conflict. It is committed to the ideal of a world in which conflicts are resolved non-violently. Nine German peace and development organisations jointly manage the CPS together with local partner organisations in the host countries. The CPS is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Working on behalf of executing agencies like AGIAMONDO, CPS workers provide long-term support to partner organisations in the field as they strive to achieve peace and justice.