Trust features as the uniting thread connecting our diverse works and fields. It builds on the premise that complex social changes for sustainable peacebuilding require (re)constructing trust among violence-affected actors. Since trust is a critical consideration in daily life in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, academics, practitioners and policymakers must address it. Despite its importance, policy and programme initiatives rarely target trust directly, even though it is essential to reconciliation and all forms of economic and political life. This Series thus explores sustainable peacebuilding and the reconstruction of the social fabric in conflict-affected contexts from a trust-centred perspective.

Each webinar convenes various scholars, practitioners, and conflict-affected populations to debate, identify and develop critical elements of violence, security, peace, and trust in fragile and violence-affected contexts. Conversations will address topics such as the breakdown of trust at multiple levels of society, distinctions between horizontal and vertical trust, the relative roles of interpersonal and institutional trust, and the securitisation and weaponisation of trust. They will also foreground scenarios in which trust-building contributed to the sustainable transformation of lives and horizons by those most impacted by violence and insecurity. Each Roundtable Discussion (approximately one hour) has been designed to be highly participatory and foster lively debates among participants and audience members.