CPI Annual Report 2025
Forward
Read the full CPI Annual Report 2025 | PDF
In a context marked by protracted conflicts, increasing polarization, and growing pressure on social cohesion across many regions of the world, the need for inclusive and locally grounded approaches to conflict transformation remains as urgent as ever. Throughout 2025, Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva (CPI) continued to work alongside religious leaders, local communities, civil society actors, and policymakers to promote dialogue, strengthen internal peace resources, and support peaceful pathways for addressing conflict. Building on more than two decades of experience, CPI remained committed to fostering sustainable peace through approaches that combine local ownership, religious literacy, mediation, and conflict transformation.
In 2025, CPI advanced the second year of its Strategic Plan 2024–2027, working to transform relationships between parties to conflict and reduce violence by addressing its direct, structural, and cultural causes. The Institute’s approach continued to draw on complementary pillars including knowledge sharing, capacity building, mediation support, diapraxis, and a robust Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) framework adapted to conflict-affected and Muslim-majority contexts.
Under Strategic Objective 1, focused on harnessing internal peace resources within Muslim-majority societies, CPI launched a UNDP-funded project in Somalia to strengthen the capacity of Somali Islamic scholars in conflict transformation and social cohesion from an Islamic perspective.
Strategic Objective 2, centred on networking and knowledge sharing, was advanced through the “Engaging Across Religious Differences” research project, co-funded by the Templeton Religion Trust and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). CPI organised policy briefings in Belgium, Mauritania and Mozambique, contributing to policy discussions on the role of religious actors and Islamic scholars in conflict transformation processes.
Strategic Objective 3 remained the core focus of CPI’s field engagement. The Swiss-funded Fiqhi Pathways project continued supporting dialogue and violence reduction efforts across Africa, the MENA region, and Afghanistan, with co-funding from the Finnish MOFA; while the EU-funded Building Bridges initiative strengthened the capacities of Muslim and Christian leaders, teachers, youth, and women across Nigeria’s Middle Belt. The Path to Peace project further supported reconciliation between communities and former combatants in North-East Nigeria and contributed to reflections on reintegration approaches.
Furthermore, CPI participated in major international events and experts’ forums in Doha, Baku, Krakow, Mogadishu and Zurich, and contributed to the 2025 Religion and Mediation Course organised in Basel by the Swiss FDFA and the Center for Security Studies (CSS-ETH Zurich) on armed contestations over governance in Afghanistan, Mali, and Syria. The Institute also published five Cordoba Research Papers and two editions of its trilingual Cordoba Update newsletter, continuing its commitment to bridging research, policy, and practice.
Overall, 2025 saw CPI consolidate a methodology that blends traditional Islamic knowledge with contemporary peacebuilding tools, deepen partnerships across Africa, the MENA region, and Europe, and translate research into practical engagement with armed groups, religious leaders, and communities affected by conflict.
Looking ahead, CPI will continue to strengthen its work at the intersection of religion, mediation, and peacebuilding. Building on partnerships developed across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, the Institute will further invest in local capacity development, knowledge generation, and dialogue processes that contribute to sustainable peace and social cohesion in conflict-affected contexts.
CPI – Direction
Read the full CPI Annual Report 2025 | PDF
