Fighters for Peace (FFP) is a Lebanon-based NGO founded in 2014 by ex-combatants from the Lebanese civil war with the aim to foster a national reconciliation process and prevent violent extremism in Lebanon and the Arab region.
All of FFP’s ex-combatants have engaged in a process of critical self-reflection that spans years and leads to meaningful personal transformation. This change has allowed former enemies from different militias join together to become leaders for civil peace and reconciliation.
The organization provides a safe space in which ex-fighters and former extremists can seek support for their personal transformation processes. FFP members are living examples that even the fiercest partisans can transition from war to peace. For those who have engaged in war or violent extremism there is a dire need to gain new perspectives for their lives in new, non-violent leadership roles. FFP members meet those who are currently engaged in violence, helping them walk away from conflict or transition from the past to new roles. FFP supports them in finding an alternative sense of purpose and belonging, trains them and then puts them in the front line for the fight for peace and the prevention of violent extremism. They reach out to fellow combatants, youth as well as the general public.
It is crucial for societies emerging from conflict that ex-combatants are successfully and sustainably reintegrated, as they provide the most powerful voices warding against new cycles of violence. This can be done only when the incentives of war and violence are replaced by other meaningful incentives, which allow former fighters and extremists to find a new, positive and non-violent purpose in their lives.