We transform conflict in the digital age.

At the intersection of peacebuilding and technology, Build Up uses new tools for old problems, and old tools for new problems. We implement programs, conduct research, and develop technical solutions to engage with conflict and build societies in which everyone can thrive. We are a digital-first organization, which means we both use digital technologies throughout our peacebuilding work and deeply understand the impact of technology on conflict. We run programs in three areas: inclusive politics, digital conflict and creative peace.

Our Values

Build Up is a new model for a global non-profit, driven by values embodied throughout our work, culture, and organizational structure: Build Up operates as a collective, in which we share organisational and financial ownership, operation, and risk across our core team. Shared ownership includes collective shaping of our organisational strategy, systems, and distributed organisational maintenance duties. As a financial collective, we transparently set salaries according to need, rather than hierarchy, age, experience, or geography. We share our internal operating structure and policies here.

Our internal operating principles reflect the values we bring to our work: We believe in a collective, decolonial, and anti-racist peacebuilding practice. We believe in non-extractive and relationship-centered processes. We are honest, open, and vulnerable. We are not experts. We value knowledge, and we engage in cross- and trans-disciplinary thinking and doing. We give space to learn, encouragement to grow, and sometimes to err. We work with and support ourselves and others as whole people. We place stewardship, respect, love, peace and non-violence at the heart of our work. And our style is a bit punk: non-hierarchical, dynamic, and a little irreverent.

Comprehensive Annual Reports

most recent

2024

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2023, and looks forward to 2024.

2023

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2023, and looks forward to 2024.

2022

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2022.

2021

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2021.

2020

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2023, and looks forward to 2024.

2019

Annual Audit

This annual report describes our work in 2022.

In the Media

Few Are Addressing One of Social Media’s Greatest Perils (The New York Times, 2023)

Few Are Addressing One of Social Media’s Greatest Perils (The New York Times, 2023)

May 6, 2023

This year, Facebook and Twitter allowed a video of a talk to be distributed on…

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Why Social Media Amplifies Extreme Views – And How To Stop It (Forbes, 2023)

Why Social Media Amplifies Extreme Views – And How To Stop It (Forbes, 2023)

May 4, 2023

Peace-builder and Ashoka Fellow Helena Puig Larrauri co-founded Build Up to transform conflict in the…

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Where Rumors Can Kill (Foreign Policy, 2016)

Where Rumors Can Kill (Foreign Policy, 2016)

May 31, 2016

Frustrations have been boiling over into violence on the Greek border with Macedonia. Along the…

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For refugees eyeing Europe, a website separates fact from fiction (Reuters, 2016)

For refugees eyeing Europe, a website separates fact from fiction (Reuters, 2016)

March 22, 2016

Desperately seeking new lives, migrants traveling to Europe often hear lies and rumors such as…

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