The Scottish Peace Platform launched officially in September 2025, following an inception period between March – August 2025. You can download a visual guide to the the Scottish Peace Platform’s first year here: SPP Year 1 – Booklet.
During the inception period the Scottish Peace Platform mapped and surveyed Scotland’s peace sector. The team consulted with key stakeholders in Scotland and met with other peace platforms, institutes, and centres globally. Through this process priorities and focus areas were identified for the first year of work. By the end of the inception period, the SPP team and members created governance documents including a Terms of Reference and Code of Conduct. Progress was discussed and refined with member feedback during the Inception Period Workshop in August 2025, with 30+ attendees from Scotland’s peace sector.
Photos from the Inception Period Workshop:
During the establishment period between September 2025 – April 2026, the Scottish Peace Platform launched its website and held a digital platform launch. Early on, it held its inaugural Annual General Meeting and established its first Advisory Board of 9 representatives of Scottish organisations working on peace in Scotland. The Advisory Board meets quarterly and guides our work.
Over these six months, the Scottish Peace Platform partnered with 5 members on peacebuilding activities. See below for more information on these. It also highlighted Beyond Borders Scotland Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship alumnae through thematic webinars on peace education and trauma-informed approaches. This webinar series will continue, advancing feminist-informed peace practice in Scotland and internationally.
See below photos from partner activities including (top right) a panel discussion on the Colombian peace process with Glasgow Latin American Research Network, which took place at the University of Glasgow in November 2025, (top left) peer mediation and peace education training in a Scottish primary school with West of Scotland Development Education Centre and Scottish Mediation, (bottom right) a webinar on peacebuilding, reconciliation, and healing in Rwanda and the DRC led by Callum Henderson from Comfort International (pictured) and featuring 5 practitioners from Rwanda and the DRC working on the ground, and (bottom left) a consultation on the UK’s National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security in partnership with Gender Action for Peace and Security, which gathered Scottish civil society and those working on women’s rights in central Edinburgh in March 2026.
The Scottish Peace Platform’s most significant partnership activity in year one was a conference in partnership with Educators for Peace entitled ‘Rebuilding Gaza: the Role of the Education Sector’. It brought together Scottish and Palestinian educators and other key actors to discuss how Scotland can support primary, secondary, and higher education in Gaza.
See photos below from the conference taken by Rayna Carruthers.
The Scottish Peace Platform membership grew across all member categories, including a total of 42 member organisations. Many of these members gathered at the World Cafe Networking Day in April 2026.
The Scottish Peace Platform team is recording a new podcast series, Scottish Stories of Peace, featuring members to highlight and record the varied peace-related work being done in Scotland which will be released from May 2026.