General Information

EIRENE is the greek word for “peace“ and for EIRENE International Christian Peace Service it is more than just a name. Peace, just like war, is not an abstract state of nature, it is made by human beings. In other words, peace is something to work for and peace building is at the centre of our efforts. In line with our founders, namely the historic peace churches (MCC, Brethren and Quakers), we strive for a peace which means much more than the absence of violent conflict. For a sustainable contribution to a peaceful future, peace building has to take into account livelihoods, human rights (including social, economical and cultural rights) and the empowerment of people to build their own lives in dignity and in harmony with their neighbors and their environment. Hence, our activities as a Peace Service range from initiatives to help settling conflicts about natural resources (which may include land for agricultural use as well as water or subsoil resources) to the support of grassroots organisations and local development projects in marginalised areas or youth work, inter-religious dialogue and volunteer programs in Germany and Europe as well as in our partner countries. In all these efforts, we work in close cooperation with our local partners. Structure: EIRENE is registered as a non-governmental non-profit organisation in accordance with German law and has its central offices in Neuwied, Germany. The work of our staff is supervised by an executive committee which in turn answers to a general assembly of members. Currently, EIRENE is employing 29 paid staff at the central offices in Neuwied in addition to 28 peace building and local development experts and about 100 volunteers in our partner countries. EIRENE also has an independent branch in the Netherlands.