Center for Peace, Democracy & Development

Building Human Security

The Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD) investigates and addresses human security concerns in Boston and around the world.  Our work is informed by a deep understanding of the drivers of inequity and conflict in society.  To address these drivers, we incorporate into our interventions essential conflict management and policy engagement tools.  With particular attention to the problem of scale, we aim to help peacebuilding, democracy, and development organizations and movements to “scale up” so as to deepen and expand their impacts. 

Through four key areas of work—Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution, Democratic Development, Global Health and Development, and Security and Human Security —CPDD's mission is to:

• inquire into social conditions and structural factors that underpin inequities and conflict

• act to strengthen vital institutions and processes that further democratic values such as equity, inclusion, and mutual understanding 

• assist people to construct lives they have reason to value.

CPDD's work, combined with that of its predecessor, the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), constitutes over three decades of research and expert intervention in diverse cultural, political, and legal contexts.  The breadth and depth of our projects is a testament to CPDD's unique character as an action-oriented academic center situated within a policy-based public research institution.   Explore our key ares of impact to learn more.

Areas of Impact