“Working at Inclusive Peace has given me the opportunity to be part of a team determined to undertake peacemaking and peacebuilding differently” – Alex Shoebridge.

As the Head of Peace Process Support within Inclusive Peace, Alex Shoebridge is an old hand at this. Inclusive Peace’s “think and do” tank, which adapts the comparative research to provide tailored advice and accompaniment to partners in a way which supports and reinforces their own initiatives, strategies, and ideas, was what appealed most to Alex. He saw the work as a refreshing change from what he had done previously, and is enthusiastic to lead the Peace Process Support Team team and organisation.

Over the past year, Alex has been building the Peace Process Support team and helping to shape the broader organisation. “We are a small but rapidly developing and growing space within the peacebuilding and peacemaking arena, which has yet to reach its full potential in doing things differently”. According to him, building the team is a continuous process and a very exciting prospect. “One of my key roles is figuring out how to optimally organise the team from language to expertise needs, it’s bringing that together in a group of people that share the same spirit regarding our approach and the value of our work.”

For Alex, the light bulb moments that take place when engaging with partners bring energy: “where there is a resonance between the ideas and options we put on the table and how they see it taking shape to advance their own thinking and engagements. Over time, this approach makes engagement more robust, sustained and meaningful”.

A self-proclaimed sports fan, Alex sees his role as looking and guiding a diverse talent where the skills complement each other’s work and the projects. “You can’t have all goalkeepers in a team, you need to have midfielders and other positions,” he adds jokingly.

His team learns from each other and where appropriate applies the lessons shared to their own engagements. Cross-learning and sharing is critical for our approach, and even more important to be very deliberate about in a remote workplace. He sees a lot of potential in the connections of projects by growing and shaping the work as a team rather than working in isolation on individual projects.

Alex Shoebridge’s bio.