Peace Dividend Trust

Peace Dividend Trust [http://www.peacedividendtrust.org] (PDT) is a non-profit organization working in international peacekeeping and economic development. PDT is registered in Canada and the United Kingdom, and maintains offices in Ottawa, New York, London, Afganistan, Sierra Leone and East Timor.

Peace Dividend Trust is "dedicated to making peace and humanitarian operations more efficient, effective and equitable, delivering a stronger peace and a larger peace dividend."

History and Projects

The organization's tagline is "Building a Better Peace." This motto intentionally echoes the United Nations' Brahimi Report on peacekeeping, and in its early stages PDT worked primarily with the UN to improve the economic footprint and operational efficiency of peacekeeping missions.

From this partnership with the UN, PDT produced the Economic Impact of Peacekeeping report, the first quantitative, multi-mission assessment of the economic impact of UN peacekeeping activities on local economies. PDT also worked with the UN to create guidance and standard operating procedures for peacekeeping mission managers, as part of its Mission Start Up project.

Today the activities of PDT have greatly expanded into the realm of economic development. The organization's most highly visible and successful project is its Peace Dividend Marketplace [http://www.peacedividendmarketplace.org] project, which began in Afghanistan and has since been replicated in East Timor. The Marketplace projects facilitate local buying and hiring by international actors on-the-ground, to support private sector development and local entrepreneurship.

As part of its Marketplace project in Afghanistan, Peace Dividend Trust maintains an online business directory (yellow pages) of qualified and verified Afghan companies.

The organization is also involved in the Afghanistan Compact, a document signed at the London Conference by over 60 nations and international organizations to promote security, development and governance goals in Afghanistan. PDT conducted a study assessing the real local economic impact of official development assistance, to monitor international compliance with the aid effectiveness component of the Compact.

Donors to PDT have included the United Nations, the World Bank, Canadian, Australian, British and American governments.