The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced the five-year Peace project worth K97, 817, 200.00 ($26 million). This project is intended to prevent conflict, promote stability and address gender-based violence in both Hela and Morobe province. The Peace project is the largest initiative to date under the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability (SPCPS), a ten-year United States commitment to partner with PNG to mitigate emerging threats to peace and take advantage of opportunities to promote stability. United States ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Ann Marie Yastishock, explained that the United States is committed to empowering communities and marginalized populations to promote peace, stability, and economic prosperity. “The locally led Peace project will help communities prevent and resolve conflicts through non-violent means, advance gender equality, elevate female peacebuilders, and respond to gender-based violence.” The PEACE Project was designed through an exhaustive two-year process that included consultations with dozens of stakeholders including local government, communities, the private sector, donor partners and civil society. A conflict-focused gender analysis was also conducted to inform USAID in the design of the project and to guide future U.S. programs in PNG. In addition, the project is a response to regularly occurring violence, extreme inequality, and other complex factors that threaten peace, stability, and economic prosperity. These factors include gender-based violence, tribal conflicts in the Highlands region, violence in urban areas and increasing levels of Sorcery Accusation-Related Violence (SARV). The PEACE Project aligns with PNG’s national strategies to address underlying drivers of fragility and promote sustainable development to advance democracy, human rights, and stability. The PEACE Project will be implemented by a consortium led by Q2 Impact and including the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Conciliation Resource, and People’s Action for Rural Development, a Papua New Guinean civil society organization.