A Pathway to Peace: The Science of Early Childhood Peace Building
New epigenetic research reveals how trauma passes through generations—and how early childhood programs can break the cycle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For generations, we've watched cycles of violence repeat without understanding why. Now epigenetic science reveals a crucial piece: violence marks the genome, passing from grandmother to granddaughter with altered gene expression. While this isn't the complete answer, it gives us something we've never had before—a biological understanding that trauma can be handed down between generations epigenetically.
We also have research that shows a pathway to peace that scales. Early childhood development programs have proven they can build social cohesion at national scale. As violations against children surge 25% in 2024, this knowledge becomes urgent: we have evidence-based programs and a clear pathway to peace that begins in the earliest years of life.
Though we don't yet know if ECD programs reverse epigenetic trauma markers, we do know they build resilience, reduce violence, and create the conditions for lasting peace—making them amongst our most evidence-based tools for breaking intergenerational cycles of conflict.
A Quarter Century of Success in Ireland
For over 25 years the Irish and British Governments and the European Union have invested in effective post-conflict, early years development programs to support children and their families across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. These evidence-based programs worked remarkably well, building a pathway from divided communities to lasting peace.
Global Evidence from the LINKS Project
Ireland's success reflects a global pattern documented by the LINKS Project:
- Kyrgyzstan: Uses animated early childhood content to teach respect for diversity while training teachers and engaging parents in community dialogues.
- Mali: The Mama Yeleen program brings together volunteer mothers from different ethnic backgrounds, using early childhood care as a bridge across ethnic divides.
- Lebanon: In the context of Lebanon's polycrisis, group-based early childhood parenting education programs have the potential to reduce parents' stress and harsh parenting.
- Türkiye: The Mother-Child Education Program developed by AÇEV - Mother Child Education Foundation has been tested in a number of countries (e.g., Brazil, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia) using the highest scientific standards.
Each context is unique, but the core insight remains: early childhood development provides a pathway to peace. Now longitudinal research illuminates what Ireland intuited through experience—that trauma passes through families, and that nurturing care provides a path to peace that works at scale.
High-Level Event at UNGA 80
The Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC)—a global network uniting UN agencies, NGOs, researchers, and practitioners—will demonstrate how science and practice together can break cycles of trauma across entire populations.
The event will launch ECPC's Five-Year Strategic Plan, showing how evidence-based programs have reached millions of children across multiple countries and how consortiums can bridge the gap between groundbreaking research and scalable, on-the-ground implementation.
About the Early Childhood Peace Consortium
The Early Childhood Peace Consortium is a global consortium of civil society, non-governmental organizations, researchers, practitioners, private sector, and United Nations agencies working to build peaceful societies through early childhood development.
For Press Inquiries
Leading researchers and practitioners will be available for interviews following the event. We are reaching out to select journalists who cover international relations, science, child development, conflict resolution, and global health to provide in-depth briefings on the epigenetic research and proven programs operating at scale.
Contact: secretariat@ecdpeace.org
Venue
885 2nd Ave, 21st Floor
New York, NY 10017
United States