power in the hands of the people

welcome to the pluri-crisis, the world’s new reality. industrial exploitation has accelerated climate change, fueling wars, displacement, & forced migration.

 
 

weakened institutions & rising authoritarianism—backed by profit-driven oligarchs—have polarized societies, shrunk civic spaces, & left communities increasingly vulnerable.

 

authoritarians, oligarchs, & the military-industrial complex are coordinating with precision, executing a crisis-driven agenda by design.

 
 

frontline communities & Social movements face relentless attacks & shrinking civic spaces with limited resources & infrastructure. Internal conflicts, resource gaps, governance issues, & communication breakdowns fragment efforts.

 
 

forced into reactive responses that address immediate crises over root causes of violence and injustice, frontline communities & people-powered social movements call for visionary leadership, strengthened capacity, & organized efforts

 

If violence, oppression, & injustice are resourced, interconnected, strategic, & organized by design…

 

Then, our people-powered movements for peace & justice must also be resourced, interconnected, strategic, & organized by design to effectively tackle current and future challenges.

 
 
 
 

The Social Movement Cycle is the journey from recognizing the need for change to mobilizing collective action that co-creates shared futures with peace and justice.

 
 

 Moment: When the current situation or status quo is no longer viable, & the people demand change.

How we get there: Those impacted by violence & oppression develop political awareness & a critical understanding of systems & structures that produce violence & unjust conditions. Communities build their foundation for change through education on their rights and creating a shared future.

 

Momentum: The resilience, relationships, & power of organized people responding to the call for action.

How we get there: Frontline communities & social movements have established Organizing infrastructure, clear messaging, and strong leadership that empower communities to mobilize. With a well-trained base, relational organizing, & solidarity across movements, people have the skills & resources to drive impactful action.

 

Movement: Collective action that shifts policy, narrative, culture, & behavior.

How we get there: Frontline communities & people-powered social movements co-design, plan, & execute collective action fueled by campaigns that address the root causes of violence & injustice while building flourishing shared futures that bring peace & justice. 

 
 
 

How we work

 
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Three nodes of impact

 
 

we center people-powered social movements and frontline communities pushing the margins and mobilizing collective action for shared futures that build peace and do justice at every stage of the social movement cycle.

We believe in shifting power to share it, with true power found at our intersections. Through our three nodes of impact —activate, organize, and amplify—we create dynamic spaces that meet the needs of frontline communities throughout the three stages of the social movement cycle that produce radical collaboration, co-learning, and narrative shifts that fuel creative and impactful collective action. The activate node meets the moment and sparks inspiration and radical collaboration, the organize node energizes and strengthens momentum to build capacity and critical infrastructure, and the amplify node propels movements with tools to create and spread messages and impact to profoundly shift power through storytelling, narrative, and communications.

 
 

activate.

  • an open digital forum for participatory action research. the hive fosters co-learning, connection, & joy while exploring innovative solutions with social movements to build shared build peace & justice.

  • experience fresh perspectives & innovative solutions through multi-day or weeklong immersive peace design labs & retreats in inspiring places. learn, do & share through experiential learning, resilience-building-embodied practice, & collaborative co-design.

  • peace activations harness the power of arts & culture to co-design and implement creative, nonviolent collective actions with global campaigns through impactful cultural interventions at conferences, festivals, marches, protests, & public spaces.

 
 
 
 

organize.

 

  • the constellations platform builds resilience with critical infrastructure & comprehensive support for social movements throughout their cycle. built on cutting-edge technology, the platform powers up the movement's capacity to plan, organize, & amplify their efforts so movements can best tackle our world's greatest challenges.

  • The Constellations Incubator supports movements ready to launch a campaign or collective action through a 6-18 month process with our team with deep engagement, support, comprehensive campaign co-design, training, mentorship, and coaching.

  • Peace Design fab labs are hands-on co-design spaces for the creative process of movement messaging and branding development. Here, we support movements as they imagine, design, and create small-batch prototypes of movement “swag” from logos to messaging, music, and video.

 
 

amplify.

 
 
 
 

  • participatory media shifts the power of narrative to frontline social movements and communities by training them to plan, produce, & showcase their own stories through audio, graphic facilitation, video, and photography. We use multimedia tools and participatory processes to spark dialogue, advocate for causes, and share impact, focusing on creating deep democracy spaces for peacebuilding and social justice issues like gender justice, indigenous rights, and climate change, while fostering knowledge, connections, and resilience.

  • our dynamic, participatory training programs in storytelling, narrative change, & strategic communications build narrative power that supports movements in crafting powerful narratives, creating targeted messaging, & mobilizing popular support for lasting impact. through our curriculum, participants gain the skills to amplify their voices, counter disinformation, & foster cultural shifts toward peace & justice.

  • when an emerging crisis or conflict arises, activate labs initiates a "flash call" to quickly gather local movement leaders, peacebuilders, policymakers, & researchers for real-time analysis & collaborative response. this rapid-response session allows local social movements & allies to co-design a narrative & communications approach tailored to the crisis. following the flash call, an accessible, strategic narrative & communications plan in multiple languages is co-created and distributed to social movements, funders, & NGOs to amplify collective efforts for peace & justice.

  • the hornet's nest: a podcast that brings to life the stories of bold individuals who, by causing "good trouble," have stirred up the hornet's nest. these are powerful accounts of people who transformed fear into fuel for action, driven by a deep sense of righteous indignation and the pursuit of justice.

  • beautiful resistance creates live and digital spaces where art becomes a powerful tool for resilience & resistance, amplifying peace & justice. we elevate frontline voices & inspire collective action through murals, multimedia, & digital art. visit our digital shop or join an online or in-person workshop to co-create arts-based initiatives for social change.

 
 
 

The team

 
 
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Washington D.c,, USA

Monica is a movement peacebuilder, cultural organizer, and seasoned trainer/facilitator for frontline peacebuilding and social justice movements. As an artist, designer, and peacebuilding innovator, Monica's work lies at the intersections of peacebuilding, art, participatory media, people-powered movements, technology, storytelling, and participant-centered co-design. Monica is the founder and director of Activate Labs, a global NGO founded in 2017, whose vision is "power in the hands of the people." Together with communities, peacebuilders, movement leaders, and co-designers, Monica developed the Peace Design™ process. The Activate Labs team facilitated dozens of Peace Design™ workshops with hundreds of participants from frontline communities and movements from over 20 countries and in 10 languages. Monica’s leadership experience includes roles as the Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Democracy and Government, Interim Director of Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace, Director of the +Peace global coalition, and co-organizing more than 100 campaigns in more than 15 countries over the past two decades. Monica holds two graduate degrees from Brandies University Heller School of Management and Policy in Conflict and Coexistence and Sustainable International Development.  Monica is fluent in Spanish, English, and Romanian.

Washington D.c,, USA

For over 15 years, Thor has led participatory media projects for social movements and frontline communities where he combines a relaxed and welcoming facilitation style with his expertise in photography, videography, editing, and post production. Thor has worked with youth, indigenous communities, women’s groups and social movements to co-create participatory media projects across North and South Mexico, Africa, and the Americas. he is driven by a passion to build power and strengthen the resilience of rural, urban, and indigenous communities so they can tell their own stories and shape their own futures.

With a B.Sc. in Biology, Thor has dedicated his career to advancing media initiatives that promote self-determination and peace. he has pioneered participatory design methodologies that integrate media, social movement building and peacebuilding, supporting them to discover transformative, non-violent solutions through participatory media.

As a professional photographer and videographer, Thor has created content for prominent clients, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). He is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

La paz, Bolivia

Alan is a oxford trained lawyer focused on digital advocacy, policy analysis and research. with over a decade of experience, Alan’s research interests include the intersections of gender justice, climate justice, and indigenous paradigms. specializing in leveraging digital tools for social movement campaigns, data visualization, and website development.

Alan has championed human rights through policy initiatives, developed accessible digital research tools, coordinated trans-local coalitions and frontline social movements in the global south. Alan is fluent in Spanish and English.

la paz, Bolivia

Marianne is an experienced trainer, dialogue facilitator, and peacebuilder with a passion for making peace accessible and engaging. She founded Peace is Sexy, an initiative that explores stories of peacebuilding, which later inspired the creation of a Peace Superheroes video game.

Marianne has designed and facilitated training for dozens of peacebuilding movements and organizations in areas such as communications for social impact, conflict analysis, and dialogue facilitation. With professional and personal experience spanning the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Western Europe, and the US, she brings a global perspective to her work. Her international outlook enables her to approach communications, decision-making, and strategic programming with a deep understanding of diverse cultural contexts. Marianne is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish

Amman, Jordan and British Columbia, Canada

Aseel is a peacebuilding practitioner with a decade of experience in instructional design, curriculum development, and movement training across diverse cross-cutting themes. Her expertise includes arts-based peacebuilding, countering and preventing violent extremism (CVE/PVE), trauma and resilience in social movements, Social Emotional Learning (SEL), social inclusion and cohesion, as well as child protection and safeguarding. Currently, Aseel is focused on exploring environmental justice and the concept of slow violence in the context of Palestine-Israel.

She holds a Master’s degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s degree in Sustainability Studies from Trent University. Aseel is fluent in arabic and english

Mexico city, Mexico

Emma Dulski is an emerging relational organizer, artist, and seasoned “Graphic Recorder” leveraging deep listening and and community building with diverse groups, social movements, and communities. Emma has led projects curriculum development collective action, and media production. her experience includes working with Swarthmore College, where she developed environmental justice curricula and produced “Prison Radio,” amplifying the voices of incarcerated individuals through podcasts and visual storytelling. Emma’s work has supported a variety of social movements and collective action for peacebuilding, peacebuilding, justice, and a variety of social change issues. Emma is fluent in english and spanish

Eva Armour has spent the past 20 years building movements for peace and justice. She has dedicated her life to working with communities in conflict to envision and work towards a more just and peaceful reality.

She has created every job she has ever held, each born from seeing and being willing to meet a pressing need.

Eva currently serves as the chief impact officer with Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit working at the intersection of leadership development and conflict transformation with communities in the Middle East.

Eva believes deeply in non-hierarchical structures, collective liberation, and community-building as the foundation for social justice organizing. She gets the chance to actively practice that by organizing for prison abolition through her involvement in Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) in Boston.

She has been published in The Christian Science Monitor, featured in Le Figaro and a best-selling book featuring rising social entrepreneurs, and served on the Board of Directors of Empathy for Peace and the podcast This American Teenage Life. She lives in Cambridge, MA, and finds herself at home in London, Israel/Palestine, and New York City. She lives for her two children, Annie and Amos; writers like June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Arundhati Roy, and Shailja Patel, who expand and evolve her imagination for a better world; and the pursuit of all things hygge.

Johanna Mustafa is a Palestinian racial justice community organizer and movement builder. She led grassroots organizing efforts as the Advocacy Specialist for the Campaign to Take on Hate of ACCESS in Anaheim, California. Her work was centered around the Muslim Ban, racial profiling, and hate crimes against the Arab and Muslim communities in Southern California. Before joining ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), she participated in the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) Transformative Leaders Fellowship with the Arab American Civic Council (AACC) were she led civic engagement programs in the Greatest Los Angeles area. She also served as a Field Organizer with the Arab American Institute (AAI), where she spearheaded the Yalla Vote initiative in California and mobilized Arab voters in the 2018 election cycle. She continues to work towards advancing marginalized communities through community organizing, advocacy, public policy, and leadership development. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Arab American Civic Council. She is also a steering committee member with Transforming Justice Orange County, a local organizing group addressing conditions of injustice and harm through the criminal punishment system and prison industrial complex, locally and broadly. Johanna received her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Law and Society from the University of Southern California in 2016.

Robert "Roman" Haferd is a restorative justice practitioner, civil rights lawyer, organizer, and cultural innovator. He has supported and built movements, often in the background, as he has focused on advocating and building capacity with marginalized families.

He co-founded and is co-owner of the Roots to Sky Sanctuary and Healing Center in Thomas, Maryland, a BIPOC-founded and led 125-acre regenerative farm and sanctuary. A place for gathering decades of collective expertise in education, humanities, health and wellness, entrepreneurship, outdoor leadership, activism, food justice, restorative justice, and healing arts programming to create a multi-use property serving local counties and our existing communities from metropolitan areas.

Previously, Roman served as the Restorative Justice Coordinator for the District of Columbia's Attorney General, where he helped create a first-of-its-kind restorative justice program inside Washington D.C.’s justice department.  In this role, he is the team’s primary point of contact with system stakeholders. He speaks regularly on restorative justice while facilitating a full caseload of restorative justice conferences referred by local prosecutors and other community partners in the District.

Mr. Haferd is a native of Akron, Ohio, with roots and relatives in the farming trade across the mid-Ohio region.  He spends as much time as possible enjoying nature and making moves to good music.