The idea driving the "Peace Begins with Me" campaign, as highlighted on the micro-site of the same name (peacebeginswithme.un.org), is rooted in recognizing and honoring the service and sacrifice of United Nations peacekeepers over the past 76 years. The initiative aims to build global awareness of the vital role peacekeepers have played in helping communities recover from catastrophic conflicts and in maintaining peace and security. At the same time, it emphasizes that the responsibility for peace extends beyond peacekeepers—it starts with each of us.
The "Peace Begins with Me" campaign is presented through a sleek, modern, and interactive micro-site designed to engage new audiences, particularly those who may not be familiar with the work of UN peacekeepers or global peacebuilding efforts. The idea driving the campaign is to raise awareness about the service and sacrifice of peacekeepers while emphasizing that peace is a responsibility shared by all individuals.
Specific goals of the website include: honoring peacekeepers, interactive storytelling, raising awareness, and fostering global engagement. The website is tailored to present this message in an accessible, visually compelling way that resonates with diverse, global users.
Through the modern, interactive design, the "Peace Begins with Me" micro-site aims to reach new audiences and help them connect with the critical mission of UN peacekeeping in an impactful and accessible way.
To bring the "Peace Begins with Me" micro-site to life, we partnered with Elkanodata, a design firm with expertise in UN projects, to create an engaging, interactive website to communicate the campaign’s core message: peace is a shared responsibility. The website aimed to honor the sacrifice of UN peacekeepers while emphasizing that each individual can contribute to global peace. Our plan of action involved a blend of compelling storytelling, cutting-edge design, and user-friendly interactivity to reach a broad audience, especially those unfamiliar with peacekeeping.
We began by defining the key objectives: to recognize the service and sacrifices of peacekeepers, raise awareness about global peace efforts, and encourage personal responsibility for peace. These goals guided both the content creation and design strategy. Elkanodata played a critical role in translating this vision into a digital experience that was visually modern, interactive, and easy to navigate.
The website was designed to go beyond static content by incorporating multimedia storytelling, data visualizations, and interactive elements to make the topic of peacekeeping more relatable and inspiring for all audiences. Key features such as interactive timelines, videos, explainers, and human interest stories helped users engage deeply with the content, making the work of UN peacekeepers tangible and impactful.
The content focused on the personal stories and global impact of peacekeepers, while digital tools encouraged user participation and action, reinforcing the campaign’s message that "peace begins with me."
Digital tools, such as a peace pledge feature and social media integration, invited users to participate in the global movement by sharing their peacebuilding efforts and fostering collective action. Turning complex statistics into easy-to-understand infographics allowed users to better comprehend the scale and importance of UN peacekeeping efforts.
A significant challenge was making the often technical and serious topic of peacekeeping accessible to unfamiliar audiences. We addressed this by integrating visually appealing design elements and interactive features that allowed users to engage with the content at their own pace.
By balancing depth and engagement, we ensured the website contained enough depth to honor the history and complexity of UN peacekeeping while maintaining user engagement required a modular design, allowing users to explore topics more deeply while keeping the overall experience streamlined.
What makes this micro-site unique is the fusion of modern web design and a humanitarian message. The interactive website doesn’t just inform—it invites users to actively participate in a global peace movement, inspiring individual action. Through this combination of design and mission, the campaign reaches a diverse, global audience and makes the cause of peacebuilding both personal and accessible to all.
The campaign achieved its goal of honoring the service and sacrifices of UN peacekeepers by creating a digital space that highlighted their bravery and dedication. This digital memorial ensured that the legacy of over 4,200 fallen peacekeepers and millions of others who served would be remembered and respected.
The campaign's central message—that "peace begins with me"—was conveyed through various interactive features of the micro-site that encouraged personal reflection and action. The website’s peace pledge tool, calls to action, and resources empowered individuals to take responsibility for fostering peace in their own lives and communities. These features helped bridge the gap between global peace efforts and individual contributions, making the campaign’s message more personal and relatable.
By leveraging modern design and interactive elements, the micro-site was able to reach a broad, global audience and convey the important message that peace is a shared responsibility. The deep engagement of users and the personal and emotional connection fostered through storytelling helped turn awareness into action. Additionally, the digital memorial to peacekeepers and the global call to action successfully bridged the gap between institutional peacekeeping and personal responsibility, inspiring real-world impact.
The impact of the campaign was also measurable through UN Peacekeeping followership on social media where the site was promoted. UN Peacekeeping added a total of 440K new followers to its digital channels which increased by 42% in 2023 reaching 1.5 million followers in early 2024.
