About Us

Photo from left to right:
Diana Francis, Ruth Baker, John Lampen, Anne Bennett, Sally Markwell, Ruth Baker, Penny Robbins, Alan Pleydell 

Who We Are

Post Yugoslav Peace Link (PYPL) is a registered informal group within Britain Yearly Meeting. Most of its members are Friends. PYPL consists of a core Action Group of 12 individuals, who meet regularly in Oxford to co-ordinate this work. We also have a much wider network of Friends and non-Quakers who have expressed an interest in our work, some of whom have worked in the region and others who have close friends and family living there. 

Our practical emphasis is to maintain living links and mutual support with community peace builders in the western Balkans, uniting with 'quiet processes and small circles in which vital and transforming events take place' (24:56 Quaker Faith & Practice).

Our History

 The ​Post Yugoslav Peace Link (PYPL) arose from the Gathering of peace activists in UMAG, Croatia (2009). We are an informal group of British Quakers who had close contact with the work of QPSW in the Former Yugoslav region between 1991 and 2009. PYPL has taken up the Umag Gathering's request to write up the history of the work and describe the challenges and learning involved in developing a new programme in post-conflict societies. This history has now been captured in our recent publication To Trust A Spark.