Who we are
PeaceGeeks is committed to a world where everyone can feel they belong.
Founded in 2011, PeaceGeeks has grown from a grassroots volunteer group into a nonprofit leader in building technology for peace.
In the face of this crisis, we confront an urgency not only to strengthen our communities, but find ways amidst social isolation to leverage technology to amplify connection, justice, and peace.

Over the course of 2020, we’ve seen numerous examples of technology being harnessed for good. Where polarized narratives have sought to scapegoat minority communities, digital campaigns have emerged to condemn racism, educate one another about intersectional inequality, and build commitments to transform systems that perpetuate racial injustice.As we enter 2021, humanity’s sense of “peace” has taken on the urgent implications of a global pandemic. COVID-19’s myriad impacts to individual health, community well-being, local and transnational economies have been felt across the planet, amplifying pre-existing structural violence that disproportionately affects communities across racial, socio-economic status and gender lines.

PeaceGeeks knows that for digital innovation to be effective, there is a need for tech that centres community-led practices, and honours the lived experiences of displaced communities.

This also means identifying and repudiating "innovation" that reproduces racism and oppression.

PeaceGeeks is committed to a world where everyone can feel they belong.

By aligning our tech savvy with the expertise of our partners and those who have been forcibly displaced, we work side-by-side to build digital tools to support every phase of their journey, building more peaceful societies, together.
Our Vision
PeaceGeeks envisions a world where those who are displaced are not lost
Our Mission
We create digital tools to support greater connection, peace and safety for those who have been displaced
Why this work is needed
Every 2.5 seconds someone is forced to flee their home to escape conflict or persecution. Globally, 70.8million people are displaced as of January 2021. Meeting the world's growing needs requires amplifying what we know works, and identifying where technology may be able to help resource-intensive systems be more efficient and effective.

We're also seeing how technology is changing the face of conflict and crisis. Technology and digital tools are being employed in novel and critical ways to protect peace builders, defend human rights, counter misinformation, and transform divisive discourse to narratives for peace.
Our values
Build peace
Addressing the complex challenges of violence, displacement, and division in order to build more peaceful societies is not simple or easy. It requires creativity, tenacity, boldness, and humility. It involves redistributing power, building trust, and working with diverse stakeholders to co-create our shared future.
Our values
Centre hope
Focusing on violence and crisis can obscure the aspirations and agency that drive migration journeys. PeaceGeeks is committed to centering hope and human potential — working with those who have been displaced, not as victims in need of help, but as experts and engineers of their present and future.
Our values
Collaborate
Through mutually beneficial and respect-driven partnerships, we co-create solutions with the insights and expertise of newcomers, researchers, frontline organizations, policymakers, and other tech partners to deeply understand the needs and concerns of newcomers and how to address them.
an expressive oil painting of  humans studying in a classroom
Our values
Learn
We commit to agile processes that require  learning from our partners and communities, as well as from our own  successes and mistakes. We also commit to sharing what we learn with policymakers and the public to foster positive change that impacts refugee and immigrant journeys.Centre hopeFocusing on violence and crisis can obscure the aspirations and agency that drive migration journeys. PeaceGeeks is committed to centering hope and human potential — working with those who have been displaced, not as victims in need of help, but as experts and engineers of their
An expressive oil painting of a mother hugging and protecting her child against harm
Our values
Protect against harm
Tech and data can create harm by unintentional carelessness. Rapid innovations, experimentation and “failing” can have far reaching implications when applied to the contexts and lives impacted by displacement. In PeaceGeeks’ development of digital tools to promote more peaceful societies, we will prioritize user security, organizational transparency, and an exacting ethical standard to protect those we serve from foreseen harms.
Interview With Jen Freeman
Our CEO
PeaceGeeks is 10! How has it grown over the last decade?

A decade ago, we were a group of volunteer technologists unsatisfied with the status quo. From building websites for peacebuilding organizations who lacked the resources to have an online presence, to digitalizing humanitarian systems so they could be more efficient and effective, our team was motivated by a vision of utilizing technology for good. Ten years later, I’m proud that we have retained our curiosity, creativity and commitment to transform systems. But we have also grown into a more mature organization – our team, our professionalization and focus on our strategic goals means we’re being more bold in considering what “good” means for newcomers and leading  transformations at scale.

2021 was a significant year for PeaceGeeks, with several long-term projects entering new phases. How did that feel?

Watching projects we had conceived of, designed, and grown enter new phases is exciting. When we tackle large, systemic problems, organizations can feel like they’re chipping away at a mountain, and inadvertently get stuck in path dependency. 2021 saw a number of important developments for our team.

In Jordan, we concluded our 3-year Meshkat project, and based on its success, received new funding to test its methodology on a new problem space, and expand our digital content creation work with young Jordanians. Two of PeaceGeeks’ flagship products scaled to new locations. Services Advisor launched in Malaysia and Arrival Advisor expanded from B.C. to Manitoba, expanding users’ ability to more easily find resources and information, in their first language, to tens of thousands of people in each new location. These demand-driven opportunities validate our ability to scale, and the value we continue to create for people who have been displaced, and newcomers to Canada.

What has been your biggest impact on the nonprofit and technology sectors?

Quantitatively, we are seeing increasing numbers of downloads of Arrival Advisor, and the impressive engagement metrics of youth-created content in Jordan. But that doesn’t adequately measure our impact. How can we transform migration journeys to promote greater dignity? To do so, we need to radically improve the systems that shape people’s experiences.

In November 2021, PeaceGeeks was on stage at the GlobalExpo in Dubai, receiving the UN Intercultural Innovation Award for Arrival Advisor. When asked about technology’s ability to facilitate migration journeys, I shared a core principle: all tech is human. I feel like this is the key to the impact we are making in both the nonprofit and technology sectors: design and fund the integration of technology in settlement – but not for technology’s sake. Change needs to be driven by the humans that are carrying cell phones in their pockets, as they board a plane from India, Afghanistan, or Congo. How can we reach them there, through the tool they’re relying on - their mobile phones - to gain the knowledge and confidence that will set them up for success the moment they arrive?

In our work with Global Affairs Canada, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, we see these institutions now recognizing that to be effective, let alone innovate or build for the future, funding models and service infrastructure need to ensure people are served according to their needs, priorities, abilities, and circumstances. Technology is no longer an add-on; it is central to our communications, our work, our education, our commerce, our societies. It is a very exciting time to be involved with such a formative systems-shift.