In the spring of 2026, Peace in Our Cities (PiOC) made a strategic decision to create a new collaboration space in the form of Technical Working Groups (TWG). Existing collaboration efforts include all member meetings (typically bi-annually), peer exchanges (typically limited to just two members per exchange) and webinars, as well as occasional, limited member engagement in non-PiOC planned events. The TWG space is being created in order to offer a smaller number of members extended time to focus on specific areas of joint interest through both in-person and remote gatherings. To ensure that the TWGs are member-oriented, each one will be co-led by two PiOC members, with support from the PiOC Secretariat.
The first TWG focuses on gender and violence and is co-led by the cities of Edmonton, Canada, and Oakland, USA. Edmonton and Oakland have both expressed consistent interest in the topic over years of engagement in PiOC, are doing important and impactful work in their respective jurisdictions, and are keenly interested in both learning from others and sharing their own progress and challenges.
The TWG-GV will be forging new ground and, therefore, some key aspects of structure and planning will be iterative as suits the demand of members and technical guidance of the secretariat.