Some people talk about change. Others live it — quietly, consistently, and with unwavering integrity.
In this episode of Conversations with Agents of Change, I sat down with Charmain Jones, a woman whose life’s work has been shaped by the realities of growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and whose career has been dedicated to healing communities, empowering women, and building peace from the ground up.
Born in 1976 and raised in a deeply divided town in Portadown, Charmain didn’t learn about conflict from history books — she lived it. Violence, fear, and political tension formed the backdrop of her childhood. Yet, alongside that, there was family, friendship, and resilience. That contradiction — normal life unfolding amid unrest — planted the seeds for what would become more than 26 years of community-based peacebuilding work.
What struck me most is that Charmain never set out to become a peacebuilder. In fact, she initially imagined a future in advertising and marketing. But when a role opened up in her local community centre, something shifted. Without a roadmap, without formal recognition, and without even the language to describe what she was doing, she began working with people — people like herself — navigating division, identity, and survival.
For years, she didn’t claim the title “peacebuilder.” In some communities, it was seen as a dirty word. But over time, as others named her work for what it was, she learned to accept it — and to stand firmly in the values it represents: equality, inclusion, justice, and humanity.
When we talked about what peacebuilding actually looks like in practice, Charmain offered a definition that cuts through theory and jargon:
Peacebuilding, she says, is about relationships. It’s about non-violent conversations. It’s about sitting across from someone who sees the world differently and choosing connection over confrontation. It’s human-to-human work — the kind that rarely makes headlines but quietly changes lives.
Again and again, she returned to one powerful idea: the ripple effect.
“You can’t change the whole world,” she reflected. “But if I can drop a ripple here, and it reaches somewhere else, then I’m doing okay.”
That philosophy underpins her work with rural women — a group she describes as often doubly or even triply marginalised. Through leadership programmes (carefully reimagined to avoid intimidating or exclusionary language), Charmain helps women recognise that leadership doesn’t have to mean standing on a stage. Sometimes, leadership looks like listening. Sometimes, it looks like sharing a story. Sometimes, it looks like trusting someone else to speak on your behalf.
In recent years, her work has evolved again — shaped by the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and a growing awareness of trauma. Returning to postgraduate study in trauma and resilience, Charmain is reframing peacebuilding through a trauma-informed lens, asking not just how do we change systems? but how do we care for the people — including ourselves — doing the work?
One of the most moving moments in our conversation came when she spoke about trust. Women, she shared, regularly say to her: “We trust you with our stories.” That trust is earned — through consistency, humility, and showing up, again and again, at a human level.
As we looked toward the future, Charmain spoke with grounded hope. Not blind optimism — but perspective. Compared to the world she grew up in, today’s Northern Ireland, while imperfect, is profoundly different. Her children have never witnessed what she did. For her, that alone is proof that change is possible.
Charmain doesn’t call herself an Agent of change. She simply calls herself Charmaine. But by any definition that matters, her life’s work embodies exactly what this podcast stands for: courage over apathy, compassion over division, and the belief that one ripple — dropped with care — can travel further than we ever imagine.
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