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PONSACS combines the quantitative approach of the PANDA (Protocol for the Assessment of Nonviolent Direct Action) Project, an automated early warning system, with the anthropological insights provided by on-the-ground research in conflict regions. These two strands of research work to identify conflict regions before they erupt into violence and to actively promote nonviolent alternatives to armed conflict.

Program research, analysis, and direct interventions focus largely on conflicts between culturally distinct groups in situations of sharp structural asymmetry, with emphasis on disputes over land and natural resources and indigenous rights. Program affiliates are currently involved in research on Colombia, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Guatemala, the Upper Amazon, and Nicaragua, as well as social movements in Africa and Asia.

The many research projects at PONSACS are listed below:

• Columbian Civil Sector Initiative
• Indigenous Land Rights in Nicaragua
• Dialogues on Oil in Fragile Environments
• New Environmental and Social Standards in the Amazon Basin
• Colombia - U'wa Project
• Galapagos Islands Project
• PANDA: A Project to Assess Nonviolent Direct Action

As of July 1, 2005, the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions and Cultural Survival has closed.