The Global Peace Index (GPI) and its Positive Peace Index (PPI) are the leading measures of peacefulness, ranking 163 nations annually. However, the PPI has several drawbacks, including emphasizing negative peace, lack of empirical understanding of positive peace, and a strong probusiness bias. The index is limited to a top-down, national-level approach, which can mask critical differences in community-level peacefulness within nations. To address these deficiencies, the Sustaining Peace Project has been developed, which includes evidence-based factors measuring positive and negative peace, a core theory of sustaining peace, bottom-up and top-down assessments, and collaboration with local researchers from peaceful societies. The project encourages policy makers and researchers to focus on initiatives that promote harmony, social health, and positive reciprocity between groups. By collaborating with peaceful communities, researchers, and policy makers, the project aims to produce better methods and metrics for measuring peace