3. CONCLUSION
As evident from the lessons in this SOLLIMS Sampler, Peacebuilding can address multiple aspects of
conflict situations including specific issues causing conflict, relationships between stakeholders involved
in the conflict, and the processes and tools used to resolve and transform these conflicts.
Resolving Issues
Whether before, during, or following armed conflict, and even in times of relative national stability,
interests and needs of diverse stakeholders may collide around a wide variety of issues such as governance,
security, economic concerns, basic service provision, development, and natural resources. An important
step in resolving issues is first correctly identifying them. Using a peacebuilding approach, this can best be
accomplished by involving local stakeholders in participatory analysis. Once issues are identified,
they can be addressed with a wide r ange of multi-sectoral initiatives from the grassroots to national and
international levels.
Across four provinces in Afghanistan, local people identified different security concerns than the national
security threats assumed by international organizations. By including these local perspectives in a baseline
survey from Oxfam, it became clear that poverty, unemployment, early marriage, and land disputes were
more pressing local concerns than terrorism. Focusing on the wrong security concerns could have
inadvertently increased local people’s insecurity.
In Zimbabwe, women in the national police force identified patriarchy as the main problem preventing
gender justice for cases of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), especially since policemen steeped
in the patriarchal culture did not take these cases seriously. The policewomen also identified poverty of
security providers (due to high rates of inflation) as an obstacle to an effective police response to the SGBV
issue. As such, they designed tangible poverty reduction and income generation initiatives for policewomen
so that they would be postured with sufficient resources to conduct and sustain operations.
Across the Horn of Africa, diverse young women and men identified community problems and joint ways
to address these issues, determining their own priorities based on what they knew of the local context, not
based on externally imposed agendas. One youth-led organization identified corruption and lack of respect
for rule of law as the problem and thence provided education about constitutional ethics for youth in Kenya.
In Liberia, the government did not initially consult local communities when drawing nature reserve
boundaries in the highly populated Nimba County, even though locals used the forest for cultural traditions
and livelihoods. Conservation efforts were not sustainable until local communities had been consulted and
their concerns were identified and addressed.
Transforming Relationships
In some conflicts, the main problem may not be an ‘issue’ as listed above, but may instead be the way in
which groups of people relate to each other. As such, building sustainable peace may require transforming
relationships on multiple levels, including with one’s self (personal/individual level), with others
(community level), and across multi-level sectors.
Relationship with One’s Self. Self-reflection in peacebuilding is important in order to identify how you
personally affect and are affected by conflict systems. Becoming aware of how past grievances and trauma
have affected you can contribute to halting the cycle of violence, such as for military veterans in the United
States and ex-combatants worldwide. Processing and expressing emotions are part of relating to one’s self
in healthy ways; such affects can be expressed positively through arts-based outlets such as Playback Theater.
Table of Contents | Quick Look | Contact PKSOI
38