It is possible, however, to distinguish between systems where there is less, or more, coherence, and coherence is thus about degree during a process, not about an end-state. The degree to which a specific peacebuilding system can be assessed to be more, or less, coherent will be a factor of all four elements of coherence. The lack of coherence among field activities in the humanitarian relief, development, political and security spheres have been well documented in a number of evaluation reports and studies,14 and is acknowledged in a number of recent UN reports.15 The need for, and benefits of, improved coherence are widely accepted today in the international multilateral governance context. The article is focused on two areas where the lack of coherence provides the most promise for improving peacebuilding coherence.
It is impossible to achieve coherence if the framework, with which individual agents have to be coherent, has not been developed and shared with all the agents in the system. Instead, this paper will focus-in on two areas where the lack of coherence has had the most damaging effect on achieving sustainability, and which; correspondingly, hold the most promise for improving peacebuilding coherence, once addressed. If the peace process fails and the conflict resumes, the time and resources invested have been wasted. Whilst there should be coordination between the humanitarian and the peace and security dimensions of a peacebuilding system, the level and intensity of this link do not have to be of the same quality as that of the link between the other dimensions of the system.
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They are overwhelmed by the pressure to engage with all the assessments, proposals and plans generated by the sudden influx of external actors, and they are frustrated that despite all this activity there is typically little to show, in terms of immediate delivery, for their time and casino1 effort. The principle that peacebuilding systems should be locally owned and led is well established in the policy realm. As a result, the Peacebuilding Commission’s integrated peacebuilding strategies are designed around the demands of the consolidation phase of peacebuilding systems.
In the post-Cold War era, the focus of international conflict management has increasingly shifted from peacekeeping, which was about maintaining the status quo, to peacebuilding, which has to do with managing change (Eide 2004). Despite a growing awareness that the security, development, political, human rights, humanitarian and rule of law dimensions of peacebuilding systems are interlinked, the agencies3 that implement programmes in these dimensions are finding it extremely difficult to meaningfully integrate them. In An Agenda for Peace, Boutros-Ghali defi ned peacebuilding as the medium- to long-term process of rebuilding war-affected communities through identifying and supporting structures to consolidate peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. Building on this baseline, a common vision and strategic objectives guide the development of urban recovery plans from the national to the household level.
The Need for a Clearly Articulated Overall Peacebuilding Strategy
The objective of the project implemented in Yemen was to restore access to critical urban services in selected cities while the conflict was ongoing and lay the foundation for long-term reconstruction in the future. It embodies an analysis of the complex challenges involved in aligning international norms and values to local expectations and local priorities, and examines the role of local and global actors and structures in attempts to build a strong state and lasting peace. This volume by international authors deals with the role of gender dynamics in the development of post-conflict societies. The desire to improve the current poor record of sustainability and success in the field on peacebuilding is, however, an important and meaningful incentive, around which the international community in general, and African institutions such as the African Union in particular, can generate the necessary political will, both domestically and internationally. It would thus require considerable political will and focused attention to adjust, but the paper argues that without meaningfully addressing this shortcoming peacebuilding systems will continue to suffer from poor rates of sustainability and success. The paper argued that it is impossible to achieve coherence if the framework, with which individual agents have to be coherent, is missing.
The pressure to rapidly respond, achieve planned outputs and to disburse funds within fixed time-frames (donor budget cycles) often result in external actors compromising on the time and resources needed to invest in identifying credible internal counterparts, generate consultative processes and develop meaningful local ownership. https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=121162 The internal peacebuilding agents report that they typically feel intimidated by the momentum, scope and depth of the external intervention. The internal actors also typically lack the time, resources, technical expertise and support systems to engage meaningfully with the external actors. However, this is easier said than done and external actors have reported that they have encountered a number of obstacles when trying to implement policies that encourage local ownership, especially in the fragile state and post-conflict contexts.
By linking this exploration with democracy promotion, the discussion elaborates how contemporary post-conflict reconstruction is used as a means for the promotion of democratisation efforts in war-torn societies. The data was not only able to support the mapping and evaluation of damaged infrastructure but also gave insights into current conflict dynamics by showing the establishment of frontlines. Remote sensing-based methods were employed to assess damages, and reconstruction and recovery needs in Syria. It provided an overview of the URF that supports resilient urban recovery at scale, and the renewal of the social contract. The specific case of Tyre was showcased as an example of how the revitalization of historic assets can be leveraged to provide larger societal benefits, fully exploring the potential of cultural heritage as a force for social inclusion and cohesion, and economic development in local communities.
Collaborative post-conflict urban planning tools can ensure that reconstruction efforts are people-centered and accessible to all. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, war and conflict studies, development studies, African politics, and IR/security studies. Local and Global Dynamics of Peacebuilding examines the complex contributing factors which led to war and state collapse in Sierra Leone, and the international peacebuilding and statebuilding operations which followed the cessation of the violence. Post-conflict peacebuilding activities are typically planned at the outset, as intense short- to medium-term interventions and the bulk of the money theoretically available for these activities are made available in the early phases of the transition. The most effective counterweight to this structural imbalance is the recognition that peace processes can only be sustainable when owned and led by internal actors.
It should be grounded in a shared long-term vision of the future path the country or conflict system wishes to realise, and it should contain a clearly articulated multi-dimensional and integrated strategy for the short to medium future direction of the peace process. Without it the various peacebuilding agents have no benchmark against which they can judge the degree to which they are coherent with the overall peacebuilding strategy. As the Utstein and other recent studies cited26 have pointed out, however, the lack of a clearly articulated overall strategy is, in fact, a critical shortcoming in most past and contemporary peacebuilding systems. It is thus in the best interest (rational choice) of each individual peacebuilding agent to ensure that the activities it undertakes are coherent with the overall peacebuilding strategy, because doing so will greatly increase the likelihood that the overall peacebuilding goal will be achieved, and thus, that the individual activity would be successful. Each agency independently undertakes activities that address specific facets of the conflict spectrum, but a collective (combined) and cumulative (sustained over time) effect is needed to achieve the overall peacebuilding goal.
- Implementation planning is best done by those agents that have the responsibility for allocating their resources, and although such plans should be coordinated with partners, shared within sector and cluster coordination processes, and aligned with overall strategy, it would be impossibly complex to design one overall system-wide operational and tactical implementation plan.
- Post-conflict peacebuilding activities are typically planned at the outset, as intense short- to medium-term interventions and the bulk of the money theoretically available for these activities are made available in the early phases of the transition.
- Barnes reports, in the context of her experiences in Mozambique, that the meaning of coordination often varied depending on which of the stakeholders employed it at a given moment, and that the various stakeholders competed to place their agencies at the forefront of the process to enhance their own legitimacy and subsequent fundraising capacities (Barnes 1998).
- The PRS process was, however, developed in the development context and thus tends to focus on macroeconomic and financial issues.
- The paper argued that the inability of the external actors to give meaning to their stated policies and principles of alignment is one of the most significant shortcomings in the context of peacebuilding coherence.
The first defined and analysed peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction systems in the context of the coherence and coordination deficit. The degree to which such a strategic planning system is currently absent goes a long way to explaining the lack of coherence evident in past and present peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction systems. The first prerequisite for coherence in any peacebuilding or post-conflict reconstruction system is the development of an overall strategic framework. In order to pursue coherence in a given peacebuilding or post-conflict reconstruction system, agents would have to pursue all four elements of coherence, using all the tools of coordination (developing strategies, determining objectives, planning, sharing information, dividing of roles and responsibilities, and mobilising resources).