Building peace

Peacebuilding

Protracted armed conflict can lead to a vicious spiral in which violence becomes the norm. Even when violent conflict has ended, it can easily flare up again. On average, 40% of conflicts which have ended restart within ten years. Recurrent violent conflict, in central Africa or Haiti for example, shows that where underlying causes are not tackled, conflict will persist and potentially turn violent.

Peacebuilding means actions and policies aimed at preventing the outbreak, the recurrence or continuation of armed conflict. Peacebuilding includes a wide range of political, developmental, humanitarian and human rights programmes, both short and long term.

Peacebuilding policies aim to address the needs of societies at risk of sliding into conflict or of those emerging from it. They include setting up and supporting political and social and cultural institutions capable of tackling the root causes of conflicts.

Long-term, sustainable peace depends on a number of factors: an inclusive political settlement across all groups and sections of a country; a government which is representative of the population, which can provide security and justice for all, regardless of their status, ethnicity or religion, and which can ensure that the basic needs of all the population, for a decent living, healthcare and education, are met.

DFID works directly with conflict-affected countries, often through joint programmes with other UK Government Departments. We also support multilateral and regional organisations and non government organisations (NGOs) in our efforts to help prevent conflict and build peace.

Multilateral support

The United Nations is a key actor in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. It is the only international organisation which has the legitimacy, the range of tools and the presence on the ground to coordinate the international community. A more effective UN is essential to address the wider leadership and strategy gap and donor fragmentation in fragile and conflict-affected states.

DFID is working with other UK Government Departments and UN member states to bring about changes to the way the UN works, both at the central and country level, to improve coherence, facilitate more strategic approaches, stronger leadership and access to funds and expertise.

In particular, we seek to improve international support for countries during the immediate post-conflict phase. Our aim is to make sure these countries get the help they need to make the transition to sustainable peace and development. This effort is part of a UK International Institutional Reform initiative, launched by the Prime Minister in 2008.

DFID provides financial assistance to the UN in support of its conflict prevention and peacebuilding work. Our assistance includes contributions to:

• the UN Development Programme’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (£21 million over three years)
• the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (£1 million over two years)
• the UN Peacebuilding Fund (£30 million over three years).

We also continue to play an active role in the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), which is currently supporting peacebuilding efforts in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and the Central African Republic.

Bilateral support

Development donors like DFID can play an important role in building peace by using our aid programmes to address the underlying causes and help communities recover from the effects of violent conflict. To do this it is essential that we have a good understanding of the context.

DFID has developed the Strategic Conflict Assessment methodology and a range of other tools to help us analyse and understand conflict - including Drivers of Change, Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis and Human Rights Assessment. A sound analysis is important to ensure that, as a minimum, our assistance does not "do harm" by increasing tensions or resentments and that, wherever possible, it is targeted towards promoting the peaceful resolution of conflict.

In Nepal we have worked with the Government to ensure that schools, health services and roads are reaching rural communities which have been neglected in the past, and where resentment against the failures of the state have fuelled conflict.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo we supported the elections in 2006, the first free and fair democratic process to allow the population to choose their own government in more than 40 years.

In Sierra Leone we have supported the development of professional and accountable armed forces. These reformed services contributed to a safe and peaceful electoral process in 2007.

In Ethiopia we have supported a project bringing together arable farmers and nomadic herders, who have been involved in numerous violent clashes over many years, to resolve their differences and find ways of living together peacefully.

And through the UNIFEM, the United Nations Women’s Organisation, International Alert and other NGOs, we have helped to ensure that women’s voices are more represented in peace negotiations at all levels.

Cross-government

The Stabilisation Unit is a joint venture with the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence. It provides specialist, targeted assistance in countries emerging from violent conflict. In these places the UK is helping to achieve a stable environment that will enable longer term development to take place. The Unit’s main effort has been working alongside UK Armed Forces in support of the Foreign Office in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Somalia, the Unit helped the UK government and the International Contact Group agree a common set of priorities for the international community, which is being used by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General.

In Nepal, the Unit has helped develop a national debate on public security issues, hosting discussions with people from a wide cross-section of Nepalese society, from the Prime Minister to disadvantaged communities.

Non government organisations (NGOs)

DFID also provides financial support to non-governmental organisations working on conflict prevention and peacebuilding, through the Conflict and Humanitarian Fund. In 2007 the Fund provided £1.2 million to support Conciliation Resources, an NGO in Sierra Leone that trains people to become ‘peace monitors’.

Links

• Summaries of DFID Building Peace Research from IDS Knowledge Services
• 'Preventing Violent Conflict' (686kb)