05.02.10 Clarity, Coherence and Context
Three Priorities for Sustainable Peacebuilding
NUPI Working Paper | 31 pages.
This Working Paper is one of nine essays that examine the possible future role of the UN’s peacebuilding architecture. They were written as part of a project co-organized by the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. All of the contributors to the project were asked to identify realistic but ambitious “stretch targets” for the Peacebuilding Commission and its associated bodies over the next five to ten years. The resulting Working Papers, including this one, seek to stimulate fresh thinking about the UN’s role in peacebuilding.
This paper will focus on three challenges that should inform the 2010 Review of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, namely: (1) developing the UN peacebuilding concept and operational model; (2) significantly stepping-up efforts to improve system-wide coherence; and (3) seriously implementing the principle of local ownership.
The Future of the Peacebuilding Architecture Project
>> Summary
This paper will focus on three challenges that should inform the 2010 Review of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, namely: (1) developing the UN peacebuilding concept and operational model; (2) significantly stepping-up efforts to improve system-wide coherence; and (3) seriously implementing the principle of local ownership.
- There is a need to revisit and clarify exactly what it is the UN understands with the peacebuilding concept, and the Peacebuilding Commission is ideally suited to be the forum where such a debate should take place.
- Our peacebuilding efforts are challenged by deep-rooted coherence dilemmas. Instead of glossing over these dilemmas, the Peacebuilding Commission should be a strategic marketplace where these dilemmas can be debated and managed.
- In order to improve the sustainability of peace operations the UN Peacebuilding Commission will need to focus on three critical areas, namely local ownership, local context and local capabilities. Peacebuilding that focus only on building the executive branch of the state is not a good recipe for a sustainable peace. Investment in the immediate aftermath of a conflict should be primarily focused on developing capacity so that societies are empowered to manage their own downstream development. Local social capital and inherent capacities should be identified, recognised and used as the basis for further development.
Full-text version
|
Complete List of Publications
