Putting the Aid for Peace Approach in a Wider Context by Kenneth Bush A Presentation to the PEACE III Monitoring Committee Signal Business Centre, Bangor, Northern Ireland 22 April

An Aid for Peace Approach is one that seeks to weave or to re-weave personal relationships within and between groups following violent conflict. 2

Aid for Peace is an approach focused on the nested sets of relationships within and between groups – including: – social, economic, political, cultural, geographical relationships. 3

Aid for Peace is not limited to the physical infrastructure of post-war settings (post-conflict reconstruction) limited to political structures and processes (post- conflict governance and peace making) limited to economic reconstruction (development assistance or private sector investment) 4

Aid for Peace refers to all initiatives that foster and support sustainable structures and processes which strengthen the prospects for peaceful co-existence and decrease the likelihood of the outbreak, re-occurrence, or continuation of violent conflict. 5

Aid for Peace is a twofold process of deconstructing the structures of violence, and constructing the structures of peace These two sets of activities are interrelated, but separate, and must be undertaken simultaneously. Any intervention that includes one without the other will fail to have a net positive peacebuilding impact. Above all, Aid for Peace is about IMPACT – whether this is a conflict resolution workshop or a bridge (both egs need to be monitored for peace impacts) 6

Lessons: Conflict-Generating Aid How Development can Create Conflict By increasing socio-economic inequalities – or fueling the belief that such inequalities are increasing By benefiting certain groups more than other By increasing competition for development resources & political control By introducing new structures & institutions that challenge existing ones (social, political or economic) Aid resources stolen by combatants and used to support armies and to buy weapons. Aid affects markets by reinforcing either the war economy or the peace economy. The distributional impacts of aid affect intergroup relationships, either feeding tensions or reinforcing connections. Aid substitutes for local resources required to meet civilian needs, freeing them to support the conflict. Aid legitimizes people and their actions or agendas, supporting the pursuit of either war or peace. 7

Lessons: Peace-Nurturing Aid How Aid can Nurture Peace By creating common/shared/joint interests Creating ad hoc (then increasingly institutionalized) mechanism of cooperation Increasing & institutionalizing positive communication channels Decreasing negative stereotyping Creating neutral space Demilitarizing minds Reinforcing appropriate conflict mgt mechanisms Demonstrating alternatives to conflict (econ/soc) Nurturing Empathy 8

Telling the Difference Between Development Indicators, Peace Indicators, and Conflict Indicators Example1 : Water Project in a Conflict- Prone Setting Development indicator: Increased number of hectors under irrigation Conflict Indicator: Number of conflicts over water distribution Peace indicator: Number of cooperative relationships between farmers of different ethnic/religious groups OR increased levels of involvement in joint management of the project Example 2: Health Project in a Conflict- Prone Setting Health/development indicator: Change in prevalence of disease Conflict Indicator: Conflict over access to new health services Peace indicator: level of support within conflicted communities for non-partisan health services OR degree to which staff reflects (or is accepted by) all communities and sub-groups. 9

DOs and DON’Ts of Aid for Peace DON’T minimize local inputs prioritize self-sufficiency (re resources broadly defined) bring the material and human resources for their anticipated job limit approach to task-oriented, short-term projects, that are dependent on high external support privilege product over process be Mechanistic DO maximize local inputs build on local resources develop local capacities to identify problems and formulate solutions be process-oriented, long-term, and minimally dependent on institutional support (Ideally) privilege process over product be organic 10

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Thank you 12