UNDP background paper for working group discussions: governance in post-conflict situations

This report provides background papers on governance in post conflict situations, prepared for the United Nations Development Programme’s seminar in Bergen, Norway, May 2004. The report analyses post conflict governance issues and programming entry points in seven major thematic chapters, encompassing, access to information, democratic dialogue, electoral systems and processes, parliamentary development, decentralised governance, public administration reform, and justice and human rights.

Each chapter includes illustrative strategic entry points for programmatic interventions in the context of post-conflict settings. The report particularly draws from experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and East Timor.

Central themes that resonate between chapters of the report include:

• coordination of governance-related initiatives is one of the major challenges in post conflict settings
• nation-building programmes in the governance area pose the most problematic and controversial quandaries for external actors, particularly in the immediate aftermath of conflict
• in terms of tactical considerations, coordination is often hampered by the sheer number of external players seeking to play a role in nation-building and peace-building processes
• in many cases, there are considerable time lags between donor and agency pledges and the actual delivery of urgently needed reconstruction resources for governance structures
• the onus is on the international community to provide meaningful, institutionalised donor coordination in close collaboration with relevant local authorities
• there is a pressing need for the creation of anticipatory post-conflict trust funds with clear management, implementation and reporting procedures
• oordinated resource mobilisation endeavours would go a long way in shoring up post-conflict governance-related interventions
• aid and development workers can no longer rely on their organisations’ international, neutral and/or non-governmental status as protection from acts of violence and aggression.

[adapted from author]