The road to peace: how effective is NGO involvement?

What impact do NGOs and humanitarian agencies have on the dynamics of violent conflict? Can humanitarian interventions contribute to a peace building process? Could NGOs be more effective in integrating peace building approaches as a cross-cutting theme to development and relief work?

Recent research by the Universities of Bradford and Manchester, in close co-operation with NGOs in war affected communities of the north and east of Sri Lanka, examined linkages between development, relief and peace building.

Further work in this area is needed to develop the research findings which included:

• Whilst NGOs have made only a limited contribution to peace building in Sri Lanka, this is understandable in terms of the scale of the socio-political forces underpinning the conflict, and the fact that peace building has not been an explicit programme objective for most NGOs.
• NGOs could effectively contribute to peace building through: their witnessing ability, by reducing competition over economic resources, by fostering communication and dialogue, and by building local institutional development.
• Critical factors in cases where NGOs have had impact include: strong leadership, good analysis, a dense network of high quality relationships, a willingness to take risks, and long-term engagement.
• NGO practice could be strengthened by a greater capacity to analyse conflict including a rigorous analysis of political and economic processes.
• NGOs need to make greater efforts to monitor their performance and impact in peace building programmes and projects. One possibility would be the use of ‘peace audits’.

Several implications emerge which may be of help to NGOs and donors:

• A more sophisticated understanding of the links between militarised violence and social capital (which are context specific) within the context of peace building approaches will help agencies design appropriate programmes and projects.
• Before starting peace building projects NGOs must ensure that they have a real understanding of the social and historical fabric of communities they work with.
• Fundamental to any peace building intervention is the participation of local war-affected communities and individuals: initiatives must result from their needs and not NGO or donor agendas.
• NGOs and other agencies must take a longer term view when considering peace building and accept that their immediate impact on the macro-level conflict will be limited.
• Agencies need to be clear what their values are regarding issues of peace, conflict and human rights.

Source(s):
‘NGOs and Peace Building: Sri Lanka Study’, COPE Working Paper #14, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford and Centre for Development Studies, University of Leeds by Jonathan Goodhand, David Hulme and Nick Lewer, January 2001
‘Social Capital and the Political Economy of Violence: A Case Study of Sri Lanka’, 'Disasters' #24 (4) by J. Goodhand, D. Hulme and N. Lewer, 2000
'Sri Lanka: NGOs and Peacebuilding in Complex Political Emergencies' Third World Quarterly #20(1) by J.Goodhand and N.Lewer, 1999

Funded by: UK Department for International Development (1997-2000)

id21 Research Highlight: 29 November 2001

Further Information:
Nick Lewer
Department of Peace Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford
West Yorkshire BD7 1DP
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1274 234192
Fax: + 44 (0) 1274 234197
Contact the contributor: N.Lewer@bradford.ac.uk

Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK

Other related links:
'Peace by piece: NGOs and peace building in Liberia'

'Civil society pulls northern Ghana back from the abyss'

'Punching above their weight? NGOs as builders of peace'

The International NGO Training and Research Centre provides further research

The NGO and Civil Society Unit facilitates civil society involvement in development

International Peace Research Institute also focuses on these issues