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Domestic enterprises building peace Alert has been working with local businesses since 1999, seeking to document and analyse experiences and deepen understanding of this important new area for peacebuilding, as well as supporting local business communities to play a more effective role in building peace, both in their own countries and in cross-border conflicts. Our largest research project has culminated in the 2006 report, Local Business, Local Peace:
Why local businesses? Much attention has been paid in recent years to the often negative and conflict-feeding impacts of economic activities in zones of conflict, leading to important developments in peacebuilding policy and practice. At the same time, faced with violent conflict, local businesses in war-affected countries often find creative ways of coping with instability and violence, and promoting peace and stability. However, so far the peacebuilding and development communities have not fully and systematically explored this potential. Our research In 2000 International Alert published a report, The Business of Peace, which analysed experiences in South Africa, Northern Ireland and the Philippines, where local private sector organisations have played a key role in catalysing and supporting peace processes. Seeking to build on this analysis, we then began working with business communities in Sri Lanka, where the private sector has emerged as an important peace advocate during the transition from war to a peace process. This work is continuing and businesses are now working to see how they can support rebuilding in a conflict-sensitive way after the 2004 tsunamis. We have also worked with the Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao to conduct consultative research into the linkages between the Mindanao economy and conflict there. The final report, Peace and the Private Sector in Mindanao was used to inform discussions at the Waging Peace conference held in December 2003. We are also working with business communities in Nepal and Colombia to identify how they can work for peace. Alert has brought together a group of local researchers from the South Caucasus to analyse the linkages between the economy and conflict there. A large research project has been underway with findings from this work and broader research fed into an 18-month project aimed at furthering the debate on the role (both current and potential) that local businesses of all sizes can play in building peace. An expert advisory group made up of peacebuilding practitioners, academics and local private sector actors advises on research methodology, analysis and policy recommendations. The final report, Local Business, Local Peace, presents cases from over 20 countries and covers more general themes involving the role of business in peacebuilding. Click here to learn more about the final report. Additional materials: Download a paper presenting our initial ideas
on the role of local business and peacebuilding in the Berghof Handbook for
Conflict Transformation Read detailed notes from the September 2006 conference in Berlin Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding - Exploring Local and International Perspectives. (each of the above links will open in new windows) Other
initiatives Involving local businesses in peacebuilding
Articles on
local business and peacebuilding
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