Generating economic opportunities, promoting peace

Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding

In September 2006 we co-hosted an international conference with BMZ, DFID and GTZ on ‘Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding – Exploring Local and International Perspectives.’ During these two days some 140 experts in the fields of private sector development (PSD) and peacebuilding, representing various foreign offices and donor agencies as well as NGOs, research institutions and the private sector discussed how to promote a private sector role in peacebuilding, PSD in conflict and post-conflict situations. Discussions also explored how to integrate the two disciplines of PSD and peacebuilding to develop conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding PSD interventions. This was the first international conference of its kind to consider these topics, therefore, the format of the event focused on exchange of experiences, reflecting the high demand for knowledge transfer.

Visit the conference website here (including all presentations and discussions)
Download the conference report here

Read International Alert's report 'Reform of the Coffee Sector in Burundi: Prospects for Participation, Prosperity and Peace’ for more on the relationship between shared economy opportunities and peace  

Local Economic Opportunities

This one-year research and advocacy project, which began in January 2007, seeks to better align efforts by the international community to generate local economic opportunities in conflict-prone and conflict-affected countries with peacebuilding priorities.

The Local Economic Opportunities (LEO) project will work to:

• develop and promote targeted recommendations based on policy research, good practices and case studies from different conflict-affected countries; and
• advocate for the implementation of these recommendations in order to strengthen the peacebuilding efforts of public and private-sector actors.

It constitutes part of a wider, two-year research and advocacy programme that aims to strengthen the economic dimensions of peacebuilding more broadly, looking at aid, trade and foreign investment interventions by the international community.

Project background
International Alert holds the firm belief that just and lasting peace requires broadly shared economic opportunities to redress economic issues that fuelled violent conflict in the first place. The economic impacts of conflict on the livelihoods and lives of conflict-affected populations must also be addressed in order to ensure sustainable peace. Indeed, strengthening market-based economies has become a key concern for development assistance in recent years, including in countries affected by conflict. This incorporates direct support that targets micro-enterprises and farming households, small, medium and large enterprises, as well as business associations; and efforts to involve specific groups in the formal economy, for instance youths.

Despite the growing recognition of economic recovery as one of the fundamental pillars of peacebuilding, however, the success of generous economic cooperation programmes in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan has been limited – both in terms of generating economic recovery, and consolidating peace. There is a clear need to better understand how a peacebuilding approach to such economic interventions can be achieved in practice, and how they can be made conflict-sensitive.

As the LEO project seeks to understand and consolidate this positive potential, it will gather a collection of country case studies on the international community’s activities in this field, as well as carry out expert consultations and policy-research. Recommendations for different policy and practitioner audiences will then be extracted and their adoption advocated for. Findings from the research will be published as a series of briefing papers, as well as a synthesis report, by the end of 2007. These will be available on our website and in hard copy.

Funding
The project is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ); the UK Department for International Development (DFID); and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). Further funding is currently being sought.

For more information contact Canan Gündüz

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Last updated: February 2007