Since 1999, Alert has been working on a range of initiatives that address economic issues and their links with conflict and peace. This has included work with the business community, including multinational and local private sector, which operates in conflict zones, to ensure that its conduct does not fuel tensions or even violence, but can contribute towards creating a stable political climate instead. We first laid out our agenda on the role of the private sector in conflict prevention and peacebuilding in 2000 in a groundbreaking report The Business of Peace . In all of our work we engage and collaborate with civil society organisations and researchers, business communities and governments, including donor agencies, to address the links between economic interventions and conflict and peace through research, awareness raising, capacity building, accompaniment and advocacy.

With a goal of putting peacebuilding at the heart of economic interventions, Alert’s Economy & Peace work focuses on three key areas of work:

• Action-research with partners from civil society and business communities in conflict zones to develop a deeper understanding and awareness of the issues
• Collecting and disseminating good practice and lessons learned from peacebuilding initiatives, and their economic dimensions, around the world
• Making policy recommendations to governments, multilateral organizations and companies intervening in conflict-affected communities
• Monitoring the implementation of local and international policies and guidelines that address the economic dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding
• Encouraging and supporting local entrepreneurs in conflict zones to help them play a part in building peace
• Developing and delivering tailored trainings for civil society, governmental and multilateral agencies, and companies
• Supporting Alert’s field programmes in their efforts to incorporate the economic dimensions of peacebuilding into their work

To view our organisational statement on how we work with the private sector please click here

Alert believes that by adopting a proactive approach to conflict-sensitive business practice, businesses can reduce risks to their operations in conflict-affected regions and to the communities around them, promote stability and improve relations with local populations. If the economic benefits of their operations are distributed more fairly and transparently, they can play a significant role in building the strong economic foundations that are vital for lasting peace.

We work towards making this possible in three ways – by undertaking research into the links between business and conflict, then developing tools for businesses to use when planning and carrying out work in conflict prone zones, and pushing for the adoption of policy, principles and guidelines so that multinational corporations, governments and multilateral organisations better understand and contribute to building peace. Our CSBP tools and materials have thus far been developed in the following areas:

Many international organisations, such as the European Union or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as a number of governments now acknowledge the critical role economic actors play in conflict. They have published key policy documents and are increasingly turning towards the potential of the private sector to contribute to peacebuilding. There is growing debate on the need for clearer international guidelines and constraints on companies operating in conflict prone zones.

In order to ensure that this issue remains on the international agenda, we make specific recommendations at the international policy level to inform thinking on how governments and multi-lateral agencies can integrate conflict-sensitivity into their economy-related policies, for example:

In May 2008, we published the Red Flags document, together with Fafo, drawing on several years of work with other organizations such as Collaborative for Development Action, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, OECD Watch, International Committee of the Red Cross, and Global Witness, to promote a clearer regulatory environment for companies doing business in conflict-prone zones.

Alert is one of seven NGO representatives to the Voluntary Principles on Human Rights and Security Group, which is made up of oil, gas and mining companies, governments and NGOs. The Voluntary Principles aim to guide companies in maintaining the safety and security of their operations within an operating framework that ensures respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

We are also an active member of the UN Global Compact’s multi-stakeholder dialogue on conflict prevention and peacebuilding

Peacebuilding policies and practices have become more sophisticated over the years due to the attention paid to the negative impact of economic activity in conflict zones. But even during a war, businesses operate: electricity gets generated, water gets supplied, food gets distributed, buses run, planes take off, and regular commercial activities, including banking, continue, although often at a higher cost.

The behaviour of local businesses can potentially fuel conflict but can also find creative ways of coping with insecurity and violence, and often play a role in promoting peace by ensuring stability through their conduct and presence. While domestic entrepreneurs often act as community leaders to bridge conflict divides, so far the peacebuilding and development communities have not fully and systematically explored this potential.

Based on our engagement on business and peace issues, an 18-month research project analysed the findings from this, and others’, in-country work to further the debate on the current and potential role of local businesses in building peace. An expert advisory group (comprising peacebuilding practitioners, academics and local private sector businesses) advised on research methodology, analysis and policy recommendations. The final report, Local Business, Local Peace, presents cases from over 20 countries and explores their role in:

• supporting negotiations;
• promoting economic recovery
• supporting peaceful relations among communities
• addressing security challenges
• highlighting the experiences of women entrepreneurs in peacebuilding.

Click here to learn more about the complete final report.

• Thematic research based on context-specific evidence gathered during consultations at local, national and regional levels. This research will include issues such as gender-based violence and political participation justice and the role these issues play in women’s ability to participate in peacebuilding
• Targeted advocacy through engagement with donors and governments, as well as influencing global policy through our involvement in networks at the UK, the EU and the UN. Read more about our policy-level advocacy work here
• This project also involves specific research and advocacy work on gender issues as part of the EC-funded Initiative for Peacebuilding.

Indeed, laying the foundations for economic recovery during and after war, for example by strengthening the private sector, has become a key concern for development assistance in recent years. However, interventions to stimulate economic development do not always take full account of continuing conflict dynamics and their legacies. Such conflict risks, but also related peacebuilding opportunities, remain little explored.

In order to address this gap, this project combines research and advocacy efforts to promote conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding approaches to economic recovery efforts led by the international community. This includes analysis, multi-country case study work, networking and consultations; in order to develop resources and tools that can assist with the design and implementation of economic recovery programmes in support of peacebuilding.

• Uganda: Enabling peace economies through early recovery

• Nepal: What role for business in post-conflict economic recovery?

• Sri Lanka: Rethinking the nexus between youth, unemployment and conflict

• Colombia: The challenges of supporting ‘alternative’ livelihoods opportunities for peacebuilding

For key lessons and recommendations from the studies, click here. In addition to the country case studies, the project will be producing a series of thematic briefing papers, as well as training resources, in the course of 2009.

Aside from specific projects, we respond to ongoing opportunities and invitations for outreach, awareness raising and training, in partnership with different international organizations. Some examples include:

EVENTS
In September 2006 we co-hosted a two-day international conference with BMZ, DFID and GTZ on ‘Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding – Exploring Local and International Perspectives.’ Some 140 experts in the fields of private sector development (PSD) and peacebuilding, discussed ways of promoting the private sector’s role in peacebuilding, with the aim of integrating private sector development with peacebuilding, to develop conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding PSD interventions. This was the first international conference of its kind to consider these issues, and it led to a vigorous exchange of ideas, experiences, and knowledge transfer.

These issues are being taken forward by the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development, which held an Expert Meeting on Private Sector Development in Post-Conflict Situations in September 2008, with a follow-up work plan for 2009-10.

TRAINING
Since 2006 we have been partnering with the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy and a group of international experts to run an annual, week-long training seminar on The Role of Economic Actors in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding. The aim of the course is to familiarize participants with economic actors and issues that relate to conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and to introduce them to strategies and methods for working with them for peacebuilding. The course is open to 20-25 experienced practitioners involved in international peace missions, focusing on the prevention and resolution of violent conflict.

In the course of 2009, we are partnering with the Sri Lanka-based Peace and Development Institute to develop a pilot one week course on the economic dimensions of peacebuilding for South Asian practitioners.

IDENTIFYING AND PROMOTING GOOD PRACTICES
Alert has been on the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network’s working group to develop practitioner and donor guidelines for economic recovery after crisis. SEEP is a membership-based organization of over 67 NGOs working in microenterprise development. The Economic Recovery Standards are now available for public comments, and will be field-tested in the course of 2009-10.

POLICY ADVOCACY
Alert is the lead agency in the Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP), a coalition of civil society organisations collaborating to develop and promote international knowledge and expertise in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. As part of this initiative we are carrying out consultations, research and analysis on regional cooperation in the Great Lakes and Andean regions, with a focus on cross-border economic cooperation and the sustainable management of shared natural resources. The work makes policy recommendations to bodies such as the EU, and aims to strengthen the links between policy and practice.

COMMISSIONED WORK
We also occasionally respond to calls for commissioned work. In 2008 for example we participated in USAID AMAP’s initiative to explore the role of value chain interventions in accelerating the transition from conflict to sustainable economic growth. Alert co-published two case studies on the mutual impacts of violent conflict and specific commodity value chains, one on the fisheries sector in Sri Lanka, and one on the coffee sector in Colombia. We also produced a study on options for conflict-sensitising value-chain interventions in conflict contexts, including step-by-step questions guiding practitioners through a combined conflict – and value chain analysis.