Indeed strengthening the private sector and market-based economies has become a key concern for development assistance, including in countries affected by conflict. Given the important role that the allocation of resources and lack of economic opportunities play in many conflicts, such economic recovery and development efforts are bound to affect core conflict dynamics, and the economic legacies left by war.
But while the links between peacebuilding and the economy may be obvious, it is less clear how a peacebuilding approach to economic interventions can be achieved in practice, and how they can be made conflict-sensitive. Understanding the ways in which economic interventions can impact conflict dynamics is therefore crucial, and needs to inform programming and implementation.
The objectives of the overall project are three-fold:
1. To identify lessons in order to generate evidence-based resources and guidance for policymakers and practitioners to improve the conflict-sensitivity and peacebuilding impacts of economic interventions
2. To promote uptake of such good practice
3. To put the links between economic recovery and peacebuilding on the agenda of relevant national and international actors through advocacy, outreach and networking
‘Peacebuilding Essentials for Economic Development Practitioners’ is a series of practice notes produced in partnership with leading experts and practitioners from relevant fields. It aims to:
- Introduce economic development practitioners to key economic recovery and peacebuilding challenges in conflict-affected and post-conflict countries
- Share lessons and good practice on how to strengthen the economic dimensions of peacebuilding
- Provide practitioners and planners with the knowledge and tools to ensure that their interventions are conflict-sensitive
- Promote experience-sharing between economic development and peacebuilding practitioners, to enhance synergies between the two
Topics covered in the series include:
- Market Development in Conflict-Affected Contexts [2]
- Business Environment Reforms in Conflict-Affected Contexts [3]
- Foreign Direct Investment in Conflict-Affected Contexts [4]
- Socio-Economic Reintegration of Ex-Combatants [5]
- Economic Dimensions of Peace Processes [6]
- Natural Resource Governance in Conflict-Affected Contexts [7]
- Conflict-sensitive land policy and land governance in Africa [8]
If you are interested in partnering with Alert on this series, please contact Joost van der Zwan [9]
Case study series
The collection of four case studies illustrates the wide range of economic conflict causes, impacts and needs; as well as responses to them in different contexts. Each case study provides a specific ‘snapshot’, focusing on particular economic peacebuilding priorities
-
Uganda: Enabling peace economies through early recovery [10]
-
Nepal: What role for business in post-conflict economic recovery? [11]
-
Sri Lanka: Rethinking the nexus between youth, unemployment and conflict [12]
-
Colombia: The challenges of supporting ‘alternative’ economic opportunities for peacebuilding [13]
For key lessons and recommendations from the studies read: Synthesis Paper. Strenghtening The Economic Dimensions of Peace Building [14]. [14]
The third component of this project is design and delivery of trainings to strengthen the economic dimensions of peacebuilding, for different international and in-country audiences. This includes:
- A partnership since 2009 with the Sri Lanka-based Peacebuilding and Development Institute [15] to deliver an annual one-week course ‘Strengthening the Economic Dimensions of Peacebuilding’ [16] for South Asian peacebuilding and development practitioners. This is an innovative programme combining classroom-based teaching and field exposure.
- A partnership since 2006 with the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy [17] 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 to introduce them to strategies and methods for involving them in peacebuilding efforts, including through Local Economic Development planning.
- The project team also works with Alert’s Training and Learning Team [18] and Transition International [19] to support the delivery of the annual high-level Reintegration of Ex-Combatants: Advanced Training Course [20], designed to bring together a group of experienced practitioners, policy makers and donors to share best practices and lessons learnt from from reintegration experiences in different parts of the world.
The project team also works to design and delivery tailor-made courses in this area. For inquiries, please contact Joost van der Zwan [9]
Aside from research, guidance and training, we respond to ongoing opportunities and invitations for outreach, awareness raising and advisory work, in partnership with different international organisations. Past examples include:
Events
- Two-day international conference [21] co-hosted with BMZ, DFID and GTZ in 2006 on ‘Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding – Exploring Local and International Perspectives.’ This brought together some 140 experts in the fields of private sector development (PSD) and peacebuilding, with the aim of better integrating the two fields
- Participation in the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development’s Expert Meeting on Private Sector Development in Post-Conflict Situations [22] in 2008
Identifying and promoting good practices
Alert supports the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network’s efforts to develop and pilot guidelines for economic recovery after crisis. SEEP [23] is a membership-based organization of over 67 NGOs working in enterprise development. The Economic Recovery Standards [24] are now available for public comments, and will be field-tested in the course of 2009-10.
Commissioned work
We also respond to calls for commissioned work. Past examples include:
- Participation in USAID AMAP’s [25] initiative to explore the role of value chain interventions in accelerating the transition from conflict to sustainable economic growth [26]. 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 [27] [27]in conflict contexts, including step-by-step questions guiding practitioners through a combined conflict – and value chain analysis.
- Work 2009-10 on a DFID [28] project to adapt PSD strategies and programming to conflict contexts by designing and piloting a ‘PSD in conflict’ tool.