United Nations Support to Local Peacebuilding: a Case Study from Afghanistan
Valtonen, Lotta (2021)
Valtonen, Lotta
2021
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-05-17
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105014215
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105014215
Tiivistelmä
Conflicts have become more complex and difficult to resolve through traditional peacebuilding and mediation approaches. Conflict resolution efforts built on liberal peacebuilding ideals have had only limited success in promoting peace and there is a growing understanding that peace at national level by the elite does not automatically trickle down to the local level. Afghanistan is an example of how modern peace operations have failed in bringing peace. Peacebuilding at local level has gained the interest of researchers and new, pragmatic approaches to resolving conflict have been advanced. This study contributes to the research on the practice of supporting local peacebuilding in general and by the United Nations in particular.
I wanted to understand how the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, supported local grassroots conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Through analysis of project documentation and expert interviews, I conducted a case study of one specific local peace initiative. I examined how UNAMA supported local peacebuilding and how such support was situated within ongoing reforms of UN peacebuilding efforts at the global level.
The study found that different actors at the local level were engaged and that the local community had an influence on the design of the initiative. Local agency was strengthened through the creation of and support to local conflict resolution mechanisms, where women and youth were included. By promoting certain local traditions and discouraging others, local values were respected while international standards of human rights, mediation principles and the inclusion of women were adhered to. The low-profile approach adopted, contributed to building trust and increasing the acceptance and legitimacy of UNAMA among the local actors. Elements of adaptive peacebuilding were included in the initiative but the design used for supporting local peacebuilding was essentially a project oriented approach based on liberal peacebuilding ideals.
The research highlights the need for a much longer period of time for supporting local peacebuilding, coupled with higher tolerance for slower, incremental change. An iterative process of adaptation, based on learning and experimenting, could enable a more flexible approach incorporating the complexity of reality. The study underscores how local peace initiatives could provide an avenue for putting in practice the sustaining peace agenda, introduced in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and bring together the pillars of peace and security, development and human rights while engaging the local community in peacebuilding.
I wanted to understand how the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, supported local grassroots conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Through analysis of project documentation and expert interviews, I conducted a case study of one specific local peace initiative. I examined how UNAMA supported local peacebuilding and how such support was situated within ongoing reforms of UN peacebuilding efforts at the global level.
The study found that different actors at the local level were engaged and that the local community had an influence on the design of the initiative. Local agency was strengthened through the creation of and support to local conflict resolution mechanisms, where women and youth were included. By promoting certain local traditions and discouraging others, local values were respected while international standards of human rights, mediation principles and the inclusion of women were adhered to. The low-profile approach adopted, contributed to building trust and increasing the acceptance and legitimacy of UNAMA among the local actors. Elements of adaptive peacebuilding were included in the initiative but the design used for supporting local peacebuilding was essentially a project oriented approach based on liberal peacebuilding ideals.
The research highlights the need for a much longer period of time for supporting local peacebuilding, coupled with higher tolerance for slower, incremental change. An iterative process of adaptation, based on learning and experimenting, could enable a more flexible approach incorporating the complexity of reality. The study underscores how local peace initiatives could provide an avenue for putting in practice the sustaining peace agenda, introduced in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and bring together the pillars of peace and security, development and human rights while engaging the local community in peacebuilding.