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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 04/03
Sharing Best Practices on Conflict Resolution: The UN, Regional and Subregional Organizations, National and Local Actors
Dr. Sara J. Lodge
April 2002
Executive Summary
Mainstreaming conflict prevention requires that the UN, regional, subregional, national, and local actors view the full spectrum of their activities 'through the lens' of conflict prevention and integrate preventive discourse, analysis and strategy into all areas of operation.
Conflict tends to spill over national borders. It is therefore crucial that risk assessments take into account the regional and global context and that regional actors be involved in preventive initiatives.
Effective conflict prevention strategies require increased cooperation and coordination between various UN agencies and between the UN and regional, subregional, national and local actors. Three areas where increased coordination could be especially productive are:
- early warning and risk analysis;
- regional and local capacity building; and
- conflict prevention training.
The UN and other organizations have developed new methodologies, protocols, mechanisms and tools for conflict prevention. Specific tools that have been developed, and which were examined in the meeting, include, inter alia, early warning analysis and training in the UN system, capacity-building efforts in the OAS and OSCE, early warning units in ECOWAS and the OAU, and regional strategies for peacebuilding and prevention in the UN.
These efforts represent a significant achievement, and should be examined further, refined, and built upon. However, a greater commitment to increasing knowledge, capacity, resources, and training is required if these initiatives are to become fully operational and institutionalized.
'Preventive action' should be considered not as an expedient product or event, but as a continuous, organic process. It should build on strengths as well as respond to crises. Building the resilience of societies to violent conflict necessitates:
- the highest degree of inclusiveness and multi-sectoral participation in dialogue, peacebuilding, and the development of conflict prevention capacity and strategies;
- a high degree of local ownership of conflict prevention strategies and initiatives;
- the strengthening of democratic institutions and empowerment of local actors through continuous consultation, assistance, and training.
The costs of conflict prevention are immediate and visible, the benefits are long-term, and often silent and invisible. The challenge for academics and practitioners is therefore to keep the value of conflict prevention, including savings in lives and subsequent expenditures on peacekeeping and peacebuilding, at the fore.
