Ideal picture is obstacle to peace-building

For building peace after a war, international development organisations have relied on local NGOs since the 1990s. But the NGOs cannot always fulfil the expectations of the development organisations, warned Dr. Mathijs van Leeuwen in his PhD thesis that he defended recently at Wageningen University.

Armed conflicts are often complex. Reliable information is often lacking, and the situation changes continuously. For international development organisations such as Cordaid or Oxfam, it is often impossible to know exactly what is going on. Nevertheless, they want to do something. Therefore they cannot avoid simplifying the situation, stated Van Leeuwen. ‘They create a picture of the situation as they think it is, with all kinds of assumptions.’ These assumptions are often based on ideal images that are created during the international discussions about peace building, and do not arise from the local situation.

One important assumption is that local organisations are better at promoting peace between the parties than the local government. This is because the government is often a party to the conflict and has consequently lost its legitimacy. The idea is that local NGOs can take over the role of the government in peace building. But, according to Van Leeuwen, this does not always work. Local organisations are not more democratic by definition, and they also need the government.

In addition, international organisations often make assumptions, for example that women are more peace-loving than men, and that women's organisations are therefore better for peace building. Van Leeuwen encountered these problems when conducting research at a peace organisation in South Sudan. ‘This organisation had achieved a great deal in peace building, but had not succeeded in the mission that the international organisations had in mind for the local NGO: bringing about reconciliation between various ethnic groups and tackling violence against women.'

This was because the women in the local women's groups were all from the same ethnic group, which made inter-ethnic reconciliation difficult. In addition, the violence against women was related to alcohol consumption, but many group members earned their income by brewing the local beer. Consequently, they were unable to deal with the theme of violence against women. Ultimately, peace building for these women meant meeting together regularly and sharing experiences. Van Leeuwen: ‘This is indeed peace building, but it is far away from the ambitious aims of the peace organisation and its international donor.'

Mathijs van Leeuwen defended his doctoral thesis on Friday 20 June; his PhD supervisor was Prof. Thea Hilhorst, Professor of Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction. / Joris Tielens