Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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The Role of NGOs, Local and International, in Post-war PeacebuildingA discussion paper by Sarah Crowther Asking about what role Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) could play in peacebuilding implies a faith that NGOs do have a role to play. In this paper I wish to start from fundamental questions, asking about the terms and justification for the whole debate surrounding NGOs, asking what is needed to build peace, and putting these together to look at NGOs' 'role'. Having identified situations where NGOs can offer a contribution to peacebuilding, I can ask what role international funders, including INGOs can have in facilitating peacebuilding through support for NGOs. I have never studied or experienced war or violent conflict. I know something of social conflict between interested parties on a local or micro scale. I know something about local groups, community-based organisations, and NGOs in development work and debates. From this basis, as a newcomer to conflict transformation, I aim to offer a logical flow of questions that people with experience and greater knowledge of post-war peacebuilding can answer for themselves. I look forward to improving with the benefit of people's criticisms and insights. I start with concepts - NGO, CBO, civil society - then address the distinctive differences between NGOs and some other comparable structures that could contribute to different phases of post war peacebuilding. The range of terms and meanings relating to activity and social or political structures outside Government can be a hurdle to constructive debate. By 'non-government organisations' (NGOs) I mean formal organisations of people who are engaged in activities that are not primarily for their own benefit. The term 'NGO' defines such bodies in direct relation and contrast to Governments, but what are the analytical differences between a Government-body and an NGO? According to Weber, Government has ultimate recourse to legitimate coercive force to tax and enforce regulation of people's and other organisations' activities. NGOs rely on willingness from local people to co-operate with the NGOs' activities. When referring to international NGOs (INGOs) I mean those NGOs where the senior staff originate from other countries. In research in the mid-1990's Wallace et al found that local NGOs did not differentiate between INGO and multi-lateral or bi-lateral funders, finding the nature of the relationship largely indistinguishable (Wallace et al 1997). I will also refer to 'community-based organisations' (CBOs), by which I mean groups of people who know each other and are co-ordinating their activities in some organised way for mutual or reciprocal gain. CBOs may be formally or informally organised. Members are driven by subjective interests, and the extent of organised activities and numbers and individuals participating will vary over time as the situations they face change. Both NGOs and CBOs are agencies for local activities, including potential to contribute to peacebuilding, set up by interested parties. Being interested does not necessarily imply actors involved are self-interested, but simply that they have a set of concerns, priorities and beliefs that underpin the intention behind their actions. Esman and Uphoff have considered many forms of local institution as potential development agencies, 'ranging from local government bodies to rural enterprises' (Esman and Uphoff 1984:18). People's movements, membership organisations and market organisations such as co-operatives or trade unions are also seen as 'crucial intermediaries in development'. All these definitions can be challenged but they will serve adequately for now.
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