How have different countries recovered from episodes of violence? What practical tools exist for confidence-building? This chapter provides basic principles and a toolkit of options emerging from country lessons, showing how these can be adapted to different contexts. Key principles for sustained violence prevention and recovery are: inclusion (although coalitions need not be ‘all inclusive’); early results to help build citizen confidence; establishing the basic institutional functions that provide citizen security, justice, and jobs; and embracing pragmatic, best-fit options to address immediate challenges. Within these general principles, each country should tailor their own strategy based on: the types of violent threats faced; institutional challenges; combinations of international and external stresses; stakeholders who need to be involved to make a difference; and transition opportunities.
A core set of basic programme tools are available that can be adapted to different country contexts. These include: security and justice sector reform; anti-corruption measures; multi-sectoral community empowerment programmes; employment programmes; humanitarian delivery and social protection; and macroeconomic policy. Programme design should aim to link rapid early results for confidence-building with longer-term institutional transformation. Some lessons learned include:
- Multi-sectoral community empowerment programmes are important in building state-society relations from the bottom up, as well as in delivering development improvements.
- Prioritisation of basic security and justice reform programmes has been part of the core tools countries use to develop resilience to violence.
- Shifting back to basics on job creation goes beyond material benefits by providing a productive role and occupation for youth.
- Involving women in security, justice, and economic empowerment programmes can support longer-term institutional change.
- Focused anti-corruption initiatives demonstrating that new programmes can be well-governed are crucial for credibility.
National development strategies should assess potential external stresses and how to mobilise collaborative action to address them. National actions to address external stresses can be taken in security, justice, and developmental areas, such as:
- Citizen security: border cooperation; and military, police, and financial intelligence
- Justice: coordination of supply and demand-side responses; joint investigations and prosecutions across jurisdictions; and building of links between formal and informal systems
- Jobs and associated services: pooled supplementary administrative capacity; cross-border development programming; and social protection to mitigate global economic stresses.
Many of the challenges in relation to external assistance and the management of regional and global stresses are beyond the control of individual states. However, national leaders and their donor partners at the country level can help to mobilise external support. This chapter of the WDR 2011 should be read with chapter 9, which considers possible directions for global policy in relation to these issues.
