What lessons can be learned from the use of participatory action-research (PAR) in post-conflict situations? This article from the Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management outlines the methodology and achievements of the War-Torn Societies Project (WSP)1. WSP’s work demonstrates that local ownership, capacity-building, partnership and respect for the dignity and rights of beneficiary countries can be made a reality. This has crucial implications for the way in which external assistance actors plan and deliver assistance in post-conflict situations.
WSP’s methodology involves initiating interactive research and dialogue, thereby bringing together the various actors involved in rebuilding a war-torn country. This methodology has provided benefits for both research and action: action becomes better informed, while research becomes more applicable to real-life situations. A perceived shortcoming of WSP is that the projects it has left behind have rarely been operational. To improve projects’ sustainability, continued local engagement is more important than institutionalising arrangements, while externally-initiated assistance should provide a platform to consolidate local work. External actors can support continued local engagement by creating a global network of external agencies, recipient projects and successor initiatives.
The WSP methodology functions on several different levels simultaneously:
- Research and analysis – local WSP researchers identify priorities for collective research and action. A participatory approach makes maximum use of available expertise and experience to align external assistance with internal priorities.
- Peacebuilding/conflict prevention – WSP offers various representative key actors an informal, relatively private space in which to discuss public policy issues. Research and dialogue thus helps form consensus, complementing conventional mediation.
- Good governance – by ensuring participation from a broad cross-section of society, WSP encourages an inclusive, democratic approach to problem-solving without directly challenging established power relations.
- Review and coordination – WSP offers aid agencies an alternate window through which to evaluate the impact of their programmes and the extent to which they meet local priorities.
In general, WSP’s action-research processes have achieved two kinds of important results. Firstly, the interactive research process has further developed understanding of specific topics, as well as general questions relating to the rebuilding of war-torn societies. Secondly, the processes of consultation and analysis have encouraged dialogue and relationship-building among key actors. The experience of WSP has also helped to develop concrete operational steps for agencies delivering assistance to war-torn societies. Agencies should:
- improve their understanding of the local reality and context through analysis and research and by listening and learning;
- periodically collate information gathered into a collective assessment of the situation and use this as a consensus-building tool among key actors;
- encourage the development of local capacities and opportunities for training and of formal and informal mechanisms for consultation and participation;
- be prepared to adapt individual programmes in response to emerging collective priorities;
- redefine periodically the form and focus of external assistance to crisis situations so that it supports, reinforces and protects local coping mechanisms; and
- organise periodically joint assessments, led by internal actors, of problems, resources and priorities. They should also review and reassess programmes systematically, in view of their impact on relationships and on conflict and peace.
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1 The War-Torn Societies Project (WSP) has since evolved into the NGO Interpeace (www.interpeace.org)
