The different roles women and men play in deadly conflicts and in efforts to prevent and resolve them remain under-researched and analysed. At Crisis Group, we seek to understand the relationship between conflict dynamics and gender identities, and to integrate all relevant perspectives in our analysis and policy prescriptions. We believe that proactively including deprive community voice in the field of security and post-conflict reconstruction is critical to building resilient societies and shaping solutions for lasting peace. We have long advocated the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution and subsequent resolutions on peace keeping in political leadership and within security forces; and increased minority participation in peace processes.
The Two Key Dimensions of Peace Building Processes
Peace building processes actually entails two main aspects:
1. Acknowledging the role of community leaders as peacemakers and peacebuilders in their community
2. Ensuring that public needs are addressed
Generally, international organization’s approaches to peace-building and conflict resolution can take the following forms:
1. Process of arbitration. This is a peace building process whereby the parties in conflict have lost total control over the outcome and their situation than when mediation is adopted. In arbitration, the arbiter is the decision-making authority. Outcomes of intervention are binding because they are legally based.
2. Process of conflict transformation. This process focuses on going beyond conflict resolution to building long lasting peace relationship in a post conflict situation. In other word, it seeks to reframe the positions of the conflict parties.
3. Process of collaboration. A process in which parties tend to work together on their own for the purpose of peace building through dialogue, planning and executing common projects.
4. Process of negotiation. It is a process in which parties in conflict systematically engage in dialogue to resolve the issue in question.
5. Process of mediation. This is a voluntary intervention by a third party, which is informal and non-binding on the parties. In this process, the mediator seeks to facilitate the process of peace building through mediation.
6. Process of adjudication. This is a peace promotion mechanism that involves the use of law court. In this approach, the judge is the decision-making authority. The outcome is binding on the parties in conflict.
7. Process of counselling. When personal conflict leads to frustration and loss of efficiency, counselling may prove to be a helpful antidote.
8. Process of collaboration. This refers to parties working together on their own accord so that peace building can be attained through dialogue and planning, and to execute common projects.
9. Process of conciliation. It is a process in which a third party intervenes in conflict. In this process, the conciliator is expected to communicate with the concerned parties separately with the aim to persuading them to embrace peace.
Our organization has adopted these approaches of peace promotion mechanism that can employ in peace-building and conflict resolution and include the use of peacekeeping operations, fact-finding missions, debates, diplomacy, representation, observer status, Create/expand the networks of young peacebuilders, Include young people voices in policy-making, Fund youth led peacebuilding.