This fact sheet provides a snapshot of conclusions from a Policy Note produced as part of RESOLVE's Local Peacebuilding Initiative (LPBI). Often, international efforts that contribute to the prevention and management of local conflicts depend heavily on large-scale, expensive, and external interventions like peacekeepers, while under-investing in or bypassing traditional/customary mechanisms and resources that uphold locally defined values of peace, tolerance, solidarity, and respect. Recognizing that these traditional and customary practices themselves sometimes have their own legacies of violence and inequality, this policy note emphasizes the possibility of combining aspects of traditional peacebuilding mechanisms with international conflict management approaches to harness the benefits of both.

 

To learn more about the author's findings and recommendations, please refer to the RESOLVE Policy Note by MaryAnne Iwara: Hybrid Peacebuilding Approaches in Africa: Harnessing Complementary Parallels (2021).