Centre for Conflict Resolution

Report Part Title: Civil Society Experiences in Peacebuilding

Report Part Author(s): LEE HABASONDA
Report Title: THE PEACEBUILDING ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Report Author(s): NORIA MASHUMBA and YALIWE CLARKE
Centre for Conflict Resolution (2005)

Stable URL: [Link]

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@[Link].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
[Link]

Centre for Conflict Resolution is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to this content.

This content downloaded from

[Link] on Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:16:59 +00:00
All use subject to [Link]
5. Civil Society Experiences in Peacebuilding
MR LEE HABASONDA, SOUTHERN AFRICAN CENTRE FOR THE CONSTRUCTIVE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES (SACCORD),
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

The concept of peacebuilding came into widespread use following the

announcement of former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali’s report, “An Agenda for Peace”, in 1992.

This report has been broadly interpreted over the years to include peacebuilding processes and the stages required
for transformation towards sustainable, peaceful relationships in post-conflict situations. Peacebuilding includes
conflict prevention, peacemaking (bringing conflicting parties to the negotiating table) and post-conflict
reconstruction initiatives focusing on nurturing sustainable peace. Thus, in post-conflict reconstruction processes,
issues such as strengthening democratic governance and addressing the structural causes of violence have
become central. It has become imperative for countries undergoing post-conflict reconstruction processes to make
arrangements for the holding of free and fair elections and establishing and strengthening institutions of
governance such as human rights institutions and dispute resolution systems.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, preparations are underway for the holding, in 2006, of the country’s first
democratic elections since 1960. The government is simultaneously involved in efforts aimed at developing and
strengthening governance structures that will support a return to the rule of law and the rehabilitation of basic
services. In Angola, the peace agreements and subsequent election of 1992 failed to guarantee lasting peace after
rebel leader Jonas Savimbi refused to accept the outcome of elections. Effective peacebuilding must also include
developing and strengthening conflict prevention mechanisms, for example, early-warning systems such as those
developed in West Africa by ECOWAS and civil society organisations.

This broad interpretation of peacebuilding requires different players to assume responsibility over its various
specialised components. Thus, governments and civil society both have a critical role to play in peacebuilding
processes. While the primary responsibility to ensure peace and stability remains that of governments, civil society
has become an increasingly important player that is visible in all aspects of peacebuilding, early-warning, peace
agreements, humanitarian relief efforts, strengthening of institutions of governance, and post-conflict
reconstruction efforts.

While the diversity of civil society groups can negatively affect their cohesion, this nonetheless constitutes one of
their major strengths. Enmeshed in the broad range of civil society organisations, from large and well-organised
groups to local community groups, is a plethora of expertise and resources vital to responding to the multifaceted
nature of conflicts. At the community level, locally-based civil society organisations have assumed a critical role in
combining indigenous approaches to peacebuilding with more conventional methods. Indigenous methods -
which are grounded in local customs and practices - emphasise an inclusive approach to peacebuilding that seeks
to ensure the participation of war-affected local communities in reconstruction efforts. Civil society organisations
that are in touch with local communities are able to reach marginalised communities which are often inadvertently
excluded from conventional peacebuilding processes.

In Mozambique, Associacao Instituto de Promocao de Paz (PROPAZ), a local NGO established in 1995 after the
cessation of hostilities in the Mozambican civil war, has been involved in efforts to track down demobilised
combatants who have returned to rural homes that were out of reach of government-led demobilisation processes.

THE PEACEBUILDING ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 27

This content downloaded from

[Link] on Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:16:59 +00:00
All use subject to [Link]
 PROPAZ maintains close contact with ex-combatants, involving them in various community-based peacebuilding
efforts, while simultaneously providing them with trauma-healing services. The project has enabled ex-combatants
to take charge of their own healing based on a combination of conventional and indigenous approaches. The latter
emphasises the cultural and customary practices of local communities. PROPAZ found that communal rituals and
spiritual appeasements conducted by traditional healers have been effective in efforts to reintegrate ex-combatants
into local communities. In the Child Soldiers Global Report, the government of Mozambique noted that
conventional treatments for psychological trauma contradict traditional African perspectives and often leads to
rejection and stigmatisation of ex-combatants by their communities.31

While these examples offer models that can be adapted to the peculiarities of local customs, indigenous
approaches have three major constraints:
• First, they tend to reinforce inequalities embedded in local traditions - particularly in terms of gender, age, class
and ethnicity;
• Second, they are often incompatible with conventional peacebuilding methods. For example, spiritual appease-
ment contradicts mainstream trauma-healing approaches practised in formal psycho-social interventions; and,
• Third, indigenous methods are not well-known to a wide range of peacebuilders. This is often because most of
the communities that uphold such practices lack the ability to document their insights.

Civil society must make a conscious effort to develop practical strategies for integrating indigenous peacebuilding
methods with mainstream peacebuilding practices on the continent.

The existence of many vibrant women’s NGOs in southern Africa has brought to the fore the experiences of
women in and around conflicts and peace processes. Women’s perspectives offer an interesting critique of
masculinity and its role in institutionalising violence in both national and family structures. To this end, women’s
organisations in southern Africa have played an important role in addressing gender-based violence. 32
Organisations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Women and Law in Southern Africa and
Women in Law and Development in Southern Africa run legal aid and/or counselling centres in which battered
women receive legal assistance and psycho-social support. Some organisations have “safe houses” for women.
Gender violence tribunals have been introduced in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe as a way of
sensitising the public, policymakers and law enforcement agencies on the adverse effects of domestic violence on
the advancement of women. Research and documentation on gender inequalities undertaken by WLSA have
examined social categories and power relations between women and men, including the relationship between
stereotypical social roles and violence. These contributions and relevant policy documents such as United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security of October 2000 could serve as vehicles for
transforming cultural practices and beliefs that impact on women in terms of access to resources and positions of
authority. There is a wealth of strong and vibrant women’s organisations in southern Africa that can contribute
significantly to peacebuilding processes.

In East Africa, women have played a significant role in promoting reconciliation in societies dislocated by violence,
particularly at the community level. Somali women have engaged in economic activities by pooling their resources
to support small-scale businesses. This close contact and confidence-building exercise was part of civil society’s

31 Child Soldiers Global Report, 2004 (available at [Link]

32 There is a SADC Protocol on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children. Seven SADC countries have identified the elimination
of violence against women as one of their national priority areas of concern: Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland
(available at [Link]

28 THE PEACEBUILDING ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

This content downloaded from

[Link] on Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:16:59 +00:00
All use subject to [Link]
determination to push for the Arta peace agreement in 2000, which led to the creation of the Transitional National
Government (TNG). Women are now regarded as “clan ambassadors” because they usually serve as the main
communication mechanism in disputes. The Nairobi peace process on Somalia has a sizeable representation of
women. Perhaps the most commendable of all these groups are the women of Sudan who, regardless of their
political affiliation in North and South, have forged a common agenda that supports negotiations by all parties in
the Machakos Protocol of July 2002 and the Naivasha peace process of 2004. Like “watchdogs” of these accords,
these women regularly meet to review the process and to promote issues related to women and peace.

These examples are encouraging because women have been active in informal peace processes such as
community dialogue, including promoting inter-cultural dialogue. However, women have often been missing from
the negotiating table. The inclusion of women at all stages of peacebuilding is essential to ensure social justice and
participation in institutions of governance.

The peacebuilding role of civil society can also be enhanced by the collective efforts of the strategic partnerships
of a broad spectrum of civil society actors. The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO)
has demonstrated its ability to maximise on this advantage by bringing together a group of actors drawn from
different sectors of society. The Swazi Coalition has used its collective moral authority to pressure the monarchy to
draft a written and democratic constitution, which will be enacted in June 2006. The SCCCO also played a critical
role in pressuring the monarchy to uphold the independence of the judiciary following threats to dismiss judges.
With the support of the women’s movement, Lindiwe Dlamini challenged King Mswati III’s traditional privileges to
abduct prospective wives through the judiciary, before the case was dropped.

Despite the political tensions in Zimbabwe, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) peace project
has facilitated the creation of linkages between civil society actors, opposition members and government officials.
Through the Cape Town-based Centre for Conflict Resolution, parliamentarians and politicians were provided
with conflict resolution training. By implementing a government-financed skills-training project that began in 2001,
UNDP conducted training in mediation and negotiation skills for youth groups, religious leaders, student leaders,
academics and parliamentarians. An important lesson here was that, as an international organisation, UNDP was
strategically placed to intervene in a politically-polarised society. With the restrictive political environment in the
country, Zimbabwean civil society actors have had limited freedom of expression and association to conduct
effective peacebuilding interventions. International organisations like the UNDP can thus sometimes act as neutral
parties in promoting peacebuilding in situations of political stalemate.

In Lesotho, the Lesotho Network of Conflict Management influenced processes leading to the landmark
constitutional changes that ushered in a new political dispensation following the political violence of 1998. The
LNCM forged links with the Lesotho Council of NGOs, the Transformation Resource Centre and other local civil
society organisations. LNCM later offered support to the Interim Political Authority, a multi-party body created in
the aftermath of the 1998 crisis with a mandate to establish better constitutional and political conditions for free
and fair elections in 2001. LNCM assisted the interim government with discussions at a representative forum on
electoral models; promoted dialogue between members of Parliament and Principal Chiefs within the districts;
and organised a conference on the question of a National Peace Accord for Lesotho.33 As part of the resolution of
the 1998 conflict, Lesotho underwent a major reform of its electoral model and adopted a new Mixed Member
Proportional system, which was used for the first time in the country’s 2002 general election.

33 Andries Odendaal, entitled Peacebuilding in Lesotho: An Analysis of Political and Social Conflict in Lesotho and the Role of the Centre for Conflict Resolution,
unpublished CCR report, July 2005.

THE PEACEBUILDING ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 29

This content downloaded from

[Link] on Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:16:59 +00:00
All use subject to [Link]