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Civilian Conflict Management
Civilian Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building
Preface
The role of peace-building and civilian conflict transformation in development cooperation (DC) activities has grown apace over the past number of years. Alongside the dismantling of structural causes of conflict, support for mechanisms of nonviolent conflict transformation is a key new challenge for the DC community. The German Development Service (DED) gives peace-building and civilian conflict transformation a central position in ist mission statement. DED has been actively involved since 1999 in the design and implementation of the Civil Peace Service program spearheaded by the German government. In August 2002, DED launched a separate "Civilian Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building" sector to complement the work of ist existing sectors and has been supporting projects in this area for three years now. People often ask DED what exactly is meant by Civilian Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building and what activities DED undertakes in this area. These frequently asked questions prompted the publication of this brochure. It is an attempt to provide some insights into the DED's wide-ranging activities in this area and outlines the contexts in which DED peace workers work. It is too early at this stage to assess the impact of specific projects. However, as this brochure will show, there are definite cases where a modest but significant contribution to peace-building has already been achieved. Some of the projects presented here have changed - necessarily - during the time of writing in response to political events or evolving circumstances in a partner country. In any case, a publication like this would have had no room for a description of project evolution on the ground. As such, this brochure claims to be no more than a snapshot of DED-backed civilian conflict transformation and peace-building projects in the year 2002.
We hope this brochure will give the reader a glimpse of the often difficult but supremely important peace-building work of our governmental and non-governmental partner organizations and our German and local peace workers on the ground. These people constitute the capacities for peace and create a basis for sustainable development and a less violent future in many of our partner countries. They deserve our thanks and our tribute.
Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm
Managing Director
Lothar Rast
Head of Unit
Civil Peace Service
Civilian Conflict Transformation,
Peace-Building
Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED)
Tulpenfeld 7 D-53113 Bonn
Fon: +49(0)228 24 34-0
Fax: +49(0)228 24 34-111
E-Mail: Poststelle@ded.de
Internet:http://www.ded.de