Support for Civil Society Engagement in Peace Processes

Abstract

This review looks at the effectiveness of interventions specifically aimed at supporting civil society groups to participate in peace processes. Unfortunately, a number of major challenges were faced. One, donor support for civil society in peacebuilding situations can take many different forms (e.g. promoting social cohesion, reconciliation, community-level mediation, and so on) – this review found no interventions explicitly providing support for civil society groups to participate in peace processes. Two, interventions targeting civil society are often one/a few components in a far broader project or programme. Three, there is a dearth of evaluations of such interventions. These constraints make it very difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of these interventions and the factors driving success. The review focused on three contexts: Nepal, Yemen and Libya. These were chosen because of the parallels between them and South Sudan: all have/are coming out of violent conflict; there is heavy international involvement and support for peace processes; and the challenge in all is to bring about sustained peace. Because no intervention was found explicitly referring to donor support for civil society participation in peace processes, the review takes a broader perspective and looks at donor interventions targeting civil society and aimed at peacebuilding in those contexts.