Overview

IOM works at the individual, community, and institutional levels to address the root causes, drivers and triggers of conflict and manage conflict dynamics by supporting violence prevention and resolution, community stabilization and social cohesion, and former fighter reintegration. Peacebuilding requires specific attention to complex and sensitive social dynamics, with special attention to gender, youth, and conflict sensitivities as well as issues of human rights and protection, restitution, transitional justice, equitable access to social services, participatory governance, and inclusive livelihoods. As such, IOM’s commitment to peacebuilding contributes to the objectives of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDPN) and the 'Sustaining Peace' agenda. 

Key Considerations

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• Restoring capacities for peaceful co-existence and prevention of conflict starts at the local level where the impacts of violence and conflict are most acutely felt. Advocating with, empowering, and capacitating local authorities to be accountable and responsive to the gender, age, and conflict-sensitive needs of communities can both ensure the development of local sustainable solutions to local problems and help close the space for exploitation of vulnerabilities.
• Government-owned and led processes are critical for peacebuilding. Prevention programmes should consider enhancing government capacities to adapt to local contexts and integrate long-term considerations, including those related to human rights. In addition to enhancing capacities and incentivizing governments at the national level, it is important to ensure that local government administrations and civil society groups can help direct communities towards grassroots solutions.
• Applying a whole-of-community approach can restore or strengthen resilience by building community trust and bonds, which can help prevent and/or mitigate conflict. This approach extends beyond merely ‘consulting with communities’. Instead, a whole-of-community approach relies on empowering communities to drive recovery and resilience strengthening themselves.
• The broad range of challenges that need to be addressed and opportunities that need to be pursued to achieve conflict prevention and related solutions requires multi-stakeholder engagement across the humanitarian, peace, governance, and development spectrum - both within government and in coordination with relevant national and international partners. While there is no standard universal approach, key features of a good coordination system will promote government leadership, prioritize comparative advantage and in-field capacity over mandate, and integrate a fluid and ongoing data collection and analysis process for programme re-adjustment.
• Data underscores all planning and implementation of solutions. It is key to advocate for and to promote political will and government ownership in order to depoliticize solutions, drive dialogue between the government and UNCT, and bring together multiple stakeholders to create comprehensive and tailored frameworks for analysis. Research, data and evidence can test the ‘common narrative’ and identify changing needs and contexts. 
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Relevance to IOM’s Emergency Operations

Displacement is one of the main consequences of conflict, requiring peacebuilding and recovery interventions attuned to the mobility dimensions of conflict. More than 40.5 million people sought refuge within and across international borders in 2020 due to conflict and disasters. IOM supports a diverse peacebuilding portfolio designed to prevent, manage, and resolve conflict as a driver of displacement and an obstacle to return and reintegration. 

Coordination

IOM’s peacebuilding work draws on technical competencies across the Organization to provide services and engage populations and governments to address underlying issues that contribute to conflict, such as lack of socio-economic opportunities, natural resource and land management issues, participation in civic and political life and inclusion of disadvantaged groups, and reintegration assistance - such as psychosocial and health support, shelter, socio-economic assistance, and restoration of critical infrastructure and government services.  

Operations

IOM has a robust peacebuilding portfolio designed to address socio-economic and political conflict drivers through improved government and community cooperation, including community policing, the facilitation of reconciliation and reintegration of former combatants (Disarmament, Demobilization & Reintegration), improving access to institutions and services, and building community resilience and social cohesion through community violence reduction and participation and engagement processes. Special attention is paid to conflict sensitivity and gender and youth specific considerations, as well as thematic work in human rights and protection, land, property and restitution, transitional justice, health, psychosocial support, and livelihoods across IOM’s peacebuilding programming. 

IOM’s peacebuilding toolbox is comprised of several distinct sub-sets of peacebuilding work: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Disengagement, Disassociation Reintegration and Reconciliation (DDRR) related work, preventing violent extremism (PVE), community violence reduction (CVR) and community-based conflict management, community policing for conflict management, security sector reform (SSR), and Community Stabilization in conflict settings. 

 

Example activities include: 

• Support to the security sector restoration, such as updating equipment, improvement of essential infrastructure, and reform through training of security forces/police; 
• Support for the peaceful resolution of land and property disputes; 
• Advocacy and information dissemination in support of access to justice and effective remedies, assisting States in meeting their obligations, training internally displaced persons (IDP) on their rights, and assisting IDPs in appropriately participating in the design and implementation of relevant measures; and 
• Establishment or re-establishment of essential administrative services and related human and technical capacities, such as support for the return of qualified nationals and the payment of civil service salaries and other recurrent costs. 

Lessons Learned / Best Practice

Case Study: Promoting Peaceful Transhumance in the Liptako-Gourma Region 

The Liptako-Gourma region (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) faces specific vulnerabilities and risks resulting from weak access to basic social services, repeated climatic shocks, and general insecurity in the region due to the presence of violent extremist groups. In this context, the high mobility of herders and their animals and their exploitation of resources exacerbates the situation, contributing to conflict. In response, IOM launched the “Promotion of Peaceful Transhumance in the Liptako-Gourma Region” project in 2020 to support the actors of the three Liptako-Gourma countries to prevent and effectively manage conflicts related to transhumance in the three border areas. To mitigate and prevent further violence, IOM utilized its long-standing experience in data collection to establish the Transhumance Tracking Tool (TTT) to map the formal and informal corridors and to monitor the transhumance flows throughout the region. Coupled with an early action system that involves local authorities, relevant line ministries, and herder representatives, the TTT helps inform all stakeholders about the potential of conflict ahead of a herd’s arrival in sensitive spots throughout the entire Liptako-Gourma region.  In addition, 10,000 people are benefitting from awareness-raising sessions on social cohesion, transhumance, and peace in Burkina Faso. 

Media

Contacts

Please contact the Peace and Recovery Division (PRD) in HQ at: PRDCoreGroup@iom.int.