AN EVALUATION OF “STRENGTHENING LOCALLY LED ” Funded during 2010-11 by the Department of Foreign and International Development (DfiD), United Kingdom Prepared for Peace Direct by Rosemary Cairns, M.A., CPF, May 2011

The evaluation of “Strengthening Locally Led Peacebuilding” describes four projects, funded by DfiD and carried out by Peace Direct’s local partners in DR Congo, , and , intended to promoting and strengthening locally-led peacebuilding. The report also reviews three Peace Exchanges, in Nairobi, London and Entebbe, and concludes with a general overview of these activities. The report shows very positive outcomes for this programme. The main benefits it points out are that: a) The four models created through this programme’s four successful projects will be useful to peacebuilders and donors around the world; b) this programme has created a network of locally-led peacebuilding around the world and represents a strong foundation for scaling it up; c) the analytical approach of the programme, in particular through the Peace Exchanges, has enabled local peacebuilders to identify common strands in their work, which offer valuable insights for international peacebuilding; d) the format of the programme - local peacebuilders supported by Peace Direct and international donors like DfiD – has enabled local peacebuilders to reflect on the bigger picture and see how their local peacebuilding work fits into more encompassing strategies. The four projects in the context of this programme were: • A participatory approach to demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of ex- combatants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC , carried out by the Centre de Résolution de Conflits, CRC . The main activities of this projects concerned creating Radio Clubs in small rural communities as a means for self-help, and various activities, many involving women, aimed at encouraging and enabling the return of ex-combatants and their social reintegration. • A community-based partnership between youth and religious leaders to bring together ethnic and religious groups divided by conflict in Sri Lanka , carried out by the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation, CPBR . This project developed the Young Visionaries (YV) Programme aimed at empowering youths, giving them skills in conflict transformation and linking their work to that of religious leaders and regional resource centres. • An awareness election programme that worked to change conflictual community attitudes in Sudan , carried out by Sudan Women and Development in Peace, SWIDAP . This project involved informing and mobilising communities about the elections, assuring that the elections took place peacefully, and promoting institutional and peaceful means to resolve conflict as alternatives to violence and a way to rebuild confidence within and among communities. • The creation of a conflict prevention curriculum in Zimbabwe , carried out by Envision and intended to avoid vulnerable youths being influenced into violent activities. This project was called Cool Heads (Warm Hearts) and consisted in developing a peace education curriculum focused on the out-of-school youth, which provided conflict transformation skills, active learning and an open platform for them to carry out discussions on social topics often judged as taboo. The four projects shared the following approaches to their work: • Providing training in conflict transformation as a basic building block for their work; • Carrying out specific and concrete activities that provide them with entry points into community work; • Emphasising on building relationships and trust with the communities; • Focusing on rebuilding relationships shattered by conflict; • Believing in the value of providing a better future for young people. The three Peace Exchanges offered an opportunity for local peacebuilders to share experiences, knowledge and support. These meetings enabled them to identify common themes to their local activities, indicators to evaluate the success of their peacebuilding work, adaptable models to replicate in different conflict and post-conflict situations, and strategies for monitoring and evaluation. These meetings also enabled local peacebuilders to analyse the benefits of their partnership with Peace Direct and draw common strategic directions for the future of their work. Rosemary Cairns’ describes these Peace Exchanges as an academy for the study of locally-led peacebuilding, which enabled participants to see a clear continuity between peace and development.