Community-based Approaches to Peacebuilding in Conflict-affected and Fragile Contexts

This paper explores community-based approaches (CBA) to peacebuilding in conflict-affected and fragile contexts. How can CBA foster resilience, providing survival and coping mechanisms for violence, insecurity, and fragility? CBA seek to give communities direct control over investment decisions, project planning, execution, and monitoring, through a process that emphasises inclusive participation and management. The basic premise is that local communities are better placed to identify their shared needs and the actions necessary to meet them. Taking charge of these processes facilitates a sense of community ownership, which can contribute to the sustainability of interventions.