Peace Research Partnership

Funded by UK aid from the UK government, the research focuses on a range of conflict-affected areas and approaches, including economic development, peace processes and institutional reforms. We are also looking at ways to address gender drivers of conflict. The programme will generate knowledge, lessons and recommendations tailored to policymakers and practitioners working on peace and security. Note, in its first year, the programme was known as Global Security Rapid Analysis – GSRA.

 

 

Conciliation Resources’ research and outputs will focus on:

 

Under this theme, in year one we explore how inclusion is negotiated in elite-led peace processes and political settlements in conflict-affected contexts. We also explore how international and national actors can effectively support inclusion. We look at the strategies used by different groups to influence political settlements, their experiences of achieving political change, and the formal and informal barriers faced. 

 

The research will draw specific lessons for supporting women’s participation in transition processes, as well as lessons on how partnership with local civil society organisations support inclusive and transformative peace processes and peacebuilding. 

 

These learnings will be drawn from local perspectives and analysis of five conflict-affected contexts; Nepal, Colombia, the Somali region of Ethiopia (Ogaden), Nigeria and Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea.

Through this research, we are assessing attitudes towards engagement with armed insurgencies, and the possibilities of making responses more inclusive of local stakeholders. Specifically, we are examining community perspectives in north eastern Nigeria on the local, national and international responses to the Boko Haram insurgency.  

 

We are also exploring how to provide practical support for engaging armed groups in peace talks, based on lessons learnt from Afghanistan. 

Under this theme, we are testing and evaluating how to consider issues of gender in conflict analysis and programming – the challenges and benefits of doing this. We will draw on the application of our  2015 Gender and Conflict Analysis Toolkit, developed in close consultation with Saferworld and International Alert, for the research. 

 

We are also examining the participation and fair inclusion of gender and sexual minorities in the structures of power and in peace processes. In Years 1 and 2 we will provide practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners, based on lessons from research on Pakistan, South Sudan, Somalia and the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in the South Caucasus.