Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR)

The Tswalu Protocol: Principles and Guidelines for Peace-Building Missions

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The Tswalu Protocol recognises the ad hoc nature of international responses to armed conflict and state failure. This Brenthurst Foundation and the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) publication, instead of simply calling for more coordination, offers a set of principles and guidelines that future peacebuilders can use to help offset the inherent limitations of any multilateral operation.

A common approach to peacebuilding is needed. Peacebuilding is synonymous with 'stabilisation', the aim being to support countries emerging from conflict by preventing or reducing violence, protecting people and key institutions, promoting political processes which lead to greater stability, and preparing for longer-term, non-violent politics and development. Yet over the past 15 years peacebuilding interventions have fallen short due to a number of reasons, in part because there has been a lack of: security; strategic planning; a directing authority; cultural education and awareness of foreign personnel; local capacity; tolerance of risk; funding; and programmes for job creation and basic services.

The following principles should govern every sector of the international response for peacebuilding. Failure to adhere to a key principle has jeopardised the success of previous missions:

• Irrespective of how peace is secured in the short-term, if the host government cannot win the people to its cause, the peacebuilding campaign will ultimately fail.
• Operational coherence in peacebuilding demands prioritisation and agreement at the strategic and operational level.
• All actors involved in the peacebuilding process must submit to enforceable regulatory structures to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Success requires an understanding of what is realistically possible
• Trustworthy and impartial communication from the peacebuilding effort is essential to win the trust and support of the host populations
• Women, as a particularly vulnerable group which suffers disproportionately from conflict, are a key peacebuilding and conflict mitigation asset.
• The external actors and the local government require a common understanding of the host country's needs and the long-term purpose of the international initiative before prescriptions are devised

Successful peacebuilding requires the restoration of a functioning state by focusing on security, development and governance. The Tswalu Protocal identifies ten measures for improving the effectiveness of peacebuilding interventions, including:

• A 'campaign plan' owned and led by the local government - to which the military and other international organisations contribute - should be devised in the earliest phases of the intervention to create a coordinated and sequenced focus of effort.
• A top-level, government-led committee should be created at the outset of the mission to coordinate international and local programmes on governance, development and security.
• The host government is the lead nation. However, it is vulnerable to being overwhelmed both by local demands and external offers of assistance. Where this is threatened, external nations can be tasked in special security and development areas.
• Local empowerment should begin as soon as possible. There needs to be clarity on what technocratic and managerial capacity is lacking in order to understand what improvements and assistance are required.
• A detailed audit of the local economy is a priority for the early days of a peacebuilding mission and will help in programming donor support.

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The full document is available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Dari, Russian, Chinese, German, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian and Japanese.