SUMMARY EVALUATION

Danish Refugee Council Strengthening Women's Role and Influence in Peace-building and Conflict

Resolution in the Mano River Union and Cote D'Ivoire 2007-2008

Women Building Peace

Peace Committee, Gbapleu, Ivory Coast

Laura McGrew, Consultant 4 January – 5 February 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS I. LIST OF ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................................................................1 II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................................2

A. Overview....................................................................................................................................................................2 B. Findings and Conclusions......................................................................................................................................3

1. Activities and Products....................................................................................................................................3 2. Project Design, Management and Implementation...................................................................................5 3. Outcomes .............................................................................................................................................................5

C. Recommendations...................................................................................................................................................6 1. Peace Committees.............................................................................................................................................6 2. Border Monitors.................................................................................................................................................6 3. Income Generation ............................................................................................................................................6 4. Regional Peace Committees and Pacts.......................................................................................................6 5. Protection and Referral Mechanisms and Border Monitors.................................................................7 6. Training.................................................................................................................................................................7 7. Awareness Raising (Sensitization) ..............................................................................................................7 8. Publications/Awareness Training Materials .............................................................................................7 9. Radio......................................................................................................................................................................7 10. Cross Cutting Issues...................................................................................................................................7 11. General Program Design............................................................................................................................8 12. Project Management and Implementation.............................................................................................8 13. Surveys............................................................................................................................................................8 14. Recommendations for Future Projects .................................................................................................9

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I. LIST OF ACRONYMS 1325 - UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security AFJCI - Women's Lawyers Association in Ivory Coast AGBEF - Association Guinéenne pour le Bien-être Familial APM - Assistant Project Manger ARCPN - At Risk Children Protection Network CBO - Community-Based Organization CERAP - Research Center for Peace and Action CESP - Christian Empowerment and Sustainable Program CONGEDA - Coordination des ONG de Danané (Ivory Coast) CR - Conflict Resolution DRC - Danish Refugee Council ECOWAS - Economic Community of West African States GBV - Gender-Based Violence FGM - Female Genital Mutilation IDP - Internally Displaced Person IFS - International Friendship Service (Ivory Coast) IGA - Income Generation Activities IMO - I... Monitoring Office (Liberia) IP - Implementing Partner LFA - Log Frame Analysis LNGO - Local Non-governmental Organization MARWOPNET - Mano River Women Peacebuilding Network (Liberia) MGD - Ministry of Gender and Development MOU - Memorandum of Understanding NGO - Non-governmental Organization NCR - Norwegian Refugee Council PAHO - Programme d'Assistance Humanitaire et d'Orphelinat PB - Peacebuilding (or peace building) PC - Peace Committee PC - Peace Corps (in Liberia same as Peace Committee in Guinea and Ivory Coast) PM - Project Manager PRS - Poverty Reduction Strategy REFMAP - Réseau de Femmes pour le Maintien de la Paix (Guinea) RPC - Regional Peace Committee SFCG - Search for Common Ground SGBV - Sexual and Gender-Based Violence TOT - Training of Trainers UDECOM - Université pour le Développement Communautaire de Guinée WANEP - West African Network for Peace Building WBP - (DRC's) Women Building Peace Project WIPNET - Women in Peacebuilding Network

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II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A. Overview The Danish Refugee Council has been providing assistance and protection to displaced populations in Liberia since 1998 and activities in Ivory Coast from 2003, and a more formal regional expansion into Ivory Coast in 2006 and in December 2007 into Guinea. The Women's Peace Building Project was approved for funding by Danida in July 2007, with the Regional Project Manager (PM) arriving in August. The purpose of the Project is to” strengthen women’s peace initiatives and involvement in conflict resolution processes at regional, national and local level in Liberia, Guinée and Côte d’Ivoire”. The Project continued through December 2008, with an extension through January 2009. This evaluation is a component of the original proposal to evaluate the implementation modalities and activities and to assist in the lessons learned process. The evaluator visited the DRC Regional office, the three field sites (Nimba, Liberia; Danané, Ivory Coast; and Nzerekore, Guinea) and two of six communities in Liberia, six of twelve in Ivory Coast, and four of 13 in Guinea. The evaluation tools included document review, individual interviews and focus group interviews. In general, the WBP addressed and met all the general objectives set for this project, as well as additional objectives added during the course of the project. The project was extremely ambitious, with multiple activities, at different levels in three different countries. Additional activities were added, especially at the DRC level, as opportunities arose (such as working with two government ministries in Liberia to provide inputs to the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) on gender and peacebuilding). The proposal itself attempted to address most of the main conflict issues in this war-affected region, and brought innovative ideas and approaches. The needs of several groups of interest such as women traders and women ex-combatants were addressed and were included as beneficiaries. However, for any peacebuilding project, and especially a project of this breadth, the length of the project was extremely short. The project had varying levels of success, depending upon the country context, the DRC staff and office, and in particular the implementing partners. In general, the project was very successful in Liberia, the Ivory Coast and in its regional aspects, with results in Guinea being significantly weaker. The regional aspects of the project as well as the linkages between individual women within their groups and communities, as well as between women's groups were highly praised and appreciated by all interviewees, though as noted above the short duration of the project did not allow these to become deeply rooted. A well-known manual for program planning in the field of peacebuilding identifies five criteria for the effectiveness of programs1: the effort: 1) contributes to stopping a key driving factor of the war or conflict; 2) contributes to a momentum for peace by causing participants and communities to develop their own peace initiatives; 3) results in the creation or reform of political institutions to handle grievances; 4) prompts people increasingly to resist violence and provocations to violence; and 5) results in an increase in people's security and in their sense of security. This WPB has made significant contributions as described in all of the above criteria. The peace committees and border monitors in particular have clearly and in all areas contributed towards fewer instances of gender based violence, and have improved ties between peoples on all sides of the multitude of borders. The early warning systems created through the border monitors and the peace committees have already proven to have decreased and defused conflicts and human rights violations and these groups as well as other beneficiaries of trainings have pledged to prevent conflicts from crossing their borders (as had happened in the past). The great majority of participants have reported feeling more secure, and they have reported fewer security incidents. Other related institutions such as NGOs and the UN have been very positive about the role of these persons and have noted their positive contributions to peace and security. In most of the communities, the women have forged ties amongst themselves, often crossing ethnic and religious lines. Ties between key NGOs working in the field of women's peacebuilding have been created, or improved through the project design of joint country projects. Informal networks to handle grievances have been set up by the project, and efforts have been made to link these to government institutions. These efforts remain in their infancy however, and the

1 Search for Common Ground "Designing for Results" pps 107-8. http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/ilr/ilt_manualpage.html

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regularization, continuity and sustainability of the efforts (peace committees and border monitors) are yet to be ensured. One of the key conclusions of this evaluation is to prioritize continued funding or linkages with other institutions in order to continue and extend this initial work. All of the above conclusions are made with the following disclaimer, that due to the structure of the project and grant and reporting requirements, this evaluation was undertaken prior to final reports on objectives and internal evaluations being available to the evaluator. Thus these findings are necessarily incomplete on details of objectives and impacts achieved. Furthermore, it was not possible to visit all the project sites during the evaluation and in a few cases key staff members were not available for interview. However, the extensive in-depth interviews with a great variety of partners and stakeholders have allowed for general observations about the project and partners as well as a preliminary analysis of the theoretical and practical peacebuilding (with a focus on women) components of the project.

B. Findings and Conclusions The following section provides a summary of the findings of this evaluation. It is divided into several sections: Activities and Products; Project Design, Management and Implementation; and Outcomes. Although not included in the executive summary, specific findings are reviewed about a number of cross cutting issues: security; trade women; women ex-combatants; peace building and economic development; women’s conflict resolution skills, unity and self confidence; sexual and gender-based violence; and sustainability.

1. Activities and Products

a) Country Activities Peace Committees Peace Committees were the most successful aspect of the project - though rural committees were in general more functional than urban committees. PC members appreciated improved relations with local authorities. Local authorities often provided enthusiastic endorsements, as all village chiefs appreciated the PC’s, and said their work load was reduced. There did not appear to be significant differences between the enthusiasm or success of PCs that received IGA activities and those that did not. Reporting by and about the PCs conflict resolution activities was inconsistent and incomplete – although according to all interviews, the majority of them were functioning very well. The problems with setting up PCs in the larger town (urban) communities seemed to be related to a lack of communication and community, with less known about neighbor's activities, more coming and going (especially in communities close to borders) and fewer ties between local authorities and the people. Except for a few communities, many of the PC's are not yet at the point where they can be sustainable. PCs which seemed likely to continue may be influenced by the following factors: strong support from the IP (in providing good training, and frequent monitoring and support); strong support from the village chief/local authorities; rural settings more than urban settings; success in resolving conflicts; satisfaction with the results of the PC results to date; and increased prestige or increased self-confidence from the results. Peace committees still need to establish roles, rules and codes. An evaluation of peace committees set up by the NGO Search for Common Ground in 2003 – 2005 was reviewed after the conclusions for this evaluation were written, and findings on some points were remarkably similar Border Monitors The border monitors were seen by most interviewees as a very positive aspect of the WBP. Border monitors in general were satisfied with their roles and responsibilities, and felt they had made great progress and were now able to deal with human rights violations and to speak easily with the security agents. A BEST PRACTICE that seems to be developing is related to the 'complaint box mechanism’. A related document that was developed and has received positive feedback is a code of conduct for border monitors. However, the border monitoring system was definitely still in its nascent stages and there were also some difficulties encountered, most often related to compliance of security agents to the existing laws. Although the border monitoring was a success of the project, it was still in the beginning stages. It will probably not be sustainable, not least because the monitors were receiving a stipend for transportation and communication costs. Income Generation Activities Many rural beneficiaries noted their participation in the IGA as a strength of the project, as well as some government officials and local authorities. Income Generation Activities were the most challenging components of the WBP. By providing a larger number of people with training, then

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providing fewer, or in some cases none of them with assistance that had been earlier discussed, villagers and beneficiaries were very disappointed, mistrustful and angry. In at least one case observed the beneficiaries for IGA were not chosen in a neutral manner. In spite of the challenges of the IGA aspects, many observers, and not least the beneficiaries themselves spoke about the importance of linking the economic empowerment activities with the women's rights issues of 1325. Awareness Raising In general, all beneficiaries who were questioned spoke enthusiastically about the increased knowledge they had gained about women's human rights and aspects of 1325 such as women's role in decision-making and in governance. Many spoke about the increased solidarity between themselves, and the self-confidence they had gained. Many interviewees (as well as the interim PM) reported that cases of GBV and conflicts had been decreased as a result of awareness-raising. However in the absence of data about the numbers of conflicts that the PC have dealt with, and the entire numbers of conflicts in the communities, this is difficult to fully assess. Although the focus in this project was on women, some interviewees mentioned that it was important to include both women and men in the awareness raising activities. In Ivory Coast, several interviewees (including project staff and local authorities) gave the recommendation that government officials should routinely be included in awareness and training sessions so they can help reinforce the message to their constituencies. Radio Radio can be an important means of information dissemination and awareness raising, but there were some problems with implementation of this activity. Protection and Referral Mechanisms Referral systems that have been set up are a strength of the WPB although it is not sure if they will be sustainable. Inter-religious Dialogue Inter-religious dialogues were only undertaken in Liberia, but were often mentioned as a success story by the IPs. Exchange Visits Exchange visits were included in the WIPNET project in Liberia and were mentioned as an important success of the project. Market and Bridge Construction Although the original proposal included the rehabilitation of nine markets, and seven bridges and roads to be completed by DRC, due to budget limitations, it was decided not to carry out these activities, and only two markets were constructed.

b) Regional Activities Regional Peace Committees (RPC) - All interviewees were positive about the RPC meetings, though there were some minor complaints about the organization and quality of the food. The RPC leadership who were selected at the last meeting were from NGOs rather than from communities. Suggestions for the role of the RPC made by REFMAP for the most part seemed balanced and comprehensive. Information dissemination about the RPC could be improved. The RPC was a successful first start, but in such a short-term project will not be sustainable. There is a lack of momentum for follow up – But there is a clear need for further moral, logistical (transport at a minimum) and organizational support for the RPC if they are to continue (although the traditional pact work may continue independently). Regional Traditional Pact Meetings - The Traditional Pact Meetings were seen as a positive effort that should continue. There were several meetings held about traditional pacts, but as the elders and 'traditionalists' are primarily men, the main contributions at these meetings were by men. (The pact meetings were complemented by the gender-balanced peace committees as PC members were invited to the traditional pact meetings as well.) March 8 Peace Caravan and Peace Forum - Two of the (key) interviewees noted the Peace Caravan and Forum as being the highlight of the DRC activities. The strong spirit and solidarity of the women involved was inspiring to many.

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c) Training Training in general was much appreciated and was useful as noted by the results of the peace committees, border monitors and awareness-raising activities. Trainers who can speak from personal experience may be more effective. Conflict Resolution (CR) - All interviewees spoke about the importance of the peacebuilding and conflict resolution training and its value, especially those beneficiaries at the village level. Almost all interviewees felt that more training in CR was needed. Some peace committees felt confident enough that they wanted to replicate the training themselves in other communities. Border Staff - The border staff training sessions were a strength of this project. However there is also more training needed; several interviewees, especially the government officials requested regular (every 3 month) updates on training. Small Business - All beneficiary groups in all three countries who had received the small business training were enthusiastic about it, and requested more. Literacy - Literacy Training was the one of the most commonly mentioned strength by beneficiaries in all three countries, and as a highlight by some staff members as well.

d) Publications The publications were well received (poster and brochure on 1325 with drawings, and the poster on violence against women) and prominently posted. However, materials for people who are not literate were insufficient. Publications, newsletters and T shirts were produced late in the course of the project, and in insufficient numbers. Distribution plans were not clear. The newsletters were useful for an international audience and were highly praised by them.

2. Project Design, Management and Implementation Project Design - The program approach of twinning key partners proved to be a successful way to improve relations and coordination between key organizations involved in women's peacebuilding. The project was too short for the goals and objectives desired, as peacebuilding projects which ideally should result in the reduction of conflict, and individual behavior change should be at least 3 years of not 5 years in length. The project had too many, and too varied activities, as the PM, the DRC staff and the IPs had difficulty managing the large numbers and types of activities. Danida showed flexibility in allowing project changes across the life of the project which allowed the project to respond to timely opportunities. Project Site Selection - In general, the project sites seem to have been very well-chosen and complementary showing a remarkable coherence given the variation in factors of logistics, geography and history for each country. Beneficiary Selection - The process of beneficiary selection was somewhat inconsistent – in general adequate for peace committees, but for IGA unfair in some cases (in particular in two communities evaluated in Guinea). Implementing Partner Selection and Capacity - Prior ties to communities improved outputs and sustainability - When NGO IP's had existing projects, experience in women's rights and development, and had ties to the selected communities, the extensiveness and impact of this project was greatly increased. Partnerships produced enhanced results and built cohesion IP and DRC Staff Selection and Capacity - Project results were at times dependent upon the capacity, motivation and skills of individual project staff. Building Networks - A real strength of this program was the ability to build networks between individuals and groups at the local, regional and international level. Although building these networks is important, it can also be time consuming, and there can be problems with the deliverables, as different organizations have different project cycles, organizational cultures, and ways of working. Reporting - In general, reporting was inadequate and inconsistent Surveys - Although these surveys were quite impressive in their scope and organization, there are several improvements that could be made. Per Diems and Sitting Fees - The issue of per diems (travel and food reimbursement) and sitting fees caused problems.

3. Outcomes The project was a success and much appreciated by all interviewees. In Liberia the opportunity to work on the PRS was seized by the PM and indeed was a great opportunity to provide central-government based, real, substantial inputs to provide increased sustainability, other aspects of the project.

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However, the time taken for this task took time away from other organizational work. There was a transfer of change from the beneficiaries to the community members, as noted in the few interviews carried out of non-beneficiary community members, as well comments made by village chiefs and others. Conflict prevention mechanisms were set up. The outcomes of increased awareness of women's human rights are clearly being utilized by the women in all of the communities evaluated. In general, in all communities evaluated, there is now greater social cohesion, especially between the women, at the very least because people in the peace committees and IGA groups got to know each other in the trainings, awareness raising and meetings. As the women beneficiaries were very enthusiastic about their literacy training, they are now advocating (as during this evaluation) for continuing training, as well as other IGA projects and more training in PB. There was a problem with unmet expectations as many beneficiaries stated they expected more IGA assistance, more per diems, etc. In conclusion, the vast majority of the feedback about this Project was positive, as far as its design, implementation and ultimate outcomes. The major complaint was that it was too short, with too many activities and if it had been longer, the outcomes could be deeper and more sustainable.

C. Recommendations Below is a summary of recommendations, divided into categories based on the activity structure of the WBP.

1. Peace Committees · Develop standards for the peace committee roles, responsibilities and selection · Develop standards for reporting by PCs. · Peace Committees must be representative of the entire community · Consider carefully whether all or some of the PCs will receive IGA. · Consider other ways to provide some small incentives for the PC to continue working on a

volunteer basis. · PC members need sufficient training – including replication training. · Consider how to regularize the function of the PC (supervision, membership, rules, reporting,

affiliation). · Further discussion is needed as to the ideal way to form peace committees in the various

contexts, and how best to make them sustainable.

2. Border Monitors · Seek funding or another organization to continue to support the border monitors. · Border monitors on either side of their borders could benefit from cross-border meetings. · Produce a booklet with codes of conduct, laws, rules and regulations related to borders.

3. Income Generation · IP and DRC staff need adequate experience in IGA. · Do market surveys, by experienced, qualified researchers, and discuss with beneficiaries prior

to choosing IGA projects · In early stages of small business training, especially if IGA assistance is not provided, attempt

to link beneficiaries with other small loan/banking/micro-credit projects to enhance the value of the IGA, and to increase sustainability

· Decisions concerning IGA should ideally be participatory, but at least should be transparent and communicated to the beneficiaries.

· Selection of IGA beneficiaries should be done carefully, and based on transparent selection criteria.

4. Regional Peace Committees and Pacts · If the (Sub)Regional Peace Committee and the Meetings on Traditional Pacts (including members

from Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast) is to continue, they will need significant support for travel and meeting costs, and assistance with formalizing their purpose and existence.

· A distribution list should be set up for the reports of the RPC. DRC can reinforce this through meetings set up by field offices (in conjunction with IPs) to hand over reports and discuss findings, to reinforce linkages at different levels.

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· RPC members should be from communities, not from the NGOs serving them.

5. Protection and Referral Mechanisms and Border Monitors

· Regularize, document and disseminate referral mechanisms. · Disseminate information about the existing and developed protection tools to local and national

government bodies, UN, and other NGOs and stakeholders. · Use Border Monitor "Codes of Conduct' for all border monitors · Set up a 'complaint box mechanism' and reinforce the referral system for reporting complaints,

including the use of 'complaint forms.

6. Training · Provide early training, more training and replication trainings should be done by trainers in the

field, especially for conflict resolution. · Provide replication training by trained trainers (not just those alone who have participated in a

3 or 5 day Tot) in the villages using actual cases. · Provide CR training in several sessions over one year, to allow for practice and guidance

(accompaniment). · Literacy Training should be included as part of women's empowerment and peacebuilding

training. · Including PB training concepts in literacy training and small business training could reinforce

the goals of the project.

7. Awareness Raising (Sensitization) · Both women and men need to be included in the awareness raising activities. · If mass awareness events are organized, they should be complimented by small group work for

discussion in order to assess the impact of the various forms of awareness-raising. · Include government officials and local leaders in early awareness-raising so they can help

reinforce the message to their constituencies.

8. Publications/Awareness Training Materials

· The first steps of the project should be to produce a brief (one page) overview of the project at the regional level and each country level to facilitate discussions with various stakeholders.

· More materials with pictures or photos and simple words are needed for illiterate audiences, and these materials should be done in local languages; the early development of these materials is a BEST PRACTICE.

· DRC and IPs should have standardized formats for reporting successes highlights and lessons learned that can be used in newsletters and publicity materials.

· More materials for awareness raising sessions should be budgeted for so as to reinforce the trainings including posters and brochures for GBV and 1325 for both literate and illiterate audiences, and in different local languages.

· IGA/Small business training materials and peacebuilding materials can be produced with adult literacy goals in mind.

· Provide visual and auditory learning tools as much as possible.

9. Radio

· Radio dissemination should continue to be emphasized (as a good way to reach illiterate audiences), but clear MOUs with clear duties, responsibilities and budgets should be negotiated in advance, to avoid budget over-runs and problems with follow up on radio shows.

· Radio shows should be copied and reproduced for key partners such as the MGD. · Consult with NGOs doing radio programs (such as Search for Common Ground) when preparing

plans and contracts.

10. Cross Cutting Issues · Women can be effective change agents, especially when speaking from experience. · Coordination and networking in the general peacebuilding field is needed in the region. · The issues affecting trade women needs further exploration including assessment surveys and

participatory planning.

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· The incidence of SGBV is unclear-and further surveys should be done.

11. General Program Design

· When possible, select partners with prior experience in selected communities or regions, and with previous experience with the project type.

· The program approach of twinning key partners can be a successful way to improve relations and coordination between key organizations involved in women's peacebuilding. More time must be allowed for implementation and reporting. Specific meetings and structures could be designed to optimize the collaboration, such as residential training programs for key staff early on in the project.

· Ensure cooperative planning with partners at all stages, even with changes occurring during the course of the project.

· In complicated regional programs, extra budget items should be allowed for changes in the project, logistics and other issues such as translation of documents into several languages.

· Allow adequate time to recruit, train and sustain staff and develop detailed screening processes for both staff and partners. (See detailed recommendations in that section.)

· Conduct wide consultations for project site selection including with DRC, IP, local officials, other NGOs working in the region, community-based organizations (CBOs), community leaders, etc.

· Selection criteria for site selection should include: presence of women former combatants and trade women; violations of women's human rights or other conflicts; accessibility; willingness of authorities to allow the project and ideally, to cooperate; presence of adequate numbers of potential motivated participants; ensure another NGO is not also working on similar or overlapping issues.

· In order to enhance sustainability and not to put out of balance other NGOs and government systems, sitting fees should not be allowed for participants in meetings or trainings.

· The issue of payment or reimbursement for trainers who conduct awareness raising, border monitors, and peace committee members needs more discussion. In general, this should not be reimbursed for the reasons noted above, though as for peace committees if a great deal of private time is spent on such activities, other means of compensation could be explored (IGA, official recognition, etc.)

· Organize joint workshops and training on reporting, indicator development, and form development early on in the project cycle so that expectations and processes are clearly understood from the beginning.

· Decide on reporting formats early on, and hold frequent and delineated meetings with IPs on reporting, from the beginning.

· Provide formats for proposals to IPs early in the proposal writing stage to prevent delays and to facilitate discussions.

· Re-consider the approach of a WBP to the larger towns (urban areas).

12. Project Management and Implementation · During the assessment and planning stage at the beginning of the project, clear limits to the

budgets and plans should be shared to avoid too high as well as false expectations. · Beneficiary and Peace Committee selection must be transparent, fair and representative. · NGOs must ensure frequent and reliable communication with beneficiaries. · Integrate new projects such as the WBP into existing projects and staff to promote learning

and exchange and to enhance results. · When staff are hired, they should be carefully interviewed to ensure their personal compliance

with peacebuilding and women's rights norms. · Find ways to increase communication and exchange at IP meetings and to document lessons

learned from such exchanges. · When additional activities are added to a partnership agreement, make sure that

communications are clear, as well as roles, responsibilities and budget implications. · Speakers to public events should be invited in advance and clear information should be provided

as to the expectations.

13. Surveys · When undertaking surveys include a participatory pre-survey workshop with key stakeholders to

design objectives and questionnaires and write and circulate detailed minutes.

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· Provide funding in the budget for a research advisor or consultants who could assist IPs in developing their capacity to undertake in-house baseline surveys and data collection.

· Allow for training times for several key staff to be trained in research techniques, but with ongoing support also provided.

14. Recommendations for Future Projects The following recommendations were made for future projects. In general, all of the modalities and activities selected for this WBP are commonly and successfully used in other peacebuilding projects. If this project were being undertaken again, all of these activities would be recommended, with the suggestions and lessons learned noted above to improve design and implementation. A thorough conflict analysis in each community prior to implementation (or for any follow-up activities) using a participatory rural appraisal method would be highly recommended. Furthermore pre and post-testing of knowledge of villagers is needed to provide more information about knowledge gained. In future projects, more information should be gathered and reported as to what kinds of conflicts are being solved, by whom, how and for how long? A related topic is the identification and nurturing of ‘change agents’. A more analytical approach could be developed in the design phases of the project to make sure that all levels (top leadership, middle range leaders and grass roots populations) are involved and that vertical and horizontal linkages are made. More strategic thinking as to how the interventions in the projects are related to the larger national and regional peace processes would be advisable. Training in conflict resolution needs to be done in several sessions over time, supervision in the field must be included with practical conflict-solving, and specific sessions on training of trainers must be provided to optimize results. An issue that was not specifically addressed in this Project was transitional justice or accountability for past crimes – these could be addressed in future projects. More attention should be given to trauma healing and reconciliation (within the context of the various cultures and religions) in this post-conflict region. The linkages between peacebuilding projects and justice sector projects should be made more routinely, as they can both benefit. Studies of the traditional justice systems in relation to the current state of the formal (governmental) justice systems should be commissioned to better inform the projects. Future projects should also consider the role of youth as a group in strategic planning for building peace. The international extractive companies should be held accountable and be included in strategic plans for advocacy. Given the objectives of this WBP Project, there were some other activities that could have been used more widely such as exchange visits, inter-religious dialogues, joint community projects and story-telling activities.