Events

Edmonton: Building Local Capacity: Integrating Sustainable Strategies, October 24, 2006

Panelists for Public Dialogue:

  • Karen Foss, Peacekeeping & Peace Operations Group, Foreign Affairs & International Trade Canada
  • Professor Tom Keating, University of Alberta
  • Sup. John White, Director, International Peacekeeping Branch, RCMP
  • LCdr Albert Wong, Public Affairs Officer, National Defence; Former member, Strategic Advisory Team in Afghanistan
  • Emily Schroeder, Project Officer, UNA-Canada, Moderator

Overview of Discussion

The panelists for the public event as well as the participants of the closed experts’ roundtable earlier that day discussed issues related to local capacity building and sustainable strategies in UN peacekeeping. “Capacity building” remains fairly undefined in theory and in practice.

Throughout the 1990s, some countries hosting peacekeeping operations fell back into conflict once the mission ended. The relapse was attributed to a gap between peacekeeping efforts to increase security and stabilization, and efforts generally more associated with peacebuilding, such as governance and development. The lesson learned is that effective capacity building by the international community of local populations and stakeholders is crucial to achieving sustained peace. Operationalization would include transfer of knowledge, training, and education.

The need for local capacity building and integrated strategies is clearly reflected in the Government of Canada’s ‘whole of government’ approach, in which military and civilian resources work together in a focused and coherent manner. An advantage of this approach is that it presents different, yet coordinated capacity building strategies.

Sample of Recommendations

  • Peace operations—whether peacekeeping or peacebuilding—should not be considered as an end in themselves, but as a part of a long-term process towards conflict resolution.
  • To ensure the success of local capacity building in the future, it may be advantageous to explore the benefits of combining both a short-term and long-term agenda, i.e., combining deadline oriented progress with longer-term objectives.
  • There should be greater emphasis on the integrated nature of peace operations and on the transition between peacekeeping and peacebuilding.