A Joint Learning Process for Stakeholders and Insider Peacebuilders: A Case Study from Southern Thailand

Abstract

In 2012, two well-established international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) in the peacebuilding field, Conciliation Resources and Saferworld, published a joint report entitled “From Conflict Analysis to Peacebuilding Impact” (Hiscock and Dumasy 2012). This report was based on 18 conflict studies across a broad range of contexts, all focused on building the capacities of local actors to engage in participatory forms of conflict analysis as well as utilizing the insights gained for strategizing peacebuilding initiatives. The report’s main conclusion was that adequate conflict analysis is a key precondition for all types of effective peacebuilding initiatives. Two other notable conclusions were that the process and the ownership of the conflict analysis are as important as the results of the analysis. That study resonates with the current authors’ similar experiences in the context of the Insider Peacebuilders Platform (IPP) for the Deep South of Thailand. The IPP group was created at the beginning of 2011 as a joint initiative of a number of academic institutes in the Conflict and Peace Studies field, one state-based institution, and several academic and civil society organizations (CSOs). This platform was inspired by the observations of peace scholars and practitioners that, although civil society has been increasingly engaged in the region since 2007, few efforts have been put forward to bring the different actors together as a way to improve their joint strategizing and explore possibilities for more effective collaboration. Intensive discussions within the core IPP team initially focused on how best to develop such an approach in light of the earlier failures of several Asian Journal of Peacebuilding Vol. 2 No. 2 (2014): 277-296 Field Note