Investing in the transition from war to peace and relief to development has increasingly been advocated as the way forward in rebuilding war-torn societies. By providing opportunities for people to rebuild their lives and engage in constructive activity, the chances are greatly improved that people will be persuaded to disengage from conflict and discontinue active or passive support for war. But too often, agencies lack the institutional courage, practical expertise and financial backing to deliver on their rhetoric. As a result, they continue to do what they know best, based on what limited thinking, limited resources and limited donor support allow: quick fixes and project-driven relief programmes.
What is needed is a proactive, targeted and carefully designed approach to rehabilitation, which rewards peace, promotes a return to normality and presents concrete prospects for a conflict-free future. Agencies can use the local knowledge and understanding they have gained during the emergency phase, together with their post-emergency presence and their access to resources, to make the transition from emergency to rehabilitation programming and provide incentives for sustainable recovery. Regrettably, the noble ideals and cutting-edge developmental theories we frequently read and write about in project proposals, progress reports, programme evaluations and academic journals, find little foundation in the day-to-day reality of aid programming in places like Somalia.
This article is available from the Humanitarian Practice Network.
To cite this article: Deely, S. and Barakat, S. 2000. Forgotten, not Forgiven: Somalia’s Painful Transition from War to Peace. Humanitarian Exchange, pp.2-4.