A. Checklist for Development of Projects with Catalytic Effects

Peacebuilding Fund(PBF)

Guidance Note 5.2

How to program for catalytic effects[1]

A. Checklist for Development of Projects with Catalytic Effects

This checklist is to help ensure that a proposed project complies with the PBF guidelines and effectively supports peacebuilding. All project proposals for PBF funding must specify the catalytic dimensions of peacebuilding that they aim to address.

Below is a summary of key catalytic dimensions that a peacebuilding project can try to address. It is followed by a table which provides some examples from actual peacebuilding programs to illustrate catalytic dimensions in practice.

Does the project propose to launch a new element to a peacebuilding effort?

This includes: taking first steps within a particular peacebulding effort, taking efforts to scale, expanding peace constituencies, creating new structures and/or producing linkages?

Does the project propose to unblock a stalled peace process?

This includes: Dealing with factors and issues that have been neglected and are preventing the peace process from advancing, engaging key parties previously not involved in the peace process or helping to implement peace agreements?

Does the project propose to undertake innovative, risky or politically sensitive interventions that other actors are unwilling to support but whichprepare the ground for future funding by other donors?
This includes: using untried, unproven or innovative approaches or undertaking efforts that are risky or politically sensitive.

B: Primary Dimensions of Programmes with Catalytic Effects, Subcategories, Key Questions and Examples

The table below presents the primary dimensions and subcategories of programmes aiming for catalytic effects. For each dimension and subcategory, the table provides key questions; furthermore, one or more examples are offered for each category.

The “key questions” column aims to prompt thinking about possible approaches that would produce catalytic effects.
The “examples” column provides brief descriptions of cases that illustrate the various categories. Most of these examples are drawn from real field experience, although some have been altered slightly to better illustrate the category.

I. Catalytic programming launches a new longer-term or larger peacebuilding effort that:
Subcategory / Key Questions / Examples (most derived from real examples, some “enhanced”)

Takes First Steps: Provides a first step in new work or revive previous work that addresses conflict factor(s) not yet addressed or neglected to date;

/ From a conflict analysis, what factors have been neglected or addressed inadequately so far?
What kinds of initial steps might get an important process started on one or more of those issues?
What factors have been worked on previously, but with additional work needed?
What efforts might launch renewed attention to those issues? / Getting Reconciliation Started. The peace accords deal with political arrangements, but there are no provisions for work on underlying issues of inter-group relations (reconciliation, perceptions, values and behaviours of tolerance, etc.). UNHCR and UNDP propose to work with the Ministry of the Interior to establish a National Reconciliation Commission to undertake programs of dialogue, workshops for youth leaders across ethnic lines, with parallel efforts in refugee/IDP camps and rural communities.
Launching Ex-combatant Training. A DDR process succeeded in demobilizing soldiers, but many remain in the capital city, hanging out in squatter camps and bars. Few have returned to their rural homes and most have no skills beyond fighting. The Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with FAO, international and local NGOs, plans to operate a farmer training program for ex-combatants, coupled with a program of land acquisition and initial equipment for cooperatives.

Takes Efforts to Scale: Provides the basis for later expansion or taking an effort to scale;

/ What kinds of efforts have shown some promise of success in addressing key factors of conflict—but at a small scale or limited geographic reach?
How might such efforts be promoted, enabling them to reach more people and/or a wider area? / Expanding from Pilot to Multiple Provinces. An international NGO, working in partnership with local organizations, established local dispute resolution committees as a pilot project in one province. The committees address interpersonal and small commercial disputes, and crucial land issues. UNDP proposes to work with the Ministry of Justice to develop legislation as the legal basis for ADR processes and to expand the program to additional provinces, working in partnership with the organizations already involved as technical advisors and trainers. PBF will fund an evaluation of the existing program, a feasibility study and drafting of legislation. The expanded program will be funded by other donors and the government budget.

Expands Peace Constituencies: Builds local/national constituencies that are committed to desired changes for consolidating peace

/ Based on a conflict analysis, which individuals or groups constitute key actors for peace?
To what extent have any of these groups been involved in supporting peace efforts?
Among anygroups left out of peace processes or actively resisting peace efforts, how might they be engaged in effective ways?
Are there natural constituencies for peace that have not been mobilized? / Getting Private Sector Support for Improving the Tax Base. Analysis revealed that the government was extremely weak and unable to deliver basic services to much of the country or to maintain essential security in many places. Further analysis showed that part of the difficulty was the lack of a sufficient tax base—and international assistance was drying up. The World Bank engaged the private sector to develop support for a more effective system of taxation and enforcement of existing tax laws, in order to provide resources for better government performance.
Women’s Organizations Build Bridges. Members of the national army had committed a massacre of civilians gathered for a political rally, killing over 200 and raping many women. In the run up to national elections, tensions arose between wives of the soldiers and wives of people killed and women who had been raped. With support from UNDP, international and local NGOs organized and facilitated dialogue among the two groups of women—who subsequently undertook a joint Women’s Peace Caravan to promote a peaceful election and broader reconciliation in the country.
Engaging the Diaspora. In recent year, Diaspora groups had been acting mainly as an exacerbating force in the conflict—providing enormous amounts of funding for rebel movements and political refugees in Europe and North America. At the same time, many in the Diaspora had been away from the country for many years and were no longer well informed about the realities on the ground. An international NGO decided to work with Diaspora groups in the US, Canada and Europe, bringing them into direct, facilitated dialogue with people from the opposing sides, both inside and outside the country. The process also explored potential positive roles in the peace process for the Diaspora community.

Create New Structures: Create new mechanisms, processes or institutions for handling key issues related to the conflict and future conflicts

/ Based on a conflict analysis, which factors represent potential threats of violence over time?
What capacity exists in the country for effectively addressing existing issues or newly emerging issues? How might such capacities be built or enhanced?
What needs to be done to integrate progress to date into key institutions and ensure their continuity? / Getting All Parties Involved in New Structures for DDR. The peace accords called for a DDR process. With support from the PBF, a multi-stakeholder DDR Steering Committee was established and completed a process of demobilization and return of child soldiers. The Steering Committee became one of the few mechanisms where all of the primary parties to the conflict came together on a regular basis. The process, however, required constant diplomatic pressure from the SRSG to ensure continued government support and participation. [See the issue of Ownership under “Preconditions for Catalytic Programming”]
Establishment of an Inter-Ethnic Council. In the aftermath of a war characterized by mutual massacres based on ethnicity and by a constant series of smaller incidents of inter-ethnic violence in the post-war period, UNDP supported the official establishment of a National Peace & Reconciliation Council. The Council was tasked with monitoring intergroup relations, intervening to address specific emerging disputes, and recommending new or revised government policies that could serve to ease tensions. It represented all ethnic groups and was comprised of respected individuals recognized as fair, some of which were skilled conflict resolution practitioners.
New Commission for Transitional Justice. The History and Memory Commission was established with a mandate to collect and archive personal stories of the civil war and to develop, with the national Ministry of Education, teaching materials at the primary and secondary levels about the origins and events of the war.

Produces Linkages: Links elements, people and/or resources not previously connected in a new way that enables greater change

/ Are there programmatic efforts, specific actors (individuals or groups), or elements that, if connected would create new momentum for peace? How might they be brought together in new ways? / Bringing Disparate Groups Together in New Synergies. In Mozambique, the Organization for Conflict Resolution (OREC) brought together local leaders, youth groups, women’s associations and sports organizations, provided joint training and established conflict resolution nuclei in several districts. They used this base, and their membership in the Electoral Observatory, to play a role in monitoring and defusing post-election violence.
Linking Local Levels with Elite Processes. In Aceh, pre-negotiations, negotiations and the resulting MOU might have remained only a vision of the elite. However, Aceh Monitoring Mission provided a stabilizing presence, supervised implementation of the security arrangements, disseminated information to the middle and bottom levels of the society through a news process and provided a forum for dialogue and dispute resolution.
II. Catalytic programming unblocks a stalled peace process by:
Subcategories / Key Questions / Examples

Dealing with factors and issues that are preventing the peace process from advancing or that threaten deterioration in the peace process;

/ What peace processes are currently underway? Where is progress being made and where are there points of difficulty?
What groups actively support the peace process—and which ones actively oppose it or remain neutral? What strategies for undermining or blocking are used?
Are there specific issues or topics that represent key blocks to the peace process? How might they be addressed and by whom? / Track 2 Processes Support Negotiations. Individuals associated with the official parties, but not “of” those parties engaged in a Track 2 dialogue and problem-solving process, facilitated by an international NGO specializing in negotiation and funded by the PBF. That process produced a series of recommendations regarding key points of impasse in the official negotiation process, enabling the negotiators to move forward.
Initiating Internal Dialogue Processes. The situation was fairly stable and a ceasefire agreement seemed to be holding, despite occasional violations. Attempts were been made to negotiate a broader agreement, but each time that it appeared that the parties were about to come together to talk seriously, radical elements within each side attacked the leadership for “selling out” to the other side, thus undermining peace efforts. The PBF funded two different local-international NGO groups to undertake a series of separate, quiet, off-the-record internal dialogue processes to address concerns about loss of fundamental principles or non-negotiable interests.

Engaging key parties previously detached, marginalized or excluded from the process;

/ Which groups have been active participants in peace processes? Which groups have been deliberately or inadvertently left out? Why?
What are the effects of leaving parties or groups out? What is the power of any of the groups to seriously undermine peace efforts, now or over time?
Which groups are difficult to reach, due to their political stance, geographic location, or hostility to contacts? What strategies might address them? / Engaging the Business Community. The peace process made very little progress until the business community finally realized that its interests lined up with peace objectives. Essentially, development and economic growth were stalled until some form of peace could be achieved. Encouraged by the SRSG’s office, a business coalition called on both sides (government and rebels) to engage in serious peace talks, eventually leading to an agreement.
Taking the Peace Process to the Grassroots. The peace process, although successful, was undertaken only among elite class representatives of political parties; civil society and local communities had no voice. In the face of resistance and outright refusals to cooperate with provisions of the agreement, the negotiating parties and the international mediation group, with support from UNDP, launched a process of citizen engagement, seeking input and suggestions about how best to implement the comprehensive peace agreement.

Implementing Agreements: Ensure that peace agreements or other instruments or laws are fully implemented.

/ What agreements have been reached—and among which parties? Which elements of the agreements have been fully implemented, and which have not been implemented—and why?
Are problems of implementation due to political will, lack of resources or skills, or new developments? What strategies might address any of these factors? / Honouring the Peace Agreement. Although there is a peace agreement in place, and elections scheduled, promises of more open political space and media freedom have not been fulfilled. A coalition of local civil society groups, international human rights NGOs and the regional organization that brokered the peace agreement brings pressure on the government to honour the agreements. The Mediation Support Unit (DPA), with PBF funds, channels funds through the regional organization to support the coalition.
Technical Support to Implement Key Provisions. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement called for the establishment of a new Land Commission and development of a series of new laws and regulations regarding land tenure, land use, communal and individual ownership modalities, and settlement of disputes. To support this aspect of the CPA, a joint FAO and UNDP project seconded technical experts and commissioned studies in cooperation with the new Commission. Later, the support project provided legal expertise for drafting the needed laws. In addition, an international NGO worked with the Commission and the Ministry of Justice to develop an alternative dispute resolution system at the local level and connected with the provincial level courts.
III. Catalytic programming undertakes innovative, risky or politically sensitive interventions that other actors are unwilling to support by:
Subcategories / Key Questions / Examples

Using approaches that are untried, unproven or innovative and show promise for making a significant contribution to the consolidation of peace;

/ Can we identify elements of “positive deviance” in the situation (instances that stand out as different to the “normal” cases—and in a positive direction) which may be expanded? For example, are there multi-ethnic communities that are experiencing close cooperation and good relations, while most others are under high tension?
Can we look around at other conflict situations and identify unusual (innovative) approaches that could be adapted to our situation? Where are people trying new things with some success? / Working Directly with Elite Groups. A former ambassador had developed close personal relationships with many of the key political leaders from all factions of a post-war country. He decided to try a new approach to working with political elites, namely an intense, highly participatory and transformative series of workshops aimed at personal change among key leaders. Ultimately, the goal was to change destructive elements of the political culture in the society—something no one else had even attempted to address, but an underlying cause of policies and practices of exclusion and marginalization that had led to a protracted civil war. While the results were not immediate and dramatic, there was a shift in the attitudes and interpersonal relations among the participants—and several specific initiatives grew out of ideas that emerged in the course of the workshops.

Undertaking efforts that are risky or politically sensitive, but worth it, considering the potential pay-off.

/ What conflict factors, dynamics or key actors remain “untouched” because no one has been willing or able to approach them?
Are there factors, issues or dynamics that everyone knows lie at the heart of the conflict—but existing initiatives deal only with more peripheral issues?
Are there peace efforts that clearly need to be done but that lie outside the mandates or permitted funding constraints of other donors? / Emergency Grant for Military Barracks. The living conditions of soldiers were deplorable, including lack of running water, leaking roofs, poor sanitation and no electricity. Judging that the situation could lead to the outbreak of violence among armed security personnel, the PBF funded an emergency grant through UNOPS for the immediate improvement of the military barracks, which no other donors had considered in a timely manner.

[1] With reference to: Programming for catalytic effects in Peacebuilding, A Guide, PeaceNexus Foundation for UNPBF (Sept 2012, Geneva)