Local Ownership:
What does it mean on the ground other than rhetoric


Local Ownership
•Involvement of locals in designing and implementation of peacebuilding
•Increases legitimacy of UN operation
•Increases sustainability of peace
•Debate between communitarian and liberal views of peacebuilding
•International actors tend to view from liberal stance
•Gap between theory and practice
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Asymmetric Relationship
•Donors have their own agenda before local involvement
•Asymmetry regarding the knowledge on local system

Who are the locals?
•Ambiguity of the concept
•Government institutions? Civil society organization? Indigenous peoples?
•International actors tend to focus on elites and ignore civil society
•Limited contact with rural population
•Legitimacy of local partners
•Problem of spoilers
•Capacity building
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The case of UNMIL



UNMIL
•Mandate to assist in reestablishing national authority
•Liberian Government has executive and legislative powers
•Involvement in justice system
•Capacity building
•Control of the whole process by Liberian Government
•80 percent of the population is outside of judicial reforms
•More interventionist approach would make more effective results
•Lack of leverage over Liberian government
•International aid was not conditional on progress

Thanks for the attention
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