Planting peace? How can development cooperation contribute? Perspectives from an environmental project conducted in Somalia
Koivula, Anne (2016)
2016
Master's Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research
Yhteiskunta- ja kulttuuritieteiden yksikkö - School of Social Sciences and Humanities
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2016-05-24
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201605251659
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201605251659
Tiivistelmä
This study concentrates on the contributions development cooperation can make towards peacebuilding. In other words, it examines the ways in which a development cooperation project conducted by civil society organizations (CSOs) in conflict-affected areas can, on its part, impact the advancement of peace. The fact that CSOs participation in activities related to both development cooperation and peacebuilding continues to increase renders this a current topic.
The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of the concepts development cooperation and peacebuilding and of theories on the interconnectedness of livelihoods, natural resources and peacebuilding; social capital and peacebuilding; and CSOs and peacebuilding. An environmental development cooperation project named Sahansaho which is conducted in Somalia and coordinated by the Finnish Somalia Network is used as a case study. The primary data mainly composes of six semi-structured interviews with individuals who have either directly partaken in the execution of the Sahansaho project or are linked to the project through their professions. Secondary sources include reports by facets such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) as well as relevant academic literature.
A combination of content analysis and frame analysis is employed in analyzing the empirical data. The analysis found that, in total, the interviewees utilize three different frames - the livelihoods frame, the social capital frame, and the CSOs as peacebuilders frame in making sense of the research subject. The thesis also concluded that although the impact of CSOs development cooperation projects on the advancement of peace might be rather small-scale, it links to elements which are important for the creation of sustainable peace. Since effects of a project oftentimes take a long time to actualize, it would be fruitful to conduct, for instance, longitudinal studies on the same topic as well as to examine how issues such as the size of a project s budget and the theme of a project influence the project s probabilities to build peace.
The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of the concepts development cooperation and peacebuilding and of theories on the interconnectedness of livelihoods, natural resources and peacebuilding; social capital and peacebuilding; and CSOs and peacebuilding. An environmental development cooperation project named Sahansaho which is conducted in Somalia and coordinated by the Finnish Somalia Network is used as a case study. The primary data mainly composes of six semi-structured interviews with individuals who have either directly partaken in the execution of the Sahansaho project or are linked to the project through their professions. Secondary sources include reports by facets such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) as well as relevant academic literature.
A combination of content analysis and frame analysis is employed in analyzing the empirical data. The analysis found that, in total, the interviewees utilize three different frames - the livelihoods frame, the social capital frame, and the CSOs as peacebuilders frame in making sense of the research subject. The thesis also concluded that although the impact of CSOs development cooperation projects on the advancement of peace might be rather small-scale, it links to elements which are important for the creation of sustainable peace. Since effects of a project oftentimes take a long time to actualize, it would be fruitful to conduct, for instance, longitudinal studies on the same topic as well as to examine how issues such as the size of a project s budget and the theme of a project influence the project s probabilities to build peace.