The six principles of Adaptive Peacebuilding

Abstract

The key to successful conflict resolution and peacebuilding lies in finding the appropriate balance between international support and local self-organisation, and this will differ from context to context. Those engaged in conflict resolution and peacebuilding should limit their efforts to safeguarding, stimulating, facilitating and creating the space for societies to develop resilient capacities for self-organisation. Adaptive peacebuilding is an approach that can help navigate this delicate balance between international support and local self-organisation. Peacebuilders, together with the communities and people affected by the conflict, actively engage in a structured process to sustain peace by employing an iterative process of learning and adaptation. The adaptive peacebuilding approach is aimed at supporting societies to develop the resilience and robustness they need to cope with and adapt to change by developing greater levels of complexity in their social institutions.