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Learning to build a sustainable peace: "local ownership" and peacebuilding practices. The case of justice reform in Haiti 

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Amélie Gauthier

Independent consultant working for the Norwegian Peacebuilding Center (Noref) on a project focused on Youth and Armed Violence in post-conflict settings. She was previously a researcher in the peace, security and human rights area of FRIDE. She holds an MA in International Cooperation and Project Management from the Ortega and Gasset Institute in Madrid and a BA in International Management and Finance from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Montreal. Prior to joining FRIDE, she worked as a political analyst for the Canadian Embassy in Madrid. She was assistant researcher for the book Perspectives from the Front Lines by George E. Irani, Vamik D. Volkan, Judy Carter (2006).
 

Madalena Moita
 

Researcher currently finishing her PhD Thesis on “The United Nations and Peacebuilding - the cases of Haiti and Guatemala”, at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). She holds a MA in Peace and War Studies in New International Relations (Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, Portugal) and a Graduate Studies degree in Political Science and International Relations (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal). She has worked for FRIDE (Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior) as a consultant – as well as for some other institutions, like NOREF (Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre) or the International Peace Institute – always with a focus on peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction. Currently she is working for the European Commission on several projects on Civil Society.

Abstract

The debate on local ownership in peacebuilding policies is relatively recent, inherited from the reflection on aid efficiency and sustainability. When focusing on its application at the field level, like in the Haitian case, it becomes evident that its inclusion in the peacebuilding doctrine of all major donors has not had a correspondence at the strategic and operative levels. This article is the result of a research in the field on how the concept of “local ownership” in peacebuilding efforts is put into practice and perceived by different stakeholders. The authors focused on the on-going Justice reform in Haiti before the Earthquake of January 2010 to better understand the dynamics between international and local actors, from the policy definition stage to their application at the country level.

Keywords

Peacebuilding; Rule of Law; Justice; Haiti; Ownership

How to cite this article

Gauthier, Amélie; Moita, Madalena (2011). "Learning to build a sustainable peace: "local ownership" and peacebuilding practices. The case of Justice Reform in Haiti”. JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 2, N.º 1, Spring 2011. Consulted [online] on date of last visit,  observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol2_n1_art5.

Article received in October 2010 and accepted for publication in March 2011