GROUP THREE

SOCIAL RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

1.Ibrahim Abdi
2.Mohamed Yusuf
3.Abdualahi Mohamud
4.Nageeye
BY DR. Ali yasin
 RESEARCH TOPIC

ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN

PEACE BUILDING.

CASE STUDY

( MOGADISHU-SOMALIA )
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This study explores in the field of civil society and peace-building since civil society is one of the
pillars of democracy and acts as a watchdog by shielding citizens from the arbitrary decisions of
the state and market economy. It is an emerging concept in the context of peacebuilding and its
benefits has been highly utilized by both international and local governmental and
nongovernmental organizations including global entities such as the United Nations. It is also
evident that civil society has received much attention as one strategy for reconciling communities
in conflict because of its inherent ability to foster an attitude of give and take, thus building the
practice of mutual concessions, shared benefits, and cooperation. Civil society, therefore, appears
to have curved a niche for itself as a catalyst for social inclusion, conflict resolution and peace
building in communities affected by poverty and conflict in different parts of the world. As an
academic field of study, it has attracted much attention leading to development of its own
concepts, principles and theories. See for example, (Lederach 1997; Galtung, 1996; Giulianotti,
2011).Although a robust body of theoretical knowledge has developed, there is need to study
practical cases so as to establish patterns of critical success factors and challenges that can form
the basis for further theory construction. Therefore Peace and stability have become a common
phenomenon occurrence in Somalia and various stakeholders including both national and
international Agencies like Local NGOs, UN and its agencies among others and are drawing their
attention towards ensuring stability. This research is focus on the role of civil society in peace
building in Benadir region to examine peace building focusing on advocates for change, reducing
direct violence, transforming relationship and capacity building and stability of local NGOs has
been looked at by their long term stability, promotion of confidence in promoting mediation and
reconciliation, post conflict and post disaster recovery and risk assessment. In this Chapter One
Outlines The background of the research, including: Historical background, Conceptual
background, literal definition, Working definition, Operational definition, Theoretical
background, Contextual background, Objective Questions as well as detailing its problem
statement, explaining the purpose and objectives of the study and understanding the key terms of
variables:
1.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The history and development of the concept of peace building has evolved over time to assume
different meanings for different scholars, policy makers and practitioners in different situations.
The concept of peace building was popularized by Johan Galtung in 1975 in his pioneering work
“The three approaches to peace: Peace keeping, peacemaking and peace building”. As a
sociologist, Galtung was interested in the causes of conflict in society and his work led to the
conclusion that the root cause of all conflict is the nature of social and economic structures and he
used the term “structural violence” to describe the type of conflict that arises due to institutional
structures. His work called for a structural change approach in creating a “culture of peace” in
society. Lederach (1997), another sociologist arguing along the same lines, proposed a grassroots
approach where local leaders, NGOs and international players take part in creating peace. He also
emphasizes the importance of building relationships among the involved parties, thus
encompassing the psychological, spiritual, social, economic and political aspects of a community.
In 1992, peace building entered the United Nations language when the then Secretary General,
Boutros Ghali presented a report titled “An Agenda for Peace “in which he talked of the need of
peacebuilding as a strategy to enhance the UN’s peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts (UN
Secretary-General, 1992)
The definition of peace building by some scholars and practitioners has left some confusion as to
what the concept really means. One school of thought believes that peacebuilding is a peace
operation undertaken where a comprehensive peace agreement has been negotiated with
provisions for addressing the root causes of conflict. This view sees peacebuilding as involving a
wide array of actors and activities. Others tend to see peacebuilding as relevant only to
postconflict situations. According to this school of thought, peacebuilding, is a process that occurs
at the end of a conflict's "life cycle," when the fighting has stopped, a negotiated agreement is in
force, and international peacekeepers are present. This is the position of peacebuilding that seems
to have dominated the UN until recently. Evidence from the literature, however, suggests that
peacebuilding should not be limited to post-conflict situations, nor should it be confined to
averting a relapse into conflict. Such a restrictive conceptualization may, in theory, undermine the
prospects for sustainable peace.
Civil society and its actors have gained widely in importance in development cooperation, at least
from the mid-1980s. This shift started with the increased involvement of voluntary agencies
or NGOs in development cooperation. This can be attributed mainly to the neo-liberal
development model (Debiel and Sticht, 2005) of the 1980s that has encouraged a highly skeptical
attitude toward the state and favored the privatization of state welfare and infrastructure services.
Thus, NGOs have been assigned new service functions, especially in the social sectors, for which
the state had until then been responsible. They have increasingly taken over operational tasks, in
line with efforts to reduce the role of the state or where state weakness is pervasive (Abiew and
Keating,2004).This trend was reinforced by the series of UN world conferences in the 1990s that
gave substantial incentives to found new NGOs or to enlarge the scope of existing ones. NGOs
were especially presented as alternative implementers of development assistance when states or
governments of partner countries were weak or performing poorly. The preference for NGOs was
due to their perceived political independence, flexibility and effectiveness in reaching
beneficiaries, in contrast with bureaucratic state apparatuses. Funding of official development
assistance channeled through NGOs has increased substantially, from an average of $3.1 billion
from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 1985/86
to$7.2 billion in 2001 (Debiel and Sticht, 2005). Other sources mention even higher
figures(Schmidt, 2000) as cited by Paffenholz T. (2006).
1.2 CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND

1.2.1 Lateral definition: According to oxford dictionary civil society in peacebuilding is a

variety of measures aimed at solidifying peace and avoiding future conflict in a society,
undertaken by civil society.

1.2.2 Working definition: Civil society in peace building is the establishment a strong platform
for the development of resilient peace.
1.2.3 Operational definition

Advocacy: Is a way for civil society actors to put important social and political concerns on the
public agenda and thus promote a positive societal change “Advocacy is considered to be one of
the core functions of peace building,” emphasize (Paffenholz & Spurk, 2015).

Inter-mediation: Is One of the original functions of civil society in the democracy discourse
based on Montesquieu is civil society as an intermediates in the communication between the
state/government and its citizens. In the context of peace building, the function extends to include
intermediation also between armed and societal groups. (Paffenholz & Spurk, 2014).

Monitoring: The monitoring function that civil society possesses is a prerequisite for other
functions to work, argue (Paffenholz & Spurk, 2015).
Peace Building: Refers to the constructive steps taken to settle disagreements that prompt
conflict in order to bring lasting peace It is for this reason, very important for civil society
organizations whose activates foster respect, equality, trust, reciprocity, norms of cooperation and
tolerance enhance constructive roles in post-conflict peace building and in conflict-ridden
societies (Edwards, 2014).
Service delivery: In armed conflict, the infrastructures of a state are often undermined or
destroyed. In these cases civil society often takes over the responsibilities of the state in assisting
the population and providing services (Paffenholz & Spurk, 2010).

1.3 THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

This part covers Peace building Theory, bottom up -Peace building Theory.

Peace building Theory

John Paul Literacy’s theories on peace building identify relationships as a central component.
Lederach also argues that one of the most important needs is for peace builders to “find ways to
Understand peace as a change process based on relationship building” (Lederach, 2014). Further,
he mentions that the need of peace building framework towards relationship-building and similar
processes is essential rather than a heavy focus on the political and legal aspects of peace
agreements, truth commissions and criminal tribunes. In the international community’s past peace
building practices, the focus has turned towards the political rather than the personal, which has
tended to mask the underlying psychosocial processes that mainly contribute to the willingness
and readiness of people to choose a path of peace and reconciliation rather than engaging in
further mass violence and/or abuse of human rights. As argued by (J. Lewis Rasmussen, 2013)
there is a need to set light to relation shipbuilding and reconciliation in which peace building can
take place (Rasmussen, 2013). Although relationship building is a long-term
process and it has to be started as soon as possible in order for peaceful achievements to take
place (Rasmssen, 2013).

Bottom-up - peace building Theory

Peace building through a ”bottom-up” theory is about integrating the various levels and spheres
of society where the goal is a unified social cooperation, which requires strong links between
society ‘stop-, middle- and grassroots levels. Effective peace building can thus not only be about
a 'neutral ‘intervention and peace agreement at the elite level, but must also include the
strengthening of local communities. The importance of this is in particular about changing
attitudes and values among citizens, which can be difficult to achieve through diplomatic
negotiations at the elite level between the parties, but perhaps easier through mediation at the
grassroots level of conflict (Ramsbothamet al, 2015). The approach also involves peace building
from below to link conflict resolution from a broader perspective than the state, where
international or global influences are linked to the local community. Interestingly, this perspective
can identify and support peaceful local cultural resources, traditions, customs, workshops and
institutions and work towards positive peace structures in conflict to create
1.4 CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

Benadir region is located in the south-east of Somalia and covers mostly the same area as the city
of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. Benadir comprises the 17 administrative districts of the capital
Mogadishu, which make it, by far, the most populated administrative region in Somalia. The
significant number of IDPs has contributed to the heterogenic ethnic make-up of the city.
According to the CIA Factbook, Mogadishu’s population was estimated to be 2 388 000 in 2021,
including between 500 000 and 800 000 IDPs.

Awdal

Wogooyi Galbeed

Togdheer

Nugal

Mudug

Galgaduud

Bakool Hiraan

^—Middle Shabelle

r9
Lower Shabelle

Lowei

Benadir/Mogadishu
1.5 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Bringing civil society on board to build a safe environment provides a pivotal foundation for
recovery and long-term peaceful development. Government institutions and prosecutors cannot
function sustainably without involving their communities and addressing concerns and needs of
the people (UNDP, 2013). (Nur, 2015)

For three decades since 1991, Somalia has been embroiled in a prolonged civil conflict that has
gradually transformed leading to loss of lives, displacement of communities and destruction of
properties. Despite being a nation-state i.e. the composition of the state is dominated by a single
ethnic group (Somalis), the conflict is yet to come to an end (Menkhaus, 2007). There has been a
proliferation of actors not only in the form of militia and terrorist groups, but also external factors
such as regional organizations, and other states pursuing different goals and interests (Abbinik,
2008). As such, there has is the need for civil societies to intervene in the conflict as neutral actors
focused only on achieving the ultimate goal of peace-building in Somalia. (Ahmed, 2020)

The consequence of The absence of central authority. clans, individuals, criminal entities,
businesspersons and sub-clans embarked on self-arming for purposes of both personal and group
protection or to enforce law as they desired to suit their interests. The militarization of civilians
and groups eradicated the little legitimacy and expectations placed on public institutions or any
institutional culture pertaining to the respect of law and human rights. Weapons trade increased
substantially through or across the border by arms dealers for several years (Bruton, 2010). This
accounts for the proliferation of arms in the hands of civilians and militia groups including the al-
Shabaab in Somalia. (Ahmed, 2020)

The purpose is any progress towards peace in Somalia will require the collaboration, cooperation
and trust between local population and the authorities. Additionally, any peace process will
require understanding between the different clans in Somalia with a special focus on challenges
facing youths and their potential in peace-building in Somalia. This study will therefore attempt
to bridge this gap by focusing on the role of civil societies are various stages
of peace-building such as Advocacy, monitoring, service delivery, socialization, facilitation, and
Inter-mediation in Somalia.

1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1.6.1 General Objectives
The general objective of this study was to investigate the role of civil society in peace building in
Banadir region,-Somalia.
1.6.2 Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the study were:
1. To find out the role of civil society monitoring on peace building in Banadir region Somalia.
2. To find out the role of civil society Advocacy on peace building in Banadir region Somalia.
3. To find out the role of civil society Service delivery on peace building in Banadir region
Somalia.
4. To find out the role of civil society Inter-mediation on peace Building in Banadir region
Somalia.
1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is the role of civil society monitoring on peace building in Banadir region Somalia?
2. What is the role of civil society Advocacy on peace building in Banadir region Somalia?
3. What is the role of civil society Service delivery on peace building in Banadir region
Somalia?
4. What is the role of civil society Inter-mediation on peace Building in Banadir region
Somalia?