Engaging with civil society is essential to building and sustaining peace. Civil society is not a monolithic unit. It refers to a “political space” for organized peaceful collective action that is voluntary and uncoerced, and which involves a “wide spectrum of societal actors motivated by shared interests, values, or purposes to advance common ideas and objectives”.

Key UN Policies & Guidance

UN Community Engagement Guidelines on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace

Civil society commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. It can comprise individuals, human rights defenders, journalists and independent media, community leaders, trade unions, women’s groups, youth groups, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, social movements and social media communities.

Efforts to engage with civil society need to be viewed as long-term processes. If engagement by the peace operations is ad hoc, the mission will not be viewed as a reliable partner. If the mission focuses only on consulting with formal and elite organizations, then it will marginalize and alienate parts of the population, particularly at the local level, potentially exacerbating tensions and conflict. The MLT needs to ensure that peacekeeping personnel adopt a holistic approach to engaging with civil society.

Peace operations can leverage civil society to improve the conditions for mandate implementation in order to prevent and mitigate local-level conflicts, provide early warning on human rights violations and abuses, devise protection strategies, facilitate local consultations and foster greater inclusiveness, particularly of women and youth. Such engagement can also positively enhance the perceived legitimacy of the mission. It is critical, however, that mission activities to engage with civil society take full account of the gender dimension, as well as the security risks to different groups. This might entail creating a space for the mission, UNCT and civil society leaders to consult, through mechanisms such as civil society advisory committees.

CSOs have an important role in shaping and transforming societies, but they may not always support the same objectives as the UN, particularly when it comes to a peace process. The MLT must be aware of the nature of the CSOs in their specific mission context and be careful to ensure that “the needs of all segments of society are taken into account” through an understanding of how different elements can and cannot contribute to building a peace.[1] The mission will therefore need to identify and map civil society actors on a regular basis in order to understand their interests and their ability to positively or negatively influence the peace process and its mandated tasks. These stakeholder analyses should inform planning processes and reflect a theory of change.

6.4.1 Operational activities

The key operational activities to support this output include:

  • Conducting actor mapping and needs assessment of CSOs at the national and local levels.
  • Establishing formal mechanisms for engaging with civil society that are structured and systematic, bringing together the mission, the UNCT and civil society, and which include specific consultation mechanisms for women and youth.
  • Integrating the outcomes from peace and conflict and stakeholder analyses into relevant UN and strategic mission planning documents.
  • Sharing good practices with civil society groups, producing practical tools and fostering a conducive environment for a robust civil society.[2]
  • Coordinating support by the donor community.

6.4.2 Benchmarks

Short-term

  • Mapping exercise and needs assessment of CSOs undertaken between mission and UNCT counterparts, linking actors to objectives, identifying levels of interest and influence, and the relationships between key actors, the host state and parties to the conflict.
  • Key actors with which to engage identified.
  • Segments of local communities, civil society and diasporas are informed of and consulted with about mission objectives to facilitate greater understanding of the mission mandate.

Medium-term

  • Structured and systematic mechanisms established for consultation between the mission, the UNCT and CSOs.
  • Civil society involved in collaborating with the mission through early warning and development of sustainable options for peace and reconciliation (in line with “do no harm” principles).
  • Agreement reached within the donor community to avoid overlapping priorities and actions.
  • Best practices applied by bilateral and multilateral partners.

Long-term

  • Climate of cooperation exists between civil society and the government in which each holds the other to account, with appropriate and proportionate checks and balances in place.
  • National and international policies and responses are better integrated with long-term development frameworks that include CSOs.
  • Civil society institutions are empowered and have the capacity to mobilize without fear of undue interference or pressure from government institutions.
  • Meaningful input into the political process by civil society actors established.

6.4.3 Responsibilities and coordination

The HoM will need to communicate that engagement with civil society is a priority across all mission components. It will also be important to engage the FC and Police Commissioner in discussions so that security concerns are heard and taken into account. If it is to be effective, such engagement with civil society needs to be systemic and coordinated. It should also leverage existing mechanisms, where possible, particularly those established by the UNCT. While other UN actors, such as UNDP and OHCHR, play an important role in supporting civil society, peace operations often have a very strong political mandate to work with civil society in the context of reconciliation, addressing local conflicts, promoting women’s participation and gender equality, fostering inclusiveness and reintegrating former combatants. Through sections such as Civil Affairs, Political Affairs, Public Information, Human Rights, Rule of Law, Gender, and Child Protection, a mission can play a positive role in supporting the growth of civil society in a post-conflict setting.

6.4.4 Resources

The Civil Affairs section will have a central role in engaging with civil society, given its focus on monitoring and facilitation at the local level, as well as confidence building, conflict management and reconciliation. It will also have a key role in ensuring that local voices are heard and in forging partnerships with civil society. Additional engagement will come from the human rights section (to ensure that civil society is not coming under threat or having its rights violated) and the strategic communications section (to support messaging with communities while keeping the national authorities informed about different activities), where appropriate. Bilateral partners may also be involved in supporting CSOs, depending on donor interests.

6.4.5 Challenges and risks

  • Strengthening or rebuilding civil society is a long-term process. Peacekeeping operations can only, at best, provide initial support. The challenge should be approached with humility, deference to local knowledge and avoidance of international and donor hubris.
  • A polarized society is likely to have a negative impact on the emergence of viable civil society structures, as intimidation, real or perceived, may discourage members of civil society from pursuing their work freely and rigorously.
  • As expectations within civil society may be high when it comes to implementation of the mission mandate, messaging needs to be carefully managed.
  • Similarly, as CSOs may expect support in the form of financial resources, the mission will need to manage these expectations, which may involve providing information on external funding opportunities.
  • The host government may view civil society as a threat to its authority and attempt to thwart engagement efforts between the mission and civil society.

6.4.6 Considerations

Engaging locals versus elites

It is not possible for a peace operation to engage with all of civil society. It often only engages with a few elite people, normally based in the capital, who may deem themselves representative of a wider group, demographic or set of interests. This can cause friction, tensions and even conflict. The peace operation should ensure that it engages with civil society in a transparent but broad-based manner that is communicated at the national and community level. Engagement at field-office level will be essential to achieve this, but coherence of messaging will be challenging.

Navigating a polarized civil society and government caution

Civil society represents a diverse range of views and interests. This means that it is not necessarily neutral, and may be divided by the conflict, with different groups supporting different parties to the conflict. Th e MLT needs to be aware of this, and make assessments on engagement to ensure that the mission does not give the impression that it is inadvertently supporting one party or another. Engagement may also exacerbate tensions with the host government. Social media platforms have provided new outreach methods for stakeholders, but many countries have also witnessed a growth in attempts by governments to control civil society groups, which are competing for resources and legitimacy. A key challenge for mission management will be how to properly identify the various actors that can promote and strengthen peace, and to navigate the relationship with the host government where there are differences. Broad engagement across civil society is essential.

Supporting civil society while allowing it to stand on its own feet

A long-term view on supporting civil society argues that the most robust organizations should be free of any international support in order to maintain their local credibility.

  1. UN Security Council Resolution 2282, 27 April 2016, p. 2. ↵
  2. UN General Assembly and Security Council, ‘Report of the Secretary-General: Peacebuilding and sustaining peace’, A/72/707-S/2018/43, 18 January 2018, pp. 17–18. ↵

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Considerations for Mission Leadership in United Nations Peace Operations Copyright © 2021 by International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations. All Rights Reserved.

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