Utilisation of Religious/Traditional Leadership

Abstract

The case study chapters of this volume examine four behavioural patterns of local peacebuilders as stated above. They examine how the four types of ownership promotion have been employed in the two areas, focusing specifically on the strategies local actors utilize to develop their unique models of peacebuilding, the distinguishing features of each of these, and their limitations as models of authentically local peacebuilding. This chapter examines a number of peacebuilding programmes developed by religious or traditional leaders in the local communities. Compared to other types of peacebuilders, religious or traditional leaders have more social capital for mobilising peacebuilding movements and their programmes frequently require less financial resources to maintain. Thus, the peacebuilding in this category is less reliant on external funding and more likely to demonstrate local actors’ unique perspectives and cultural contexts from the early stages of their development. At the same time, these leaders’ key interests and vision for peace are in many cases significantly different from the perspectives of other community residents, especially youth. Hence, their objectives for peacebuilding programmes may not be supported by wider communities. Based on this, Chapter 6 discusses the identity of local peacebuilders who work for the benefits of local communities but do maintain their own distinct interests and views.