UN post-conflict peacebuilding has "promising impact"

Judy Cheng-Hopkins, UN assistant secretary-general for peacebuilding support, hailed on Monday the global organization's efforts as having bright prospects for the future. "The agenda for peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict is demonstrating promising impact on the ground," she said. "Of course, we cannot compare the UN to the private sector, but surely many of these initiatives are increasing our effectiveness and creating a more business-like approach." She made the statement while briefing the UN Security Council at a meeting on post-conflict peacebuilding. The current UN peacebuilding agendas are derived from a 2009 report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the topic as well as a 2010 report on women's participation in peacebuilding. The 2009 report aimed to improve UN's assistance and support to national peacebuilding efforts in the first two years after the end of the primary conflict, she said. According to Cheng-Hopkins, a collaborative approach is now in place that supports the eventual selection of complementary leadership teams. What's more, since 2009 more than 20 senior UN officials have been surged to the field as temporary senior leaders in the immediate post conflict period. She added that this progress has helped to "minimize the loss of strategic momentum" in countries during the important post- conflict period. However, she said, some post-conflict leadership challenges do remain in countries that do not have Security Council mandated missions deployed on the ground. "Relatively calm countries that suddenly become volatile require the same sense of urgency and attention and sometimes circumstances will require a quick adjustment to the UN leadership, " she said. On women's participation in peacebuilding, Cheng-Hopkins said the UN has committed to giving 15 percent of UN-managed peacebuilding funds to projects that help empower women and encourage gender equality in order to help further the objectives outlined in the report. "History demonstrates that peacebuilding takes at least a generation to become truly sustainable," said the UN assistant secretary-general for peacebuilding support. "With these new tools and a culture shift in place, we may be able to help post-conflict countries beat the odds."