Summary
Conflict is inherent in society. Conflict is not exclusively negative; it also provides creative energy for transformation and innovation. Conflict becomes destructive when it degenerates into significant violence or heavy coercion (the threat of violence). Sustainable peace therefore is not an idealistic picture of a society without conflict, but of a society that has the capacities, at all levels, to manage conflict effectively and constructively.
A Peace and Development Analysis (PDA) was conducted in 2013 for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea as a collaborative effort of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), the UN in Papua New Guinea through the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and its office in Bougainville. The PDA has been used to inform the drafting of the Peacebuilding Priority Plan for PNG and Bougainville and remains a very useful document to inform discussions and policy dialogue on peacebuilding in Bougainville. There were extensive consultations to develop the PDA. The PDA team interviewed more than 1000 people across Bougainville. It touches on many pertinent issues such as reconciliation, weapons, women and youth, central and local governance, the Panguna mine, district peace and development committees.
The exercise examined the following questions;
Where is Bougainville today with regard to the consolidation of peace ?
How strong today are the capacities to prevent new outbreaks of major violence? and 3. What is being done to ensure that the referendum will be smooth and that its immediate and longer-term aftermath remain non-violent?