Strengthening Community Engagement in United Nations Peace Operations: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Strengthening Community Engagement in United Nations Peace Operations: Opportunities and Challenges' highlights the opportunities, challenges and trade-offs peacekeepers have to face when deciding when, who and how to engage with people effectively at the field level. It argues that by integrating bottom-up and people-centric approaches as a core strategy in peace operations, UN practices can be more sensitive and responsive to local people. This will be more realistic if existing practices are incorporated into a coherent strategy, and if communities are involved systematically in decision-making.