This report was writted by Jennifer Gaskell, London School of Economics and Political Science and Build Up. It was produced as part of the project “Whole of Society Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding”. It reflects on the challenges that the EU faces in operationalising the uses of ICTs for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. It provides some examples of how innovative forms of engagement supported by new technologies can enhance initiatives in this field, and identifies opportunities for the adoption of ICTs in the EU’s peacebuilding and conflict prevention operations. The report contributes to identifying ideas and challenges for EU peacebuilding which will require further analysis and problem-solving beyond the life of this project. Based on the research and engagement with key stakeholders, it is part of a series of reports that investigate cases of best practices and lessons learned related to several cross-cutting themes that the project focuses on.

Introduction

Policy Context

The role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in peacebuilding includes the ways peacebuilding actors have used data, communication, networking and mobilisation technologies to support their peacebuilding activities (Gaskell et al. 2015). At the time of writing, during the scoping phase, we had found that little had been published in terms of the European Union’s perspective on the topic of ICTs for peacebuilding despite investment in innovation, for example through the Digital Agenda for Europe. As highlighted by a participant to the WOSCAP Round Table events in Brussels in June 2016, a Commission Implementing Decision of the 2015 Annual Action Plan (AAP) under the Instruments Contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSPs) stated that:

“In order to ensure effective participation from a wide range of stakeholders, to allow the voices of children, youth, and women to be heard in a powerful manner and to maximise the impact of the supported actions on target population, the potential of media and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for conflict prevention and peacebuilding, should be further explored across the 4 following priority areas. This relates in particular to using media and ICTs to promote connections and avoid divisions, to foster intercultural dialogue and share information on peace and reconciliation initiatives, to help children, youth and women raise their voices enabling them to play a role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, to bring together different actors and to prevent and mitigate conflicts. Harnessing media and ICTs for peace should be framed as an opportunity to offset and stand in opposition to the use of communications technology to incite conflict and propagate messages of hate and destruction.”

There was also a recent e-meeting of the European Parliament Development Committee in August 2016 where issues related to ‘ICTs in the developing world’ (agenda item 12) were discussed and a range of policy options presented. While the AAP statement above only specifies that the uses of ICTs for conflict prevention and peacebuilding should be further explored, and the meeting on ICTs in the developing world does not specifically address issues of conflict or peace, they evidence a growing interest from the EU on the matter. As noted previously, peacebuilding activities leveraging new technologies are gaining prominence around the world (Gaskell et al. 2015). But regardless of this concerted effort by the peacebuilding practitioner and donor communities, ICTs penetration rates, particularly those in the developing world and conflict affected areas, mean that these contexts are rapidly evolving in terms of how people and communities communicate and organise. The ability or potential to adapt to these changes is therefore an indicator of the effectiveness, sustainability and capacity for innovation of the EU as a peacebuilding actor.

Definitions and themes

In the Scoping Paper for this project, we defined ICTs as follows:

“Taking into account a rapidly changing technological landscape, we define ICTs as including the different types of hardware, software or systems that enable people to access, generate and share information. This extends traditional definitions to include technologies such as video games that provide new spaces to share information and communicate, or even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that provide new ways to collect information remotely, moving beyond a focus on equipment to the ways people use technologies.” (Gaskell et al. p. 4)

We then built a framework to try and describe the emerging practice of using technologies for peacebuilding by focusing on uses or functions of technology, rather than on the tools themselves, which evolve at a rapid pace. While this framework is relevant for gaining an understanding of emerging practice, it can be useful strategically to set out more specific policy intentions. In fact, the functions of technology we developed in the Scoping Study cover very similar objectives as those included in the 2015 AAP above (Gaskell et al. 2015).

In this Reflection Report, we shift the perspective to reflecting on the challenges that the EU faces in operationalising the uses of ICTs for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. First, as identified from the policy context and through engagement with key stakeholders, the report provides some examples of the recognition that innovative forms of engagement supported by new technologies can enhance peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives. However, ICTs rarely do so on their own, and work most effectively as a complement to broader peacebuilding processes, acting alongside or in support of other types of activities. Second, the smaller scale of existing levels of peacetech3 innovation through small NGOs, individuals or other organisations is in contrast to the larger scale at which the EU engages in peacebuilding and conflict prevention activities, in terms of funding, impacts and targets. Finally, we identify institutional barriers and opportunities for the adoption of ICTs in the EU’s peacebuilding and conflict prevention operations.

Report methodology

These themes emerge from two concrete examples, reviewed below, of good practices by small NGOs that have included ICTs in their peacebuilding activities with positive impacts: the work of Sisi ni Amani in Kenya and of Elva in Georgia. These examples were chosen for their 3We use peacetech as an umbrella term to refer to activities or initiatives that use technology strategically to help build peace, interchangeably with ‘ICTs for peacebuilding’. 2 relevance to the priority areas highlighted in the 2015 AAP above, the existence of many good practices recognised in the field by practitioners and academics, and the availability of information on evaluating their work. After describing the examples and highlighting areas of good practices, we discuss issues raised through these examples with themes that emerged from key stakeholder interviews, the Community of Practice event held in Brussels on 23 June 2016 as part of the WOSCAP project and a survey of the Build Peace community on its perception of the EU as an actor in the field of ICTs and peacebuilding.

This report builds on our Scoping Study (Gaskell et al. 2015) and aims to expand on the ethical and operational challenges and opportunities set out in the paper by providing a practice-based, operational lens to the discussion of the role of ICTs for the EU’s peacebuilding and conflict prevention activities.