NGOs in conflict prevention: experiences from the water sector in Ethiopia

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the contact persons and interviewees in Ethiopia for their time and insights; to Professor Yacob Arsano, Moges Shiferaw, and Allemmaya Mulugeta for essential fieldwork assistance; to Simon A. Mason, Professor Andreas Wenger, Bernhard Truffer, and Eva Ludi for constructive feedback; and to my family and Christopher Meyer for their encouragement. The study was conducted within the framework of the Individual Project 7 (‘Environmental Change and Conflict Transformation’ Subproject ‘Water’) of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South: Research Partnerships for Mitigating Syndromes of Global Change, which is co-funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Support from the Centre for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, is also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1. The term ‘conflict’ is sometimes used to refer to healthy disagreements and struggles. Here, however, it refers to ‘a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure or eliminate their rivals’ (Coser 1964:56). It means negative, unhealthy, potentially violent interactions between social groups; any other definition would render the term ‘conflict prevention’ meaningless.

2. According to Anderson (1999), when agencies focus on supporting social change, their programmes are focused on addressing political, economic, and social grievances that may be driving conflict. Such changes are seen as foundations for sustainable peace. Sustainable peace advocates a combination of justice, mediative approaches, and sustainable development (Lederach 1995).

3. In the words of Gandhi: ‘I non co-operate in order that I may be able to co-operate. (…) It harms no one, it is non-co-operation with evil, with an evil system and not with the evil-doer’ (quoted in Iyer 1986:47).

4. The Woreda (of which there are 523 in Ethiopia) is the basic unit of local government and has the legal mandate to plan and implement development efforts in its respective area.

5. To become member of the CRDA, development organisations have to meet certain criteria, one of which is the signing of the CRDA Code of Conduct, which is conducive for conflict prevention. Member NGOs can use CRDA as a platform for sharing experience, networking, and capacity building as well as gaining access to further benefits. Non-Christian NGOs are also members of the CRDA umbrella network.

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Rea Bonzi

Rea Bonzi holds a master's degree in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and is currently working for INFRAS, an independent environmental consulting group active in development work.