In February 2022, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), UNESCO, IICBA, Rotary Club and Inter- Country Committee Great Britain and Ireland – Nigeria organized peacebuilding training for Rotarians and Peace Advocates in Nigeria to lend Positive Peace knowledge and skills to participants for practical application in Nigeria. Demonstrate linkages between peace and economic development, climate change, youth empowerment, gender equality and other critical priorities.

Positive Peace is a solution to many of the common social and economic challenges affecting our world today. In this Presentation, we explain how community development projects can benefit from implementing the Positive Peace framework.

An understanding of the attitudes, structures and institutions that help to create peace is essential for government, community and business leaders and their stakeholders. Through research of more than 25,000 datasets covering 10 years, the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) has identified concrete strategies by which countries can invest in Positive Peace, thereby improving resilience, mitigating the risk of violence, and reducing the economic toll of conflict.

Through the delivery of workshops, project design and interventions, Positive Peace can guide governments, businesses and communities on investments in the eight Pillars of Positive Peace, strengthening the attitudes, institutions and social structures that create better developmental outcomes.

The Positive Peace framework can be applied in many settings and provides a framework to understand, and then address, the multiple and complex challenges the world faces. Not only is the framework applicable at the macro level for governments, it is also applicable and is used at the community level.

The Pillars of Peace provides a framework for assessing the positive peace factors that create peaceful societies. The taxonomy also forms an ideal base for measuring a society’s potential for peace. These positive peace factors can also be used to assess how supportive the underlying environment is towards development, as they are positively associated with developmental outcomes and therefore the fulfilment of human potential. The Pillars of Peace provides the ideal benchmark against which to measure the performance of the broader aspects of social development and a country’s overall resilience when confronted with social upheaval.

Peace can be viewed through the lens of both negative and positive peace. Negative peace, is the absence of violence or fear of violence, while positive peace can be defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that, when strengthened, lead to a more peaceful society.

Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies and is transformational in that it is a cross-cutting facilitator for progress.

The Positive Peace framework has been derived empirically through statistical analysis and mathematical models by the Institute for Economics & Peace, and as such stands unique in the world of peace studies.

Better economic outcomes, measures of well-being, development outcomes, levels of inclusiveness and environmental performance are all associated with Positive Peace.

Often peace can be thought of as something that is separate to development - or as just one aspect of development - which is delivered through training, mediation or conflict resolution practices. Through the implementation of the Positive Peace framework developmental projects automatically become peacebuilding projects. By focusing on strengths and not deficits, the Positive Peace approach differs from traditional peacebuilding approaches that often begin with conflict analysis or community analysis.

The emphasis of Positive Peace projects is on real action, led by the participants. There is limited value in participants identifying actions outside of their control. Participants also learn how to better think of their actions from a systemic perspective. This carries forward into other activities that they may do in the future. In addition, the framework is capable of communicating complex concepts and research based findings in ways that are simple, practical and yet wholly effective.

1. Well-functioning Government
A well-functioning government delivers high-quality public and civil services, engenders trust and participation, demonstrates political stability and upholds the rule of law.

Based on several factors, from how governments are elected and the political culture they engender, to the quality of the public services they deliver and their political stability. Strong relationships across a number of these indicators and sub-indicators demonstrate the interdependent nature of the various governance indicators. These measures are consistently linked to peace.

INDICATORS

• Government effectiveness, activities and the rule of law
• Connecting to citizens: the way government share its domains as its citizen, accountability, management of public resources, public voice, response to shock, community engagement.

2. Equitable Distribution of Resources
Peaceful countries tend to ensure equity in access to resources such as education, health, and to a lesser extent, equity in income distribution.

Equitable Distribution of Resources refers to income distribution but more importantly to whether there is equity and access to resources such as education and health. The UN’s Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) correlates with the GPI and even more strongly with the GPI’s internal peace measure. INDICATORS

INDICATORS

• Fair treatment
• Equality for all social groups, ethnicities, religions, genders.
• Access to vital goods and services
• Land, water, education, healthcare, justice.

3. Free Flow of Information
Free and independent media disseminates information in a way that leads to greater knowledge and helps individuals, businesses and civil society make better decisions. This leads to better outcomes and more rational responses in times of crisis.

Free Flow of Information captures the extent to which citizens can gain access to information, whether the media is free and independent, as well as how well-informed citizens are and the extent of their engagement in the political process. Peaceful countries tend to have free and independent media which disseminates information in a way that leads to greater openness and helps individuals and civil society work together. This leads to better decision-making and rational responses in times of crisis.

INDICATORS

• Free flow of information
• Freedom, independence of media engagement., knowledge of the political process
• Diversity
• Internet access
• Ability to express views
• Autonomy

4. Good Relations with Neighbours
Peaceful relations with other countries are as important as good relations between groups within a country. Countries with positive external relations are more peaceful and tend to be more politically stable, have better functioning governments, are regionally integrated and have lower levels of organised internal conflict.

Good Relations with Neighbours – Refers to the relations between individuals and communities as well as to cross-border relations. Countries with positive external relations are more peaceful and tend to be more politically stable, have better functioning governments, are regionally integrated and have low levels of organised internal conflict.

INDICATORS

• Individuals, communities and states
• Correlation with acceptance of the rights of others
• Internal, external relation
• Regional integration
• Attitudes to foreigners

5. High Levels of Human Capital
A skilled human capital base reflects the extent to which societies educate citizens and promote the development of knowledge, thereby improving economic productivity, care for the young, political participation and social capital.

High Levels of Human Capital – A broad human capital base increases the pool of human capital which in turn improves economic productivity, enables political participation, and increases social capital. Education in many ways is a fundamental building block through which societies can build resilience and develop mechanisms to learn and adapt. Mean years of schooling is closely associated with the most peaceful countries, however tertiary levels of education and the percentage of government spending dedicated to education is not statistically as important.

INDICATORS

• Skills knowledge and behavior
• Education
• Health
• Attitudes
• Factors impacting community contributions

 

6. Acceptance of the Rights of Others
Peaceful countries often have formal laws that guarantee basic human rights and freedoms, and the informal social and cultural norms that relate to behaviours of citizens.

Acceptance of the Rights of Others – A category designed to include both the formal laws that guarantee basic human rights and freedoms as well as the informal social and cultural norms that relate to behaviours of citizens. These factors can be seen as proxies for tolerance between different ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socio-economic groups within a country. A commitment to human rights and freedom are key characteristics of peaceful countries, a claim supported by very strong correlations with several indexes measuring human rights. Also important are societal attitudes towards fellow citizens, minorities, ethnic groups, genders and foreigners.

INDICATORS

• Formal institutions for rights, freedom
• Informal socio-cultural norms
• Tolerance between groups

7. Low Levels of Corruption
In societies with high levels of corruption, resources are inefficiently allocated, often leading to a lack of funding for essential services and civil unrest. Low corruption can enhance confidence and trust in institutions.

The resulting inequality can lead to civil unrest and in extreme situations can be the catalyst for more violence. Low corruption, by contrast, can enhance confidence and trust in institutions, which in turn helps to create informal institutions that enhance peace.

INDICATORS

• Low abuse of position
• Government, business, community, relationships
• Paying “under the table”
• Ignoring crime
• Political bribery
• Inefficient allocation of resources
• Breakdown of services
• Lack of funding

8. Sound Business Environment
The strength of economic conditions as well as the formal institutions that support the operation of the private sector. Business competitiveness and economic productivity are both associated with the most peaceful countries.

The strength of economic conditions as well as the formal institutions that support the operation of the private sector determine the soundness of the business environment. Business competitiveness and economic freedom are both
associated with the most peaceful countries, as is the presence of regulatory systems which are conducive to business operation.

INDICATORS

• Sharing resources in peace, equitable, efficient way
• Correlation between factors
• Infrastructure
• Business sophistication
• Innovation
• The quality of employment opportunity
• Public regulations

CONCLUSION

If Nigeria will attain Positive Peace, Policy makers, Policy implementers and all Stakeholders with a stake-holding interest in the Development of the country must work together to harmonize and strengthen the systemic working of all the 8 Pillars of Positive Peace for a more peaceful society.