The Difficulty and Importance of Local Ownership and Capacity Development in Peacebuilding

The principle of local ownership is an established doctrine in international society. It is so in the field of international peace operations or a wider area of international cooperation. However, there are difficulties in achieving the principle in reality. Particularly because recent international peace operations often take place in fragile states, the achievement of local ownership is a highly critical as well as difficult goal. The perspective of "capacity development" is often emphasized in the field of developmental aid and has also been referred to in peacebuilding activities. But as in developmental aid, capacity development programs for peacebuilding also face theoretical as well as practical difficulties. This paper takes the position that international peacebuilders should not and cannot abandon the principle of local ownership and the perspective of capacity development, while it is a matter of course that we need to take into consideration the limits and the difficulties in conducting peacebuilding in accordance with the principle and the perspective. The paper thus identifies and analyzes the nature and predicaments of the principle of local ownership in peacebuilding and then discusses what kind of policy implications for capacity development ought to be found as a result.