By: Lina Imran, Ethiopia
What an amazing Thursday! With a very interesting lectures from William Stuebner and Dr. Valerie Rosoux who have so much experience in the field of Peace and Security, DDR, and Reconciliation.
In my view, the ideas I have learned about DDR theoretically do not necessarily apply to real world contexts. Understanding the specific contexts like the livelihood, power structure, attitudes and culture of the people could help us identify the need and the timing in doing re integration processes. One-size fits all approach can have the opposite result in actual implementation of the DDR processes.
During Valerie Rosoux’s lecture we learned about the ranges of issues reconciliation involves. To deeply understand the scope and limits of that particular case is important. She highlighted the point that the peace process does not always go in linear form starting from conflict management to reconciliation. It may as well change under circumstances and go along spiral. The process of reconciliation could take years and even generations to settle.
She chose to end her session with an insightful quote: “The truth we are looking for is like butterflies; in trying to fix them, we kill them.”