Untying The Gordian Knot: ICT For Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

"Information Communications Technology (ICT) in South Asia, as well as in the rest of the world, is an experiment in progress. Reading the wealth of literature on ICT, it is easy to forget that it is not a panacea for problems facing developing nations. However, peacebuilding processes in particular can be greatly strengthened if organisations, peoples and regions are connected in effective multi-sectoral and peace building networks and provided with active and open knowledge banks - with instant access to effective peace building approaches and case studies. This study argues that the defining characteristic of ICT in peacebuilding is that it enables information flows that not only radically subvert existing patterns of knowledge flows and power centres, but in empowering organisations, groups and individuals to produce and share information between others (and within sectors), helps bring a greater degree of cohesion, transparency and accountability to processes of conflict transformation that were hitherto unthinkable." Some valuable thoughts, a good set of basic tenets, an outstanding reference bibliography, and a general review of what makes for effective use of communication/collaboration tools in the peace-building process, make this a must read paper for anyone working in the development field. You will find this to be also a great resource for advocates of P2P and for those of you wanting to find out more about Groove and seeking tangible examples of how such distributed collaboration tools can be effectively put to use in many similar development scenarios. (2.81 MB Zipped Word file)