by: Elai P. Apale

     Election 2010 is the catchphrase of so many people nowadays. The candidates with their supporters have their hands full and ready for this big event. But there are many people who think of the negative impacts of politics in their lives. Are they sincere about the position to really run for it? Will there be changes for the better? Or will the situation be the same in the past?  These questions remain unanswered for so many years.
     Many, including myself think that using peace building strategy could be a vehicle for change.  It is a theory of change that deals with questions like: What are the causes of the problems? What needs to be changed? How can change be brought about? How does a particular initiative contribute to the desired change?  Practitioners and analysts discuss the meaning and the scope of peacebuilding and the most effective ways to implement it. As a result, while embracing the idea of peacebuilding, individuals and groups, tend to operate under different interpretations of what it means.
     To create a conducive environment for durable and lasting peace we must replace the spiral of violence and destruction with a spiral of peace and development. By this it needs the creation of such environment with three central dimensions.
     First, the structural dimension of peacebuilding focuses on the social conditions that foster violent conflict. Many note that stable peace must be built on social, economic, and political foundations that serve the needs of the populace. In many cases, crises arise out of systemic roots. These root causes are typically complex, but include uneven land distribution, environmental degradation, and unequal political representation. If these social problems are not addressed, there can be no lasting peace.
     Peacebuilding initiatives aim to promote nonviolent mechanisms that foster structures that meet basic human needs and maximize public participation. Everyone must have a broad participation in the selection of leaders and policies. It is important for governments to adhere to principles of transparency and predictability, and for laws to be adopted through an open and public process for the purpose of post-conflict peacebuilding.
     Second, the relational dimension of peacebuilding is reducing the effects of war-related hostility through the repair and transformation of damaged relationships. The relational dimension of peacebuilding centers on reconciliation, forgiveness, trust building and future imagining. It seeks to minimize poorly functioning communication and maximize mutual understanding.
     Many believe that reconciliation is one of the most effective and durable ways to transform relationships and prevent destructive conflicts. The essence of reconciliation is the voluntary initiative of the conflicting parties to acknowledge their responsibility and guilt.
     And the third, the personal dimension of peacebuilding centers on desired changes at the individual level. If individuals are not able to undergo a process of healing, there will be broader social, political, and economic impacts. The destructive effects of social conflict must be minimized, and its potential for personal growth must be maximized. Peacebuilding efforts must prioritize treating mental health problems and integrate these efforts into peace plans and rehabilitation efforts.
     During the peace operations in the early 90s, the UN has emphasized that peacebuilding is more than the elimination of armed conflict. It involves addressing the root causes of conflict so that actors no longer have motive to use violence to settle their differences. In this sense, peacebuilding “entails building the political conditions for a sustainable, democratic peace, generally in countries long divided by social strife, rather than keeping or enforcing peace between hostile states or armed parties.
     As agents of change,   peacebuilding measures should integrate civil society in all efforts and include all levels of society in the post-conflict strategy. All society members, from those in elite leadership positions, to religious leaders, to those at the grassroots level, have a role to play in building a lasting peace. Because peace-building measures involve all levels of society and target all aspects of the state structure, it requires a wide variety of agents for the implementation. These agents of peace-building efforts addressing functional and emotional dimensions in the civil society.
     We all play an integral role in peacebuilding efforts. The government of the affected society or country is not only the object of peacebuilding, but also the subject. Peacebuilding aims to transform various government structures; the government typically oversees and engages in peacebuilding process. A variety of the community specialists contribute their expertise to help carry out peacebuilding projects. Thus individuals in the society should fully function in order to attain the so called lasting peace. A peace that represent the core of our sacredness : the power of love to overcome hatred, the power of mercy to conquer vengeance, the celebration of our common humanity and the sacredness of human life and our calling to build a just, equitable and peaceful world.