War-torn Societies Project

The War-torn Societies Project aimed to assist the international community and national and local actors to better understand and respond to the complex challenge of rebuilding war-torn societies in post-conflict situations. It encouraged main external and internal actors in these societies to collectively analyse the complex interactions between peace-keeping, relief, rehabilitation and development activities, and between local, national and external actors. Participatory action-research was used as a tool to jointly define policies that could lead to a better integration of different forms of international assistance — humanitarian, economic, political, military — and to a better alignment of such assistance with local and national efforts.

The project was a joint activity of UNRISD and the Programme for Strategic and International Security Studies (PSIS) of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. It worked at the country level with Country Project Groups made up of representatives of main internal and external actors, and at the central level with a group of experienced policy makers and operational actors who constitute the project’s stakeholders. The project also worked in close collaboration with national and international research organizations which pursue similar objectives, and operated within the wider network of organizations concerned with post-conflict and peace-building issues.

The project is no longer affiliated with UNRISD and has its own Web site. To access the link to the project's Web site, click on "Weblinks" on the right.