STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT
PEACE PROCESSES
Development assistance as an incentive for peace
W Incentives for peace refer to all purposeful uses of aid
that strengthen peace processes. This can occur by
influencing the behaviour of the principal stakeholders,
strengthening the capacities of pro-peace constituencies,
changing the relations between belligerents, and
influencing the social and economic environment
underlying a peace process.
W Incentivising aid is, however, controversial in the
development community. Aid is supposed to be primarily
about poverty reduction and needs-based interventions,
and should not be driven by polical agendas.
W Development incentives must be substantial enough to
provide motivation for pro-peace development and
represent a credible counter-weight to political aspirations
and conflict economies.
W Development assistance has limited leverage on
belligerents in circumstances in which private sector
investment, diaspora transfers, or illicit economies offer
higher rewards than aid.
W Development assistance alone is not able to shape
incentives of belligerents; it needs to operate, with
guarantees of security, within a broader political strategy
adapted to the local context (see box 5).