Security Council

6643^rd Meeting (AM)

Briefing Security Council, Senior Peacebuilding Support Official Highlights

 

Organization’s Efforts to Help Post-Conflict Countries ‘Beat the Odds’

 

The United Nations agenda for action on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict — when threats to peace were often greatest — was beginning to yield promising results on the ground, a top official for peacebuilding support told the Security Council this morning.

Briefing the Council, Judy Cheng-Hopkins, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, stressed that the Organization’s peacebuilding agenda had been developed with the understanding that a coordinated, system-wide approach to the issue was required, given the multitude of actors that needed to be involved.

Against that backdrop she reported progress in the selection of leadership teams, noting that since 2009 more than 20 senior United Nations officials had been “surged” to the field as temporary senior leaders in the immediate post-conflict period.  The seamless leadership model used in Libya was also an example of the practice which had now become standard.  There were, however, extremely challenging crisis response and peacebuilding needs in countries that did not benefit from a Council-mandated mission, she added.

She said that progress had also been achieved in galvanizing the United Nations system and Member States around the common goal of improved civilian expertise in peacebuilding operations.  Internal efforts to clarify roles and responsibilities within the United Nations system for core peacebuilding functions were continuing.  Collaboration with the World Bank was also being pursued and issues such as drug trafficking and organized crime were being addressed. 

As for the Organization’s overall peacebuilding architecture, she said that the Peacebuilding Fund continued to demonstrate added value, especially in responding very quickly to opportunities as they arose, as evinced by recent allocations to Kyrgyzstan, Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan and South Sudan.  She added that the Peacebuilding Commission focused on improving impact in the field.

Turning to women’s participation in peacebuilding, she said women were central to peacebuilding — not merely to secure women’s rights, but because it was good practice.  Progress had been achieved in the area of women’s participation in mediation and political dialogue and in the area of the rule of law and protection.  More needed to be done, however to comprehensively engage and target women in economic recovery efforts.  More women mediators were needed, she said, noting that the United Nations had not appointed any women special envoys or chief mediators last year.

She said the agenda for peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict was demonstrating promising impact on the ground.  History had shown that peacebuilding took at least a generation to become truly sustainable.  “With the new tools and a culture shift in place, we may be able to help post-conflict countries beat the odds!” she said in conclusion.

Also briefing the Council, Sylvie Lucas (Luxembourg), Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission configuration for Guinea, said that in response to previous consideration of post-conflict peacebuilding, the Commission had adopted an action-oriented road map focused on reinforcing its impact in the field in the six countries on its agenda.  The Commission “was increasingly becoming a central political platform to promote a shared and coherent United Nations peacebuilding agenda”, she said.

The Council could benefit from the Commission’s experience and advice, she said, especially through its country configurations, in collaboration with the Working Group on Lessons Learned, through receiving more regular reports that the Commission was ready to provide, and to deepen discussions on the Council’s agenda.  The Commission had a clear role in bringing about the conditions that allowed for the withdrawal of peacekeeping missions, as well as the graduation of countries off its own agenda, discussion of which had begun on Burundi.

Welcoming progress made, Council members stressed that national ownership was key in peacebuilding efforts.  The international community should assist them in that regard, with full respect for their priorities. Peacekeeping and peacebuilding should be seen as an integrated effort they said, and stressed those relevant activities should therefore begin as soon as the situation on the ground permitted.

In that regard, speakers noted that it was important that the Council issued clear mandates in identifying the role of peacekeepers as early peacebuilders, in particular in the areas of security sector reform and the rule of law.  The Council should also draw further on the resources of the Peacebuilding Commission to integrate peacebuilding strategies in the earliest stages of peacekeeping operations.  One speaker urged more support for the Commission’s work and warned that its role “not be reduced to that of a fundraiser.”

Another key to success of peacebuilding was timely, predictable and sustainable funding, some speakers said, citing the good work of the Peacebuilding Fund, even though it could do more to kick-start peacebuilding efforts.  Enhanced cooperation by the United Nations and its specialized agencies with regional and subregional organizations should be encouraged, especially with the African Union and the African Development Bank.  Some speakers suggested also that the pool of experts the United Nations deployed should be broadened with civilian experts, including from the South.

Council members agreed that women must play a central role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.  Much more needed to be done in that area as well, including the promotion of women for leadership positions in peace processes.  UN‑Women and the Peacebuilding Support Office should closely cooperate on implementing activities on increasing the role of women.  Comprehensive economic engagement of women in economic recovery was not enough.  Political participation of women needed to be a high priority, while more peacebuilding funds for women’s empowerment and gender equality should be allocated.

Participating in the meeting were the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa, Gabon, Colombia, Portugal, United States, China, Brazil, India, Lebanon, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russian Federation and Nigeria.

The meeting started at 10:10 a.m. and adjourned at 12:05 p.m.

Background

The Security Council met this morning to consider post-conflict peacebuilding.

Briefings

JUDY CHENG-HOPKINS, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, said it had been two years since the publication of the Secretary-General’s report on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict and one year since his report on women’s participation in peacebuilding.  The first survey had aimed at improving the United Nations system’s support to national peacebuilding efforts and had been developed with the understanding that a coordinated United Nations approach to peacebuilding was required given the multitude of actors who played a role in those efforts.

Updating Council members, she said a collaborative approach was now in place that supported the eventual selection of complementary leadership teams.  Since 2009, more than 20 senior United Nations officials had been “surged” to the field as temporary senior leaders in the immediate post-conflict period.  Those arrangements had become standard practice for the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  The seamless leadership model used in Libya was also an example of good practice.

There were, however, extremely challenging crisis response and peacebuilding needs in countries that did not benefit from a Council-mandated mission, she said.  Relatively calm countries that suddenly became volatile required the same sense of urgency and sometimes required a quick adjustment to the United Nations leadership.

Progress had also been achieved in galvanizing the United Nations system and Member States around the common goal of improved civilian expertise in peacebuilding operations, she said.  Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Susana Malcorra had been leading a Steering Committee that oversaw the system-wide follow-up to the Independent 2011 Civilian Capacity Review Report and the Secretary-General had prioritized its recommendations focusing on national capacity, partnerships, accountability and agility.  Internal efforts to clarify roles and responsibilities within the United Nations system for core peacebuilding functions were continuing.  The Secretary-General’s Policy Committee had completed six reviews in the areas of:  reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons; security sector reform; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; mine action; mediation; and electoral assistance.

She said the 2011 World Development Report:  Conflict, Security and Development had created a new impetus for collaboration with the World Bank.  Natural resources in fragile States were often powerful drivers of conflict.  On 22 November, her office would host a round table discussion with private sector representatives from the mining and minerals sector, post-conflict Government representatives, non-governmental organizations and other experts.

The other new issue on the agenda was drug trafficking and organized crime, which undermined peacebuilding efforts and posed a direct threat to security and stability.  Earlier this year, the Secretary-General had established a Transnational Organized Crime Task Force.  The West Africa Coast Initiative was one positive example of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Political Affairs Department working together to support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and national Governments’ efforts in the region.

She said the Peacebuilding Fund continued to demonstrate added value, especially in responding very quickly to peacebuilding opportunities as they arose, with recent allocations to Kyrgyzstan, Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan and South Sudan.  The very timely and relevant review of the organization’s peacebuilding architecture last year had reinvigorated the working methods of the Peacebuilding Commission, which focused on improving impact in the field.  Work was also progressing in developing benchmarks or indictors for countries to transition out of the Peacebuilding Commission agenda.

Turning to women’s participation in peacebuilding, she highlighted the almost perfect working relationship between the Support Office and the United Nations Entity for Gender and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).  Women were central to peacebuilding — not merely to secure women’s rights, but because it was good peacebuilding practice.  The agenda had focused on seven critical areas that, if implemented, would ensure that women had the opportunity to play a crucial role in making peace sustainable. 

She said that progress in that regard had been made in the area of mediation and political dialogue as gender expertise was provided more systematically to ongoing conflict resolution processes.  There was also broad agreement among the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank of the importance of integrating gender into post-conflict needs assessments.

Examples of progress in the rule of law included provision of legal support and referral services to women in Burundi, Central African Republic, Iraq and Somalia and mobile court systems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she said.  The Peacebuilding Fund backed, United Nations Development Programme-implemented project in Sierra Leone supporting an “All Political Parties Women’s Association” to increase solidarity among women across party lines was impressive and progressive.  United Nations electoral technical assistance included a focus on assessing the potential application of temporary special measures, or “quotas” for women in public office.

More needed to be done to comprehensively engage and target women in economic recovery efforts.  More women mediators in peace processes were needed, she said, noting that the United Nations had not appointed any women special envoys or chief mediators last year.  There was a common commitment to allocate 15 per cent of United Nations-managed peacebuilding funds to projects that furthered gender equality and women’s empowerment as their principal objective.  The Peacebuilding Fund had recently launched a $5 million gender promotion initiative.

She said the agenda for peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict was demonstrating promising impact on the ground.  History demonstrated that peacebuilding took at least a generation to become truly sustainable.  “With the new tools and a culture shift in place, we may be able to help post-conflict countries beat the odds,” she said in conclusion.

SYLVIE LUCAS (Luxembourg), Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission configuration for Guinea, said that in response to previous consideration of post-conflict peace-building, the Commission adopted an action-oriented road map focused on reinforcing the Commission’s impact in the field.  With that, an expanded agenda of six countries and ongoing efforts to adapt its tools of engagement with the countries on its agenda, the Commission “was increasingly becoming a central political platform to promote a shared and coherent United Nations peacebuilding agenda,” she said.

The Council could benefit from the Commission’s experience and advice, she said, especially through its country configurations, in collaboration with the working group on lessons learned, through receiving more regular reports that the Commission was ready to provide, and deepening discussions on the Council’s agenda.  In addition to the follow-up on the 2009 Report on Peacebuilding, a similar reporting structure could be applied to the Civilian Capacity Review, early peacebuilding strategies or the follow-up to the 2011 World Development Report.  The Chair of the Central African Republic configuration, she noted, had written to Under-Secretary-General Susana Malcorra, suggesting to her to take that country and other countries on the Commission’s agenda as pilot countries for the Civilian Capacity Review.

The Commission, she said, could also help to provide an integrated perspective for taking into account the interdependence between security and development, as well as the social and economic situation on the ground in the countries on its agenda, cognizant of the fact that peacebuilding activities should start at the earliest stages of United Nations engagement.  By bridging the different points of the continuum between conflict, early recovery, transition and development, the country-specific configurations could play an essential role for strategic coordination. 

The configurations were already playing an increasingly important role in resource mobilization.  Regarding Guinea, for example, she was working with partners on solutions to fund the retirement of some 4,000 military personnel from the Guinean army to kick-start critical security sector reform.  Efforts were being undertaken to pursue more effective engagement of the Commission in that area; more must be done.

She expressed the Commission’s willingness to share the results of efforts to build partnerships with the African regional economic communities, or to contribute to deepening and strengthening the partnerships between the Council and those increasingly important actors.  Finally, she said, the Commission had a clear role in bringing about the conditions that allowed for the withdrawal of peacekeeping missions, as well as the graduation of countries off its own agenda, discussion of which had begun on Burundi, although several members of the configuration thought it premature.

Statements

IVAN BARBALIĆ (Bosnia and Herzegovina) said the contribution of United Nations peacekeeping to early peacebuilding was undeniable.  It was important to delineate clearly what kind of peacebuilding activities could be developed at the early stages of a peacekeeping mission.  The integrated mission planning process needed therefore to be improved.  The United Nations must also improve its civilian expertise for peacebuilding and clearly divide its roles and responsibilities for dealing with the core peacebuilding functions.  The role of the Peacebuilding Fund had demonstrated its significance with regard to quick response to immediate peacebuilding needs.  Although operational for just a year, the United Nations-World Bank Partnership Trust Fund had continued to support peacebuilding initiatives in the field.

He said timely, predictable and sustainable funding for peacebuilding was key to success.  Innovative approaches to funding in peacebuilding needed therefore to be explored and supported.  Cooperation between conflict-affected states and donors in terms of support for peacebuilding needed to be more structured and efficient, with lessons learned taken into consideration.  One-size-fits-all solutions should be avoided.  UN-Women and the Peacebuilding Support Office should closely cooperate on implementing activities on increasing the role of women in peace processes.  Comprehensive economic engagement of women in economic recovery was not enough.  Political participation of women needed to be a high priority, while more peacebuilding funds for women’s empowerment and gender equality should be allocated.

DOCTOR MASHABANE (South Africa) said peacebuilding was the responsibility of States, but the international community had the responsibility to assist countries on the basis of their priorities.  Therefore, the United Nations should acknowledge already existing programmes.  Although progress had been made in leadership for peacebuilding, more could be done, among other things in the areas of coordination and accountability.  The cooperation between Headquarters and country teams on the ground should be strengthened and close cooperation between the United Nations and Bretton Woods Institutions and other international organizations was important. 

He encouraged greater cooperation with the African Union and the African Development Bank, stressing that timely, sufficient and predictable financing was key.  Acknowledging the good work of the Peacebuilding Fund, he said the United Nations should use more sustainable mechanisms to kick-start peacebuilding efforts.  The pool of experts should be broadened with civilian experts, including from the South.  The relationship between the Council and the Peacebuilding Commission was crucial, and the Council should make optimal use of the Commission’s advice, which considering peacebuilding tasks in specific missions.  All United Nations peacekeeping missions should have some peacebuilding elements.  Women as peacemakers and facilitators should play a greater role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

NELSON MESSONE (Gabon) welcomed progress made this year in implementing the recommendations of reviews of peacebuilding and coordinating key actors towards common goals.  It was clear that enhancement of the Peacebuilding Support Office was needed along with better coordination of that Office with other actors.  He welcomed improvements in the utilization of the Peacebuilding Fund, as well as measures taken by the Council to engage with the country-specific configurations.  Links between peacekeeping and peacebuilding had been strengthened.  He stressed that it was vital that peacebuilding strategies put more emphasis on socio-economic policies that aimed to improve the situation of the most vulnerable and the reintegration of former combatants.  The training of young people and the advancement of women were particularly important in that regard.

Paying tribute to efforts being made to mobilize more resources for the Fund, he said that partnerships were crucial for the success of any peacebuilding initiative, particularly international financial institutions and regional organizations.  The United Nations must continue to play the leading role in such partnerships, as well as in strengthening relationships between national authorities and international peacebuilding actors.

NÉSTOR OSORIO (Colombia) said that identifying and using national capacities should be a post-conflict priority, and must be supported by effective, timely and appropriate civilian capacity, which would help the national actors to restore the rule of law and respect for human rights, re-launch basic services and undertake other critical tasks in a sustainable manner.  Support countries had received from the peacebuilding configurations in those areas was welcome.  Strengthened institutions and local capacity-building were critical, and should be accomplished through broader partnerships. 

He supported the establishment of a team that could identify obstacles in provision of agile, timely and effective systems to provide enhanced civilian capacity, strengthening contributions from the global South.  A sustainable long-term strategy that balanced international support and national ownership must be developed through open, broad consultations with all actors to meet the peacebuilding challenges of each country.

JOSÉ FILIPE MORAES CABRAL (Portugal) said peacekeeping and peacebuilding should be seen as an integrated effort.  Peacebuilding activities should therefore be started as soon as the situation on the ground permitted.  Progress had been made in identifying gaps and mechanisms in peacebuilding and the Peacebuilding Commission had brought consistency.  The Council should do more to take full advantage of the work of the Commission when establishing or renewing mission mandates.  Underlining the importance of fostering national ownership, he said strengthening national capacities for the core functioning of the State should be a priority in peacebuilding efforts.

Aid should take into account the social, economic and cultural aspects of the country, and should make addressing unemployment a priority.  He went on to say that mandates should be clear in identifying the role of peacekeepers as early peacebuilding in the areas of security sector reform and the rule of law.  Complex as peacebuilding was, the United Nations had already a fair share of success stories in assigning countries to transition from conflict to peace.  One such example was Timor-Leste.

JEFFREY DELAURENTIS (United States) said the strength of United Nations peacebuilding was dependant on the expertise of its field personnel.  He therefore welcomed the Secretary-General’s focus on leadership.  He also welcomed the Civilian Capacity Review implementation process which assisted in deploying qualified civilian experts to the field.  More could be done, however, to target skills and expertise available within the United Nations family and the wider international institutions, including the Bretton Wood Institutions. 

If United Nations efforts to build peace were to be truly sustainable, the participation of women was crucial, he said.  The United States was developing its national action plan on women and peace and security.  Women must be empowered as agents of economic, social and political transformation.  His country’s post-conflict development efforts recognized that women were essential drivers of the peace process.

LI BAODONG (China) said that much progress had been made in strengthening the United Nations work in peacebuilding, but great challenges remain.  In meeting those challenges it was most important to maintain full respect for the sovereignty of the countries concerned, who themselves had the responsibility for their emergence from conflict.  An integrated, targeted strategy should be adopted through strengthening partnerships with the countries concerned.  Priorities of the countries should be respected, and the root causes of conflict should be targeted.  Resources should be used most effectively, but adequate resources should be provided through better management and more innovative mobilization of funds.  Synergy with other international and regional organizations was critical.  He pledged his country’s continued support to United Nations peacebuilding efforts.

MARIA LUIZA RIBEIRO VIOTTI (Brazil), associating herself with the statement made by Ms. Lucas as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission Guinea configuration, said that a truly comprehensive approach to peacebuilding, which took into account all relevant development aspects, was needed.  The Security Council should draw further on the resources of the Commission to integrate peacebuilding strategies in the earliest stages of peacekeeping operations, in order to help countries restore institutional capacities and restore basic services at the earliest possible time. 

More effective resource mobilization was needed for regional efforts in that regard, such as the West African initiative to combat drug trafficking.  In addition, it was important to fully tap into women’s capacities.  She strongly supported the continuation of United Nations efforts in that regard.  She finally reaffirmed her commitment of her country, which was active in the Peacebuilding Commission, to helping bring sustainable peace and development to the countries on the body’s agenda. 

E. AHAMED, Minister of State for External Affairs of India, said that “the idea of peacebuilding essentially emanates from the experience of peacekeeping distilled over decades”, following enormous investments of manpower and resources in “multidimensional” operations.  For that reason, he stressed that the Council should effectively consult major troop- and police-contributing countries such as India both individually and through the Peacebuilding Commission while formulating and revising mandates.  India’s peacekeepers had invariably been early peacebuilders, and the country had shared its expertise with a range of countries that had embarked on the transition from conflict to peace, and it had partnered with the Commission actively and had made contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund.  It would happily continue those activities.

Noting the importance of partnership in peacebuilding, particularly in harnessing capacities from the global South, he stressed the importance of national ownership and international assistance for capacity-building.  He also underlined the importance of a holistic approach, continuous dialogue between countries on the agenda and the Commission, adequate and predictable funding, human resources, and technical assistance. 

It was also important that civilian capacities were enhanced and sourced with the requisite measure of ground experience.  For that reason, priority should be given to secondments from Governments of developing countries.  He looked forward to constructive discussions on the Secretary-General’s report on civilian capacities, which he stressed should take place in inter-Governmental settings and involve the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations — known as the “Committee of 34” — and the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

NAWAF SALAM (Lebanon) welcomed the positive measures in peacebuilding areas such as starting the Civilian Capacities Review and strengthening partnerships with the World Bank, but said that more needed to be done in the area of supporting national efforts in creating the conditions for sustainable peace.  Evolving circumstances on the ground might require a shift in the leadership’s profile.  Peacebuilding efforts were collective in nature and success depended on clarity in roles and responsibilities of national and international action.  Coherence and coordination were also essential.

He said the development of an integrated peacebuilding strategy should be based on analysis of the root causes of conflict.  A strong partnership between national and international actors was necessary to guarantee national ownership of peacebuilding efforts, especially in such core peacebuilding areas as the rule of law and security sector reform.  At the earliest peacebuilding efforts, the meaningful participation of women should be pursued.  Peacebuilding was often a long and complex undertaking, he said in conclusion, but success was imperative for durable peace and sustainable development.

MARTIN BRIENS ( France) said United Nations action in peacebuilding was not limited to mere restoration of peace.  Peacebuilding was essential to prevent a country from falling back into crisis.  Peacebuilding included capacity-building by sovereign States as national ownership was key.  Lasting peace often demanded reform in governance, justice and security.  Those reforms could not be brought to fruition without national ownership.  Strong coordination among stakeholders was also necessary.

He said advance work in peacebuilding was crucial and should be included in the early stages of crisis management activities.  The Council should therefore work on the quality of mandates that allowed for laying the groundwork for peacebuilding processes, such as had been done in missions to Côte d'Ivoire and South Sudan, among others.  The Secretariat should develop benchmarks and measurements for mission progress and exit.  Civilian capacity-building was key in peacebuilding in post-conflict situations.  Efforts of the international community should be guided by a spirit of partnership with, among others, regional organizations and civil society.

PETER WITTIG (Germany) affirmed that progress had been achieved in strengthening United Nations work in peacebuilding.  To make further progress, it would be necessary to continuously adapt peacebuilding to circumstances.  There was also a particular need to clarify the scope and mode of action of the Peacebuilding Commission, particularly in determining strategies to graduate countries from its agenda.  The Commission should also make sure that all actors were working on the same priorities.  It should be proactive in that effort by raising awareness.  “It must not be reduced to the role of a fundraiser,” he stressed. 

Collaboration on the ground with the World Bank must be strengthened, he said, and greater clarity was needed on how the Commission could increase aid effectiveness.  On civilian capacity, he welcomed recommendations of the Secretary-General’s report and its determination to use existing resources better.  South Sudan could be a test case in providing targeted expertise for building capacity.  On gender equality and women’s empowerment, he said that clarity and consistency in monitoring the impact of programmes was needed, along with sector-specific expertise.  In all areas, it was critical to bridge the policy and practice gap.  His country stood ready to continue to work on those challenges.

BARBARA HENDRIE (United Kingdom) also agreed that real strides were being made in helping post-conflict countries, but that much work remained to be done.  “All of us must work together to raise our game,” she said.  Strong, experienced and competent leadership in the field, in both mission and non-mission settings, was particularly important.  She pointed to political support that the United Nations Office for West Africa was providing as a good example.  In another critical area, coordinated advanced planning, she cited the example of work done on Libya. 

Regarding national ownership, she said it was important to identify local human resources as well as mobilize such resources from the global South.  Pointing to continued gaps in expertise in such critical areas as security, rule-of-law and judicial capacity, she looked forward to further guidance from the Secretary-General.  Integration of the work of the Peacebuilding Commission with the efforts of the funds and programmes of the United Nations system was another area that continued to require improvement.  Welcoming progress in utilizing the abilities of women, she affirmed that much more needed to be done in that area as well, including the promotion of women for leadership positions in peace processes.

ALEXANDER A. PANKIN (Russian Federation) said the principle post-conflict role of States was furthering national reconciliation and reconstruction.  In the majority of cases, however, countries exhausted by war did not have the capacity to address those issues, especially in the areas of security sector reform, the rule of law and poverty reduction, leading to a need for international assistance.  State ownership of any subsequent process was essential.  Experience in numerous situations had shown that countries must themselves identify priorities.  Coordinating international efforts in post-conflict peacebuilding lay with the United Nations, which required coordinated efforts by the agencies, States and international financial institutions.

Peacekeeping operations provided opportunities for peacebuilding, but peacebuilding went beyond the time-limited framework of peacekeeping operations.  That task lay with the specialized agencies of the United Nations, whose tasks must be mutually supporting.  He said such aspects of peacebuilding as security sector reform, enhancing the rule of law and developing civil capacities required further strategies.  Positive results had been achieved by regional players, in that regard.  A number of African countries that had overcome conflict, for example, had shared their experiences with other African countries emerging from conflict.  The Peacebuilding Fund was a mechanism of rapid financing in order to attract long-term support.  He announced that his country would continue its annual contribution of $2 million to that Fund.

Council President U. JOY OGWU (Nigeria), speaking in her national capacity, said the Peacebuilding Commission had applied a road map of actions to add value to peacebuilding efforts that identified resource mobilization and rebuilding of civil capacities as core efforts.  Six years since the inception of the peacebuilding architecture, the Commission and the Peacebuilding Support Office had developed a common vision for post-conflict peacebuilding.  In the push for results, however, stakeholders should not lose sight of the imperative to gear all peacebuilding efforts to the needs of the host country.  The results-driven approach complemented by national ownership was prerequisite for successful transition from conflict.  The Council must actively engage with Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office on lessons learned.  Over the past six years, the Support Office, the Fund and the Commission had helped nations back to their feet after devastating conflict.  Some lessons were applicable even to countries not on the Commission’s agenda. 

She said in peacebuilding, providing training for mission leadership and building national leadership were essential and coordination of responses was imperative.  There was a critical need for collaboration between the United Nations and regional and subregional organization, she emphasized.  As for Guinea-Bissau, she said the security sector reform programme was absolutely central for that country’s stability, for which continued technical and financial assistance by all stakeholders was needed.  Women must play a central role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. 

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