Post-conflict reconstruction and participation in Indonesia: required conditions for empowerment and security

This research is about the role of community participation in a post-conflict reconstruction programme which has taken place in Poso, Indonesia during the years of 2007-2008. The programme was implemented by two local NGOs namely Yayasan Biasreka and Forum Komunikasi Masyarakat (FKM) Tojo with support from Church World Service, a United States-based international NGO. This research explores the idea that spaces of participation may not always enhance the outcomes of post-conflict reconstruction in a situation where recovering from effects of violence and security remains the primary concerns of most people. The research suggests that participation may even be experienced as a disempowering process within such post-conflict context. The political, social and identity-based diversity of the local community means that the usual approach of NGOs to participation, which tends to be quite ‘narrow’ and focused on implementation, may not work as expected. Post-conflict reconstruction programmes implemented by NGOs need to take a wider setting – which setting may not be peaceful or secure. NGOs need to take much more fully into account the dynamic of post-conflict situation when they design the ‘participation’ element of their programmes. In the research, based on my fieldwork in Poso, Central Sulawesi, I present findings on people’s perceptions about the role of participation within the post-conflict intervention. The issue of participation is thus linked with people’s realities that might be useful for NGOs, government and development sector in developing their intervention, particularly in the context of reconstruction and post-conflict situation. The aim of this research paper is to enhance our understanding of community participation in post-conflict reconstruction programmes. In line with the objective above, the main question of the research is under which circumstances participation in the selected post-conflict intervention lead to empowerment and security? To address this question qualitative method was used during the research process.