Partnership of international funding agencies and civil society organizations in peace building process in the Southern border provinces of Thailand

Abstract

In an ongoing conflict area, the contribution of partnership between International Funding Agencies (IFAs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on the entire peace building process is asserted. This study argues that IFAs’ funding scheme which encourages strategic cooperation and networking between local peace actors at the vertical and horizontal levels will contribute to the development of peace constituencies. The strengthened network is to constitute a meaningful political space for grass root and middle-range leadership in multi-track peace building. The research first describes IFAs’ objectives and frameworks applied to partnerships with CSOs in the southern border provinces of Thailand (Far South). In order to support the argument, the contribution of partnership on the development of peace constituencies is assessed. It also employs the model of hierarchical intervention introduced by John Paul Lederach in 1997 to illustrate the complexity of relationships among peace actors. It finds that partnerships of IFAs and CSOs have contributed in the expansion of peace constituencies at vertical and horizontal levels because of complementary cooperation frameworks. However, no effective mechanism appears to connect such fragmented expansion. It results from fragmented strategies and a struggle of institutional and managerial adjustment from both sides of the relationship.