CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 125

BEATA BOEHM
The “Social Reconstruction Program” overstrained the administrative
capacities of all involved international organizations, both within the
framework of their structures and also their employees’ qualifications.
The administrative intractability created significant problems for
donors as well as for international organizations. It is noteworthy that most
of the international staff members involved in the “Social Reconstruction
Project” in UNPA Sector West were transferred out of decision-making
positions and replaced by their respective organizations, despite the fact that
continuity is an essential factor in confidence-building measures, not least
because of the importance of reliable positive interpersonal relationships.
To streamline planning, implementation and reporting efforts,
standard project management requires a stable environment. In an unstable
environment when incalculable factors become dominant, it is impossible to
proceed on the basis of a “three-year framework”. Centralized organizational
structures are too clumsy to react adequately to project requirements in
unstable conditions. Only one small grassroot organisation, the Anti-War-
Campaign Croatia, was able to react adequately with flexible institutional
reorganisation according to changing needs and possibilities.
Project workers in crisis regions must have special communication
skills, creativity and also additional qualifications. Peace education was
offered by the European Peace University in Stadtschlaining, Austria until
2013.
European Peace University was awarded the UNESCO prize for peace
education in 1995.
In addition to factors that can change in a project in a stable
environment, in an unstable environment both implementing and donor
organisations must take increased risks into account:
- security risks
- changes in timeframes
- changes in framework conditions
- changes in project goals
- changes in contracts and contractual partners
- loss of deployed means and resources
- the loss of project partners under contract
- increased costs
A standardized pre-programmed approach in a divided society does
not work. The central decision-making structures of international
organizations must delegate greater decision-making powers to local peace
building actors. The actors need additional training to be able to respond
appropriately to the challenges in a crisis region. Administrative efforts
accompanying such projects must be extremely flexible.
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