Working Inside the Triangles: Engaging with Locally Led Peace Initiatives in Myanmar

This paper does not provide an in-depth analysis of the country’s current context or a detailed history of how it got to where it is now. Many other excellent papers exist that serve that purpose. Also it is written from the subjective viewpoint of an outsider who can never know or understand the whole story. At the same time, my distance from the day to day, puts me in a position to stand back and consider the big picture in a way that those who are down in the trenches may not have the luxury to do. Thus, this paper is intended as a quick snapshot taken at a moment in time. Its purpose is to communicate to the reader some of the concerns and challenges that friends and colleagues shared, as well as insights into the exciting and innovative approaches that are being carried forward by local actors to address those challenges; I want to share how those approaches, informed by an in-depth understanding of the context that can come only from local actors, offer lessons to long-term peacebuilding work. My goal is to also share this snapshot so that it might raise awareness among international actors as they think about their own engagement in a highly complex conflict situation, and the potential that their interventions have for either making the situation worse or

supporting long-term peacebuilding.

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About the Author

Sarah Clarke is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. In New York, she works on peacebuilding and peacemaking issues at the UN. She has also worked with a wide variety of NGOs in Southeast Asia, and with policy advisors and academics in China.