Building Peace in Bougainville: Gender, Development and Education for Post-ConflictRecovery

The Bougainville Crisis disrupted life in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea from 1988-1998. A wide range of government and civil society organizations were involved in attempts at ending the conflict and ameliorating its effects. Since 1998, peace-building efforts have been widespread, and again have involved a range of local, national and international actors. In particular a number of locally initiated and managed grassroots non-government organizations (NGOs) have been established in Bougainville. These NGOs undertake a variety of tasks, including humanitarian relief, advocacy, counselling, development projects, and education. This paper reports on a case study of one local Bougainville NGO, the Leitana Nehan Women's Development Organisation (LNWDA). LNWDA was formed in 1992, and has managed to survive and thrive in both war and peace, while other local NGOs have disappeared or remained relatively limited in their capacity to contribute to the peace-building efforts. This paper seeks to analyse how it is that LNWDA has managed to adapt to changing circumstances in Bougainville and continue to garner local, national and international support for its education, advocacy and counselling programs.