Partnerships, Power and Peacebuilding NGOs as Agents of Peace in Aceh and Timor-Leste

Examining contract relationships, partner-driven relationships and networks between organizations engaged in peacebuilding in Timor-Leste and Aceh, this book contributes a unique grass-roots perspective to theoretical discussions about peacebuilding.

By highlighting the scope and limitations of local NGO agencies within these different modes of collaboration, Dibley explores the relationship between peacebuilding theory and its application in practice, outlining how well-educated, well-connected local decision makers and thinkers navigate the uneven power dynamics of the international aid system. Enriched by local interviews, this book reveals that for ideas about peacebuilding to be exchanged and developed within NGO relationships, the intersection of three key factors is crucial: context, funding structures, and individuals.

Underlining how local actors are active agents in their relationships with international NGOs, even in those forms of partnership which appear to be the least conducive to local participation, this unique comparison of Southeast Asian civil society will appeal to a range of scholars in Peacebuilding, Development and Asian Studies.

Thushara Dibley is a Lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia. She has published articles on social movements, activism and international development in Southeast Asia.

Introduction
1. Landscapes of Partnership
2. Contract Relationships
3. Partner-Driven Relationships
4. Networked Relationships
Conclusion