The main objective of the study has been to draw lessons of experience that could provide a guide to policies, strategies and instruments for post-conflict capacity-building initiatives. The four country studies
highlighted the fact that root causes are different in different countries at different times and that they require country-specific approaches to bring countries back to the path of peace and development.
The four studies established that the ability to prevent conflict has less to do with a scarcity of donor resources than with the lack of thorough understanding of the dynamics of conflicts, the underlying stakes and appropriate tools to address them. The special needs of societies emerging from the traumas of conflict have shortened the development planning cycle in such a way as to demand more
flexibility of programs and resources and greater responsiveness to emergencies that have up to now been handled only through humanitarian and relief assistance.
