HIERARCHICAL SISTERHOOD: Supporting Women’s Peacebuilding through Swedish Aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993−2013

Summary

Peacebuilding in areas affected by war and conflict is a difficult endeavour. The
dissertation summarized in this DDB examines possibilities and challenges
faced by international interveners in violently divided Bosnia between 1993 and
2013. The study object is the aid organization Kvinna till Kvinna, mainly
supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
The encounter with domestic women’s organizations is put center stage and
studied from the perspective of both actors. This study shows clearly that
Kvinna till Kvinna has been successful in building trustworthy cooperation
with its Bosnian counterparts. However, the findings also demonstrate that
even well-intentioned, locally-focused external efforts, constrained by donor
agendas and circumstances on the ground, contain problematic characteristics
common in the era of liberal peace. While subscribing to the idea of
transnational sisterhood and focusing on local ownership, the organization
exercised soft power over its Bosnian ‘partners’ which slowly but surely led
them to adapt to donor preferences. Lessons to be learned from this study are
that those seeking to support peace in conflict-affected areas constantly need
to be on the alert regarding the risks of power imbalance, have deeper interest
in contextual knowledge and a critical approach to their own references of the
world.