Global Public Policy Institute
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E-Mail gppi@gppi.net
26 February 2007
GPPi publishes pilot study on organizational learning in UN peacebuilding
GPPi’s research team presents a new study on organizational learning in UN peacebuilding that is the most recent publication in the GPPi Research Paper series. The 80-page study entitled "Learning to Build Peace? United Nations Peacebuilding and Organizational Learning: Developing a Research Framework" was written by Thorsten Benner, Andrea Binder and Philipp Rotmann. It is the result of a pilot research project that was conducted from March to October 2006 and was generously supported by the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF).
The study is motivated by the observation that despite the tremendous growth both in the number and comprehensiveness of UN peacebuilding missions in places such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, East Timor and Sierra Leone, we know surprisingly little about the UN’s capacity for organizational learning on peacebuilding, and about learning in international organizations in general. GPPi's work intends to both advance conceptual debates within the academic discipline of International Relations and to help policymakers improve the UN’s learning capacity.
Based on a survey of the relevant literature, Learning to Build Peace traces the evolution of the "infrastructure of learning" in the UN peacebuilding bureaucracy over the past 15 years. The study argues that a number of factors (lack of will both within member states and the UN Secretariat as well as the lack of resources and conducive incentive structures) contributed to the very slow recognition of the UN’s learning needs. In addition, the publication takes a look at the experience of five UN missions (UNMIBH in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone, UNTAET in East Timor, UNAMA in Afghanistan and UNAMI in Iraq) from a learning perspective. Bringing the results from these case examples together with factors gained deductively from the relevant theories, the paper offers a tentative list of factors that influence organizational learning. These include power, organizational culture, leadership, human capital, staff mobility, knowledge management systems, as well as access to external knowledge. Outlining an agenda for future research, the study presents a draft model of the learning process that includes (1) knowledge acquisition, (2) advocacy/decision-making, and (3) institutionalization.
A shorter version of the same study is scheduled for publication in March 2007 as part of the "Forschung DSF" series of the German Foundation for Peace Research.
In February 2007, GPPi started a two-year follow-up project that builds on the results of the pilot project. The project involves in-depth research both at the UN headquarters and in the field. This project is again supported by a grant from the German Foundation for Peace Research.
To download the study, please click here (PDF, 1.8 MB).
For more information, please contact Thorsten Benner or Philipp Rotmann.