Morgan Brigg, Jodie Curth & Morris Kiukakea University of Queensland

1. Policy Disorder or Evolving Hybridity? Post-conflict Capacity Development in Solomon Islands (SI)Rule of Law Morgan Brigg, Jodie Curth & Morris Kiukakea University of Queensland 1

2. Introduction Background to post-conflict capacity development (CD) in SI Awkward marriage between local traditional practice and institutional strengthening Two cases: Community Officer pilot and Correctional Services Relations and processes more important than knowing and planning Different thinking about policy, order & disorder. 2

3. Background I Society small-scale, relatively egalitarian, shared regional systems and culture, conflict (including violent) and reconciliation integral to social order British protectorate 1896 -1978, reduction of violent conflict via government and church influence, little state infrastructure. 3

4. Background II Outbreak of violent conflict 1998-2003, but what was it? A small scale civil war? Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) 2003-present, restoration of law and order, state-building and institutional focus, bigger challenge to build sustainable peace and exit without return to violence. 4

5. Recent-Current Context Canberra meets Honiara: public service orthodoxy and local practice Creeping resentment from locals (with appreciation and wry cynicism) Slow RAMSI recognition re need to draw on local capacities & strengths-based approach Problems persisting in some areas, groping success in others. 5

6. Evolving Approaches First, capacity developers, donors and advisors attempted to implement completely foreign systems in an effort to make the operational space knowable ‘Now they are listening … but with their ears… ‘ And limitations in the approach to the local. 6

7. The SI Community Officer Scheme Rationale Current status on the ground The evolving plan Fluidity – and planning for it. 7

8. …I think it’s about the RSIPF getting down to the community and understanding their systems and their processes… how do they handle issues… and as you know a lot of these systems are not written… they exist… and they are passed on … and they stored in somebody’s brains … they are adjusted to the situation… I am aware that we will not come up with a standard system at the end of the day … systems will vary as you go through the communities… I think… It is understanding the community, how people deal with their issues… it is important also to get what they expect… what do they expect? Where do they want the RSIPF to come in…where do they want to be left alone and deal with these issues themselves? If we go down that track, my view is that we are empowering them, to deal with their own business …. 8

9. Cont’d… …as locals (the RSIPF) we still have a lot to learn from the various communities and the cultures that we have in the country… it’s just so many that we cannot just apply one set of rules in one community and then transplant them… my view is that it’s getting down to each individual community, understanding them properly… not taking away our powers and authority in terms of law and order… but … recognising their strengths, recognising what they can provide and them recognising what we can do to assist them… it is sort of a two way thing… . 9

10. Regarding capacity constraints… …It’s a challenge… but I think the more we interact with the community the more we speak with them… we’ll come up with something … that both community and the RSIPF are happy to go with … without actually breaking the law… we need to find a mid-point that all of us are willing to contribute to …it’s about what we will bring to the table and what they can bring to the table… how much they can participate and how much we can participate…. 10

11. Rehab & Reconciliation in Correctional Services of SI Sycamore Tree & its Rationale It helps “ with the reintegration stage…because Solomon Islands’ society …people hold hard feelings for a long time … and even if [the offender] leaves the jail and comes home, something will always happen… so while he’s in jail, in a custodial setting, there’s a good opportunity to work between him, the offender, and any other families involved or affected by …. and then that’s where the reconciliation can be facilitated… [it’s] very meaningful…” 11

12. Rehab & Reconciliation (CSSI) Current status on the ground (how it works)… “In the prison we never force anyone to do a program… we give them opportunities to do such things… so when [the offender],realise[s] …[he] did so much pain to people… some prisoners will go to the length of saying when I go home, when I return from the jail I want to do some work, I want to pay the school fee of my victim’s children… there is so much empathy for what happened… and that’s a good thing…” Fluidity in a formal institution 12

13. Themes and Caveats Community Officer scheme apparently designing in fluidity; Sycamore Tree is CSSI sees fluidity in a formal system Fluidity and hierarchy, local and international as interesting bedfellows Seductive ‘unknowability’ - as privilege and resistance requiring caution. 13

14. Conclusion Evolving hybridity: a knowledge deficit doesn’t mean that we can’t act Prospects for rethinking policy development Prospects for linking policy development with local conceptions of social order and ways of relating and doing. 14

15. Thank you Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Australian Federal Police Correctional Services Solomon Islands AusAID Corrections Component (SI) GRM Corrections Component (SI). 15