Melanie Kawano is the Program Manager of the BEFORE Project: Action to Prevention Political Violence. Read all of her posts here.

Photo credit: Guineanews.org

Over the weekend there was a plethora of news stories, blogs and commentary about the ever-evolving political situation in Guinea.

Summary: a year ago Guinea’s President Lansana Conte died and within hours a group within the military suspended constitutional law. Initially people were hopeful as Captain Moussa “Dadis” Camara took power and promised reform. Yet, delayed elections, ambiguous political intentions and a deadly massacre - in which 60-160 civilians were killed, hundreds more were injured, and women were raped and kidnapped in broad daylight by men in military uniform - has seriously eroded hope in Guinea.

A recurring theme in the many of the commenting voices online was one of speculation: Could the No.2 man in Guinea become the next leader as Captain Camara lay recovering in a hospital from a shot to the head? Could West Africa survive widespread violence in Guinea? Would a peacebuilding force be necessary?  Are the factions within the Guinean military going to tear the country apart?

Amidst all the proposed solutions, suggestions and analyses, there was one lone voice asking what could have been done to avoid this situation. Prevention is a surprisingly neglected topic, especially when nearly all of us agree that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Toilets that don’t flush. Showers without water.

Those aren’t things one would think are hindering peace and stability. After all, it seems implausible that something so small could be a piece of the complex puzzle that is war.

Yet in Guinea-Bissau, a small West African country The BEFORE Project is currently working in, this is an indication of something much larger: the relationship between the government and the military.  Throughout Guinea-Bissau’s 35-year history, the military has played a key role in the civilian governance. Unfortunately, this role was not always conducive to civil society development as action sometimes came in the form of military over-throws of civilian governments.

Ashoka Peace is proud to welcome Melanie Kawano of The BEFORE Project as one of our contributors. Melanie will be blogging regularly about the progress of The BEFORE Project, and we look forward to participating in the journey along with her.

I’ve always understood the best ideas in social entrepreneurship to fill the gaping holes in our answers to the most pressing social problems. Whether those social problems involve economic instability, insufficient food resources, population displacement, power struggles among political elites, the breakdown of societies and families, or an event in which a combination of all of these problems come to a forefront: war.

In war a multitude of humanity’s worst problems combine. The result is devastating. Paul Collier estimates it takes a decade and a half for a country to recover from a war. In fact, war is such a complex and nuanced problem that most of us have decided nothing can be done about war, that it’s merely a part of human nature.

The numbers though tell a different story. Globally the frequency and severity of war have dropped by more than 40% in the last 15 years.