Conceptual Approach Logically, the diversity of activities and projects supported and implemented over the years by the OSCE’s six field operations in South-Eastern Europe4 range across these different areas but belong largely to a longer-term strategy reflected in their annual programmatic priorities. Since all field operations develop, within their very different mandates, various ways to fulfil their given tasks, their efforts to build sustainable peace and democracy are context specific and take into account local conditions. However, since the OSCE has not yet agreed on a consensus definition of what peacebuilding encompasses, the UN’s definition was used to determine the scope of this reference guide. In that context, building sustainable peace is understood to “involve a range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and to lay the foundations for sustainable peace and development. Peacebuilding strategies must be coherent and tailored to specific needs of the country concerned, [be] based on national ownership, and should comprise a carefully prioritized, sequenced, and therefore relatively narrow set of activities aimed at achieving the above objectives.”5 To achieve sustainable peace, OSCE activities have to be focused on meeting the needs of local populations. To engage conflictaffected societies, it is necessary to promote an awareness of the need for mutual respect, tolerance for different interests, 4  As of 2017, six field operations are active in the region, including the Presence in Albania, the Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Mission in Kosovo, the Mission to Montenegro, the Mission to Serbia, and the Mission to Skopje. For more information see http://www.osce.org/where-we-are. 5  UN (no date): What Is Peacebuilding? 15