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grievances and a millenarian discourse that transcends simple economic solutions. Interventions like NUSAF can bring economic relief to people in the region, but only broad-based peace initiatives can ensure peace, security, and sustainable development (Lomo and Hovil 2004; van Acker 2003). The achievement of durable peace through political means would automatically improve the prospects for human rights by removing fear and gross physical abuses and by allowing IDPs to return to their villages and resume farming and cattle rearing. This turn of events would provide a strong foundation for NUSAF initiatives to succeed in the long term. Only 2 of 1,425 approved subprojects are aimed at conflict management, which suggests that such management has become an adjunct to development interventions rather than vice versa, as intended by the project design team (OPM 2004b). For this reason, NUSAF would not be expected to significantly reduce ethnic conflict and tensions. But one subproject in an area of Gulu town has been successful in reintegrating abducted youth into the community through a traditional cleansing ceremony and in mobilizing resources for cattle rearing and poultry raising in which the former abductees would be the prime beneficiaries. This subproject is a rare example of an integrated intervention of the type anticipated in the project design. The second type of governance outcome is strengthening the capacity and resource base of local governments, especially at district and subcounty levels. All subprojects have to be reviewed by district government officials on technical grounds and to determine how they complement district planning priorities and budgetary allocations. Once appraisal is complete, the applications are submitted to elected councilors on the District Executive Committee for ratification, which forms the basis for a recommendation to NUMU for release of funds into the community bank account. During the design phase, bilateral donors expressed concern that demand-driven processes would skew district planning priorities at the community level and that NUSAF resources would bypass district budget processes. These concerns appear unwarranted. District officials in the two districts visited for this study are closely involved in the appraisal and monitoring of NUSAF subprojects, and they regard the funds as an infusion to the limited resources at their disposal from regular budgetary transfers. The problem is not so much that NUSAF bypasses local government but that officials—overwhelmed by community demands—cannot effectively appraise and monitor subprojects.