How Can Community-Driven Reconstruction in Peace-Transitioning Societies Address Sources of Division? A Grounded Theory of Reconstruction Activities in Yemen

Recent literature highlights the role of community participation in reconstruction for sustainable peacebuilding, yet studies show limited integration of community empowerment into theoretical frameworks. This study examines community-driven reconstruction (CDR) in rural Aden and urban Marib, Yemen, during liminal periods before stable peace. Using a grounded theory approach, this study analyses data from 40 semi-structured interviews across these two post-conflict contexts to address the research questions: How are local communities empowered to drive reconstruction in post-conflict settings? What do CDR efforts reveal, compared to top-down interventions, about community empowerment and development in wartime Yemen? What do these two case studies reveal, from a comparative perspective about empowerment, especially in a wartime context? Four conceptual categories emerged as key drivers of empowerment: indigenous knowledge, local governance, social acceptance and aligning personal and community interests as key drivers of empowerment. This model offers a framework for understanding how community-led physical reconstruction fosters social cohesion and sustainable recovery in post-conflict settings, offering strategies for empowerment in similar contexts.