PCF5 Sub-theme: Governance and social justice // The recovery of social institution such as education is one of the major tasks in societies that have suffered armed conflict. Peace building represents an extraordinary set of social and political experiments focusing on the creation of politico-legal structures and development projects. Very often peace process is focused on rebuilding basic education with little focus on higher education that require long time frames and extended engagement with local community and social institutions. // The University of Papua New Guinea maintained a University Centre in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (former North Solomon Province) before the crisis, ceased functioning early in the war, but re-established during the war. Delivery of educational courses at different locations of the Region has been difficult due to tension between conflicting groups, lack of infrastructure, logistics and communication. This paper examines how the University of Papua New Guinea through its open and distance learning program created a positive impact to the post-conflict recovery and development in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. The paper further reported how the University Centre delivered courses, seminars, workshops, training; organized conferences and lectures; and conducted research that contributed to the establishment of functional political institutions, building civil society, and enhancing economic development and government capacity. // Paper ID 77