J. Etchart offers to study the emergence of community development (CD) as a peacebuilding strategy in the 1970s. This approach originated in the British colonies and was conceived by the Colonial Office in order to empower local communities and elites, in anticipation of the withdrawal of British administration from the colonies. CD was introduced in Northern Ireland by the founders of the Community Relations Commission in 1969 and was adopted by the local populations who were already strongly involved in community work. One of the founders of the Commission was also influenced by the work of Muintir Na Tire, an organisation advocating the practice of CD in Ireland. This paper will thus look at the various origins of this strategy and show how it evolved in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.