The Melanesian Tok-Pisin phrase gutpela sindaun, which translates as ‘abundant life’, or, ‘to have a good life’, has been appropriated by peacebuilders, and by foreign donors and their socio-economic development efforts in the region. In the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) in PNG, the phrase became especially significant in the context of peacebuilding efforts following an almost ten-year civil war that ended in 1998. This paper details how post-conflict peacebuilding and development efforts by both international and local agents have defined and used gutpela sindaun in order to generate peace and change in Bougainville, most recently in the context of Bougainville's aim towards independence.