Women in Solidarity for Peace: A radio campaign by N-Peace Sri Lanka gives hope for peace.
“Peace in the family is very important, because it can be shared with the community by the children and relatives of that family. This is an act spearheaded by women, a vital contribution of women to sustain peace in a society.”
“We need to create a society exempt from violence. Women have the strength to achieve such a status. Because they are capable, women need to come together and draw strength from being united to achieve this goal. ”
“If we want peace, we need to bring a shift in thinking and in the attitude of the people.”
These are the voices of women, women who wish for peace in Sri Lanka. They see numerous vital ways of building peace and transforming conflicts in Sri Lanka that Sri Lankan women can contribute to this long process. For a long time, their voices went unheard, lacking a space and acknowledgement.
The ‘Women in Solidarity for Peace’ radio campaign gave them the platform to express and advocate for their cause: sustainable peace in Sri Lanka. read more…
Radio Across Borders: New Levels of Connectivity Uniting a Region’s Youth
Generation Grand Lacs includes Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By Ashley Murphy
In today’s endlessly globalized world, people are becoming increasingly connected to each other, with youth at the forefront of this communication revolution. These new levels of connectivity can have potentially negative effects, allowing youth – a population both malleable and vulnerable – to take on the role of an agent of instability. Yet this connectivity can also be mobilized in a constructive way by helping youth be catalysts for change.
SFCG’s Generation Grands Lacs (GGL) capitalizes on the latter concept; it is a regional radio program connecting Great Lakes’ youth, which represent more than half of the regional population, via a positive outlet. The program seeks to break down ideas that fuel stereotypes about “the other” and in turn create a safe and expressive platform where youth can recognize commonalities that unite them across borders. Through such unity, dissatisfaction and unrest can be quelled to mitigate conflict and promote peace. read more…
What a feeling! Witnessing the Power of Healing & Reconciliation
Participants in a mediation session take part in a collaborative cultural performance after their training with Beinfait in the DRC.
The following blog comes to us from Mame N. Dieye. Mame (known as “Nini”) is from Dakar, Senegal and is currently interning with the Institutional Learning Team at SFCG while pursuing a Masters Degree in International Development Studies at Ohio University. Her research primarily focuses on the conflicts between market dominant minorities and the civilian population in Senegal.
“I am a witness to the power of healing and reconciliation.”
– Bienfait Muhigirwa, SFCG Program Assistant, South Kivu, DRC
Bienfait’s voice, energy and optimism are infectious even through a Skype conversation that dropped our connection at least 6 times during our afternoon chat. I couldn’t imagine any other person with whom I would have rather shared these technical difficulties. He dealt with them with grace, humor, and that oh-so-fleeting positive energy.
After one of the forums that SCFG and the center of Lokole organized, a chief in the town of Irangi said, “thanks to this training, we will now take over the reign so that peaceful coexistence will endure.”
Bienfait facilitates reconciliation activities between community leaders and local residents.
These are the types of testimonies and feedback that keep Bienfait going, that give him so much satisfaction. They give him confidence that his work makes a difference. read more…
DM&E for Peacebuilding blog: Gender in Peacebuilding Design, Monitoring and Evaluation
The following blog was written by Jonathan White for SFCG’s Learning Portal for Design, Monitoring, & Evaluation for Peacebuilding. You can find the original post here.
Gender sensitive programming is, generally, a mandatory requirement of most international development activities, including peacebuilding. For example, USAID’s office of Conflict Management and Mitigation requires all projects demonstrate a unique gender element. More than a donor-mandated exercise in project equity, the increasing emphasis on gender is forcing peacebuilders to critically reflect on how our projects interact with local actors and context on a micro-level, and is challenging our assumptions on what it means to ‘do good peace work’.
But what does it mean to build gender into the design, monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding projects? read more…
Sports motivate youth dialogue in the Sri Lankan hill country
Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
Thank you to Ayodhya Krishani Amarajeewa from the SFCG Sri Lanka office for submitting this blog post about sports proving a path toward community empowerment for young people in Sri Lanka.
“The football team at Fordeys School in Nuwara Eliya in the hill country made everyone proud when they won the national level championship. This victory mattered a lot to the area youth groups. It is their effort in training the school football team even with few facilities that led the Fordeys School’s football team to victory. These young amateur trainers see a future in it.”
Everyone likes to win but success at sports was the least of what was achieved at the Fordeys School. Coming together to work with modest means prepared local youth to unite toward a bigger goal, one that would have a positive impact on their peers throughout the hill country. With a better feel for their strengths, these youth came ready with a solution in mind when they approached the Sri Lankan Minister of Sports to discuss their concerns about becoming professional athletes last month. read more…
The need for a culture of common ground in Tunisia: a view from the back of a taxicab
Lenore’s taxicab rides in Tunis have led to many interesting conversations about social change in post-revolutionary Tunisia.
We are delighted to introduce our newest guest blogger, Lenore Dukes. Lenore has been with SFCG for the past 8 months, the last 2 months of which have been as an intern with our team in Tunisia. She has graciously agreed to share her impressions of SFCG’s new work in this exciting post-revolutionary country throughout the duration of her internship. Watch our website as well as we begin to post updates over the next few weeks on our projects in Tunisia.
A few weeks ago, I was riding a taxi to work in downtown Tunis. As it’s always clear from my accent that I’m a foreigner here, the taxi driver politely asked me what I was doing in the country. When I told him that I’m interning with a non-profit that works toward conflict resolution, he seemed skeptical: Tunisia’s not at war, after all, so what are we doing here? I explained that Search for Common Ground is in Tunisia to help build a culture of dialogue, to help people and groups understand and deal with their differences in a productive way during this difficult time. He liked this idea and was about to tell me why when his cell phone rang. I looked out the window and tried not to listen as the driver argued into the phone, gesticulating angrily with both hands and growing louder by the minute. Eventually he hung up, turned to me and read more…
