Lena in 2006 surrounded by SFCG staff in Democratic Republic of Congo
Our Chief Program Officer, Lena Slachmuijlder, was recently interviewed by Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR) regarding SFCG’s strategy to prevent sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the DRC which engages men as equal partners and stakeholders. The first part of the interview can be found here.
Men Can Stop Rape aims to mobilize men to create cultures free from violence, especially against women. They support and initiate programs that generate positive role models which reinforce their vision. Lena’s interview is part of MCSR’s masculinity conversation series and is published in two parts.
Lena spoke of her experience leading SFCG DRC, where she was Country Director. In the interview she gives an inside view of how the campaign of Vrai Djo came to life and what experiences she and her team had with it. The campaign provides examples of how men can respect women without loosing their manliness. read more…
DM&E for Peacebuilding Portal Launched!
Search for Common Ground has launched the much-anticipated Design, Monitoring and Evaluation for Peacebuilding Portal!
The Learning Portal will be a resource for students, practictioners and academics. There are already many resources and evaluation reports on the website from a range of organizations, such as Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, the World Bank, and Search for Common Ground; and we are adding more every day!
How You Can Participate:
- Sign up by creating a profile. This will allow you to post in our Forums, as well as add resources and evaluation reports.
- Browse our resources. We have well over 100 resources, and we are always adding more–and you can too! Don’t forget to rate your favorite resources and tell the community what you found useful.
- Post in the Forums. You might tell us about a challenge you are currently experiencing relating to peacebuilding DM&E, an interesting article you recently read, or just introduce yourself.
- Tell your colleagues!
Learning Portal team members will also be at the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s Fall Gathering on Thursday, December 8th in Washington, D.C. Stop by to hear a presentation on the Learning Portal by the project director, Nick Oatley, and meet the people who have helped make this project happen!
Check out the Learning Portal now!
This is the conclusion of a two part piece article on SFCG’s latest research that informs our regional strategy in Africa. Read the first part here.
“Post conflict means that institutions are not strong. These are new countries,” says Frances Fortune.
One effect (or even cause) of weak institutions is women’s voices are underrepresented. To this end, Search embarked on a research project: Raising Women’s Voices, to find out how women were interacting with and benefiting from radio and mobile technology.
Women’s participation in public life is an indicator of a society’s health and stability, and it is therefore no surprise that women are marginalized in many post-conflict settings. Search interviewed and conducted audience surveys and focus groups with women from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The results were not always bright: read more…
This is the first part of a two part piece article on SFCG’s latest research that informs our regional strategy in Africa. Read the second part here.
Changing images of Africa
It’s easy to dismiss Africa’s conflicts as tribal, intractable and monolithic but Frances Fortune, Search for Common Ground’s Africa Program Director doesn’t see it that way. Most recently based out of Sierra Leone, Frances has worked in post-conflict settings for over 20 years. Recently in DC to speak about our new regional projects and research, she sees hope, growth and changes in African conflicts that can be used to inform conflict transformation in our work, on the continent and beyond.
One of these new projects of conflict transformation is an elections toolkit for post conflict countries, where elections can be a particularly tense time and the threat of violence looms large. SFCG has had success in reducing tension and violence around elections. read more…
Today, December 1st Transparency International (TI) published its Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Since 1995 the CPI scores and ranks countries from all around the world according to perceptions of the extent of corruption in the public sector. TI argues that the index shows a clear link between high levels of corruption and the weak political and administrative institutions that result from prolonged periods of conflict. New Zealand is perceived as the least corrupt and Somalia the most.
Transparency International published this infographic to illustrate the Corruption Perception Index by region
SFCG’s programs approach corruption by contributing to an open and transparent environment. We create platforms where people can access unbiased information, to better protect themselves from manipulation and where citizens can address their authorities directly and hold them accountable. The TV soap opera The Team airs in several countries, and often addresses issues of corruption. Another example can be found in Rwanda, where SFCG has organized participatory theaters in the countryside. The production had actors portray four common conflicts and then allowed the audience members to come on stage, where they offered ideas on how local officials could solve problems between neighbors and corruption. In Cote d’Ivoire interactive theater performances triggered discussions on corruption and officials emphasized the importance of impartiality especially when mediating community conflicts. Another powerful example is the actions youth take in Burundi, a country ranked among the most corrupt. Burundian youth are frequently manipulated into violence by politicians, who dangle promises of employment before them. SFCG has a long working record in Burundi and recently organized a music festival for youth. Young musicians from the provinces gathered in the capital and contributed to the festival’s key theme: “together we are strong”. Young people need to be excited by peace, to get the same visceral reaction they get when pulled together for more nefarious actions. Music is one of the most effective ways to build that visceral reaction. In Sri Lanka, projects engage young people in connecting the more isolated Tamil plantation communities with wider Sri Lankan society. In making their voices heard, young people can help to undermine the pervasive barriers of language, culture and corrupt politics. The radio programs SFCG is producing, seek to create awareness about civic participation and empower youth living on the plantations to become agents of positive social change by promoting community responsibility and facilitating service delivery without corruption.
Corruption and conflict are often intrinsically linked and SFCG contributes to fighting corruption by developing local capacities to address corruption and empowering society in order to overcome its challenges.
For 2011 TI has used 17 different surveys and other assessment tools to measure the perception of corruption in 183 countries. According to TI the perceptions data has been shown to correlate very well with other indicators that use a more evidence based approach such as the corruption barometer. Furthermore, the CPI is especially useful in comparing perceived corruption in different countries and regions of the world.
Ranking of countries SFCG works in (higher numbers indicate higher perception of corruption):
USA (24)
Israel (36)
Rwanda (49)
Macedonia (69)
Tunisia (73)
Morocco (80)
Sri Lanka (86)
Liberia (91)
Indonesia and Madagascar (100)
Kosovo (112)
Niger, Lebanon and Pakistan, (134)
Nigeria and Timor-Leste (143)
Ukraine (152)
Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Guinea (154)
Nepal (154)
Angola and DRC (168)
Burundi (172)
Sudan (177)
The cast recording the show in the radio studio
By: Nelson Sanz-Cadena
Access to information remains a major challenge faced by youth in Timor-Leste. This has been constantly expressed by participants attending forums organized by Search for Common Ground Timor-Leste (SFCG-TL). While access to radio, television and newspapers has increased in the country, more than 16% of the population have no access to any form of media (radio, television, newspapers, internet or mobile phones). This represents a challenge for SFCG-TL, which aims to reach the vast majority of young people in the country, but encounters great limitations in terms of infrastructure and human capital when attempting to disseminate its message.
In post-independence Timor-Leste, radio still has the highest reach of all media. Therefore, radio has become the cornerstone of a comprehensive two-year peacebuilding initiative conducted by SFCG-TL. Building upon the success of the radio magazine Babadok Rebenta! (“Drums of Peace”), SFCG-TL is about to launch its first radio drama Karau Dikur ba Dame (“Buffalo`s Horn for Peace”). The project aims to improve the development prospects of youth in Timor-Leste through skill building. The radio drama will provide youth with alternative methods to solve conflict situations through scenarios that correspond to their realities. In addition, outreach activities will accompany the radio drama and enhance mechanisms for collaboration among different youth groups. read more…
