We’re bringing you another story of conflict transformation through participatory theater from our international intern, Elise Webb:
(Photo: Elise Webb)
“We have heard these (SFCG) programs on the radio before, but to be able to see them and to participate as well has made me truly understand the issues.”
– Audience Participant from Ngororero
Deep in the Rwandan hills it is sometimes difficult to bring people together. As one local woman put it, “We are not accustomed to working with our leaders.”
Search for Common Ground has been using Participatory Theatre to engage both local leaders and citizens in a dialogue about how to solve local problems. In April 2011, a team of actors began traveling the countryside with a production entitled, “The Citizen and the Officials, Working Together for Development.” The aim was to give both groups a space to solve hypothetical problems to be then used as a tool to solve real-life problems in the future. read more…
SFCG’s Studio Ijambo Highlighted in New Book
“They knew that the actions of media could rile suspicions and incite madness, as they had done in both Rwanda and Burundi. Cut could media instead be used to help diminish entrenched hatreds and stop future violence?…With a seed of hope for a peaceful future, Studio Ijambo was born.”
Journalist Maria Armoudian’s newly published book Kill The Messenger; The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World features a chapter on SFCG’s media work in Burundi. Search for Common Ground opened Studio Ijambo in 1995, a year after the genocide in neighboring Rwanda. For years Burundi media had helped fan the flames of hatred between Hutus and Tutsis. By 1995 more than 200,000 Burundians had been killed in the conflict and it seemed that the country was following Rwanda’s lead in destruction. read more…
A colorful reflection on the way Timorese youth are expressing themselves; their longing for peace; their desire for change; and their hopefulness…through public art:
A story of SFCG’s work in Rwanda is up for consideration on Peace Portal.
Elise Webb, who interned with our Rwanda office has written an engaging story that has been entered in Peace Portal’s ‘Stories of Peace Challenge.’ The top rated stories will be published in the book ‘People Building Peace 2.0.’
Professional actors interact with audience members to act out familiar scenes of conflict. (Photo:Elise Webb)
Her piece is about our participatory theater work in Rwanda and we’re excited to have it reach wider audiences:
Our van rumbles up the dirt roads with ruts running deep from the rainy season. Children seem to be the first to spot us and call out; many even chase after us. In the rear view mirror you can see them waving and yelling; filling up the frame with arms and feet, dust building up between us and them. The only word I understand is ‘muzungu‘ (white person) and it’s yelled over and over again like it’s my name. I get a bit worried in the old social researcher sense that the very fact I am there is changing the process.
Click here to read the rest of the story. And don’t forget to support us by voting at the bottom. Your comments also have a chance of being published in the book as well, so if you have something to say, don’t hesitate to make your voice heard.
To vote, sign-up or sign-in. You’ll gain access to other resources from the Peace Portal as well.
A woman works in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka's Hill Country.
By Kimberly Hatton
In January, as part of my graduate studies, I began working towards an internship with Search For Common Ground (or Search) in Sri Lanka. Having worked in a marketing and communications role for the past six years, I have seen the power that understanding another language and being able to communicate can yield and was curious about how this might apply to Search’s flagship Sri Lankan project, Promoting Civic Participation in the Hill Country. I seized the opportunity to connect with Search and to gain experience in a post-conflict setting, as well as see how language and communication might play a role in shaping the post civil war society of Sri Lanka. read more…
The Skoll Foundation has recently released a short film about social entrepreneurship. Its an inspiring overview of the progress made over the last three decades. It starts with Mohammad Yunus and includes interviews with a number of social entrepreneurs and others in the field, including Sally Osberg of the Skoll Foundation, Bill Drayton of Ashoka, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund, John Elkington of Volans, and author David Bornstein.
Our own John and Susan Collin Marks are Skoll Foundation Fellows, recognized for their innovative contributions to peace and security through social entrepreneurship.
The culture of entrepreneurship is one that goes beyond the founding of Search and into the work we do around the world as well as the culture within which our staff operate. The creative lens through which we view challenges has resulted in innovative thinking about how to engage young people, get feuding groups to see one another’s perspectives, and ambitious attempts to actually shift people’s attitudes and behaviors. All of this is done, with an eye for sustainability so that as a result of our work, more social entrepreneurs are born!
