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Nepal today is seen as a country in
a situation of multi-level conflicts of structural, manifest,
perceptual and latent nature. The issues of civilian crisis
prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict peace
building have, therefore, become increasingly important
themes during the last few years. An inter-agency Working
Group on Development and Peace (FriEnt), set up in Bonn
in 2001, aims to promote institutional cooperation among
important German organizations working in Nepal. Since
2001 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Nepal office also
undertook the responsibility to support its partner organizations
in peace efforts. Growing awareness of the importance
of conflict resolution and peace building concepts, approaches
and activities is expected to help understand and identify
structural causes of conflict and furnish ideas to equip
the state institutions, political actors and civil society
with the crisis prevention and conflict resolution mechanisms.
Under the overall objective crisis
prevention and conflict resolution, FES supported its
partner organizations in various
activities. Their roles in conflict management have been
confined to:
- holding political dialogue with
major political parties on various methods of conflict
resolution,
- training of journalists on peace
journalism and developing measures to rehabilitate journalists
of conflict area,
- reporting
women’s issues from violence affected areas,
- training of trade unions on conflict
management skills,
- dialogue
with scientific community and preparation of a book
on Conflict Resolution and Governance in Nepal,
- helping partner organization in
the establishment of an organization of widows (who
have lost their husbands in the conflict) of two Village
Development Committees of Dang District, developing
their access to the institutional
resources of NGOs in Kathmandu, and counseling training
for victimized single women,
- sensitization
of civil society about the possibility of peaceful options
to conflict resolution in Nepal, and
- lecture course
to RNA officers at Kharepati on the "Crisis of
Governance and Modes of Conflict Resolution in Nepal."
FES activities
were conducted independent of partisan considerations
and tried to look into the deescalating forces of the
conflict. Partners of FES conducted their activities mostly
in the districts, outside Kathmandu to activate civil
society.
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