Report of the workshop on

Systemic Conflict Transformation for Peace Communicators

Organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)

19-25 August 2006

Godavari, Lalitpur

Background

Violent conflict in Nepal has claimed the lives of over 15,500 people mostly non-combatants in the last 11 years, displaced 300,000, eroded the monopoly of the state to perform basic state functions, damaged development infrastructures and generated high level of distrust in society. After the signing of 12-point agreement between the CPN (Maoist) and Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) on November 22, 2005 and success of April 2006 movement for the restoration of democracy, prospects for democratization and peace have emerged. Now, the monarchy is confined to ceremonial role. The SPA-led government and CPN (Maoist) signed 8-point and 5-point agreements for an interim government including the participation of CPN (Maoist), promulgation of an interim constitution, constituent assembly elections to draft a new constitution and demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of army under the aegis of the UN. Still, the nation continues to face a situation of no-war-no-peace.

The Nepalese media and civil society groups have been seeking to achieve the reduction of conflict and long-term ceasefire, peace accord and human rights accords and are involved in peace education and peace-building efforts. The intensity of death and violence has decreased in the country. But, serious efforts are still needed to break the vicious conflict trap and transform various types of conflict. The need for a shared future has increased the responsibilities of various actors and stakeholders of society. Ability to understand the root causes of conflict, finding options for conflict de-escalation and transformation of conflict into peace requires sustained efforts in mustering trust and preventing a relapse into renewed violence. The media and peace communicators can play various roles during pre-conflict, conflict and post-conflict situation and establish a culture of non-violent communication essential for the resolution of a conflict. By assuming a sharp look at the all conflicting sides while analyzing the causes and consequences of a conflict, evoking feeling and emotional intelligence and bonding of actors in the system, they can mobilize public opinion and peace action for systemic transformation of conflict.

Workshops and trainings on conflict sensitive reporting, non-violent communication and peace education are considered important to identify invisible dynamics of the conflict and release deep human feelings and emotions embedded within the various layers and tracks of society for trust building. Accordingly, FES since 2003, organized a number of workshops in Kathmandu Valley for Nepalese journalists, trade union leaders, university teachers, civil society and NGO activists on systemic conflict transformation. Begun as conflict communication training to young journalists in November 2003 FES organized two more trainings to them in August 2004 and January 2005. In August 2005 and February 2006 FES organized train-the-trainer workshops on "Systemic Conflict Transformation for Peace Communicators" in response to the demand from the participants. The recent one was more advanced in nature and was found relevant to address the nation's various types of conflict.

Objectives

The main objectives of the workshop were:

• Equip the participants with the methodology of a deeper understanding of hidden conflict structures, their dynamics and their solutions,
• Educate the participants to integrate various models of communication and conflict mediation,
• Enable them to get a clear image of their possibilities for influencing a conflict and understand their limits,
• Empower the participants to use their individual strengths and resources for transforming conflict in their environment,
• Strengthen the recently founded National Network of Peace Communicators (NNPC) and help the process of its institutionalization, and
• Collect experiences for the documentation of resources and preparation of a handbook on "Systemic Conflict Transformation."

Participants and the Trainers

There were 22 participants, 11 of them women. Participants represented various caste, regional, ethnic and political spectrums. They came from the various fields of media, civil society, INGOs, NGOs and the university. There were three trainers. Principle trainers were Mr. Joergen Klussmann and Dr. Marco de Carvalho from Germany and Dev Raj Dahal, Head of FES, Nepal office. Dr. Chuda Shrestha, conflict expert, who is linked to various peace initiatives and reconciliation moves shared his insights. Ms. Irish Kobek from DED narrated her project experience in peace building.

Contents and Methodology

The workshop began with the introduction of participants and practical exercise on setting up systemic constellations on the basis of age, gender, caste, region, religion, occupation and education. It focused on the theory of system, practical systemic laws, goal orientation, group belongingness, the balance of giving and taking, perception of conflict sources, basics of conflict research and peace, contemporary peace building efforts, non-violent communication, mapping of national conflict, conflict dynamics, de-escalation, reconciliation, conflict transformation, principle of order and systemic peace building at various levels. Several conflict simulations, such as family, media department, cultural NGO, political parties, civilizational hexagon, vision formulation, leadership, social justice and national conflict and their resolution exercises were also made focusing on Nepalese context. Insights were also drawn from several conflict resolution disciplines and philosophy. The workshop adopted participatory method which enabled the participants to discuss, deliberate and perform role play.

Outcome

Participants found the systemic conflict transformation methodology very significant for dispute settlement, reconciliation and peace in a post-conflict country like Nepal. Daily experience of the participants was recorded through a structured questionnaire by the trainers. On the last day a short evaluation was also carried out about the workshop with four questions: a) What did they like? B) What did they dislike? C) Was there something missing? And d) what do they take something at home?

In the evaluation process, participants revealed that after the training their perceptions on many issues have changed, they learned to respect all in a system, provide space to all, understand human feelings and emotions, construct non-violent communication, role play and perform solution-oriented practical work wherever they are. They found the workshop very useful to address various types of conflicts and agreed to carry out the knowledge they learned in their situation. They also liked the former trainees doing mapping of the conflict. What they disliked most was that the program was too condensed as there was little space for the trainee to share what they have learned. They suggested that a follow-up of training of this nature should be organized and participants should be allowed to perform on their own. Participants found that the historical aspects of Nepal's conflict were missing. And they are taking home the knowledge and experience of achieving peace at various levels of society, seriousness about writing, culture of group dynamics, friendship, etc. They also suggested that before training FES should give the participants general orientation. The DED representative revealed that they would like to use this tool in planning intervention.

Participants decided to institutionalize their loose network into a legal entity and also create regional focal points for the dissemination of training and information. Nepal Television has prepared a special program and displayed the next day, which covered the background of workshop, interviews of principal trainer, FES head and one participant about the utility of systemic conflict transformation in a war-torn country like Nepal. Mainstream media covered the news of the event. Participants have also agreed to pursue research, dialogue and a publication on systemic conflict transformation theories and praxis and contribute to peace building efforts.