The Drum Beat 451 - Youth Engagement in Peace Processes

This issue of the Drum Beat shares recent illustrations of how children and young people are drawing upon communication strategies and tools to ease social tensions - for instance, by finding ways to connect in times of violent clashes (i.e., war), or by mitigating conflicts related to religious, ethnic, racial, cultural, and other differences.

Please send additional communication project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on conflict management, peacebuilding, and intercultural dialogue at any time. Contact Deborah Heimann at dheimann@comminit.com

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BREAKING DOWN INTERPERSONAL BARRIERS

1. Naya Bato Naya Paila (New Path New Footprints) - Nepal This radio soap opera is the centrepiece of a youth-oriented edutainment programme that uses drama to address the root causes of conflict and equip the listeners with the necessary tools to manage the conflict's impact on their lives. Produced by the Search for Common Ground (SFCG), in partnership with a local media non-governmental organisation (NGO) called The Antenna Foundation Nepal, "Naya Bato Naya Paila" is broadcast 3 times per week on national and local radio stations, and is about a group of young people from different ethnic and caste backgrounds who confront the realities of life in the midst of the country's transition and seek to build peace in their own communities. It is designed to be both action- and solution-oriented, with the hope that listeners will model their actions associated with the peacebuilding process by identifying with characters in the drama. The goal is to encourage direct youth involvement in promoting peace at both local and national levels. Already-established, multi-ethnicity, multi-caste youth clubs in villages across the country reportedly listen to the radio soap opera together and then discuss how to take action. Contact: stripathee@sfcg.org

2. Open Fun Football Schools (OFFS) - Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Middle East This initiative uses sports as a tool to bring together children in areas of the world working toward post-conflict reconciliation. Launched in 1998, OFFS involves connecting kids in war-torn areas such as Bosnia Herzegovina through football, with the goal of enabling young people from antagonistic population groups to meet and communicate in a neutral space - to the end of inciting a process of democracy, peace, stability, and social cohesion. In one OFFS location (the Balkans), the "playing for peace" concept is centred around the involvement of 2 municipalities and 4 football clubs from different sides of an ethnic divide or other lines of confrontation. Emphasis is placed on educating children to listen to each other, take care, show tolerance, make compromises, take on responsibilities together, and realise their interdependence. One OFFS participant claims that "[t]he schools have stimulated the formation of hundreds of local football clubs in the respective countries that are organising football for all children regardless gender, talent, ethnic or social backgrounds." Contact: Anders Levinsen ccpa@ccpa.dk

3. Kids4Peace - Israel, Palestinian Territory, United States This interfaith cross-cultural education-for-peace programme is dedicated to encouraging children from different backgrounds to explore their differences and similarities and to learn tolerance, understanding, and respect - while fostering sustainable friendships across lines of conflict. Run by volunteers from 3 Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Kids4Peace (K4P) draws upon interpersonal communication to foster pride, respect, cooperation, and an understanding of the importance of listening as a strategy for moving beyond ignorance into shared appreciation. Stories, prayers, songs, and child-led teachings about each tradition are amongst the activities organised as part of K4P offerings. For example, a 10-day camp held each summer in Vermont (United States) brings together 24 children from Vermont and Israel/Palestine who play, observe, and learn about each other's faith traditions, and ask questions. The goal is to use an entertaining approach - laughter, play, and mutual engagement in the daily activities of camp - to see beyond adult war and to connect, even across opposite sides of a conflict. An online "social network", provided on the K4P USA website is designed to stimulate conversation and connection after the annual camps are complete. Contact: Henry Ralph Carse, PhD, executivedirector@kids4peaceusa.org OR Libby Hillhouse redlool@fairpoint.net OR Bill Monk bilmonk@gmail.com

4. International Union Ertoba - Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Western Europe The word "Ertoba" means "unity", and is the inspiration for this youth-run NGO. The group brings together young people from various Eastern and Western European countries to take part in: communication campaigns against violence; human rights education; conflict, organisational, and project management seminars; intercultural learning exchanges; citizenship and democracy initiatives; and media-based efforts. For example, as part of the "Peace, Love, and Hope" campaign, Ertoba brought together young people to take action against violence. They moved by bus around Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, carrying out exhibitions, street animations, workshops, concerts, debates, round table dialogues, and seminars. Each participant acted as a volunteer leader of the project by, for example, mobilising young people at the local level and running the campaign. Also, the "We Have Equal Rights" activity, implemented in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21), involved asking member organisations to plan and implement activities at local and national levels. Contact: Nana Saginashvili internationalu@yahoo.com OR ertoba.ge@gmail.com OR leocka@hotmail.com

5. Intelektualet e rinj, Shprese (IRSH) [Young Intellectuals, Hope] - Albania One of the initiatives undertaken by this socio-cultural, independent, non-political, non-profit NGO involved IRSH's youth department working with high school students in Albania to organise a street theatre event. The performance featured 5-minute pieces designed to illustrate negative phenomena such as corruption, trafficking, and violence against women. To prepare for such activities, IRSH's youth centre offers trainings; for example, young participants completed a 1-month computer course, then identified 1 issue about which they wanted to sensitise the public. The result was a public campaign lobbying against trafficking that featured leaflets, posters, and brochures they had created themselves. Contact: Mr. Blendi Dibra irsh_centre@yahoo.com

6. Sawa - Lebanon Toward the end of Lebanon's civil war, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sought to unite children by developing a printed magazine called Sawa (meaning "together" in Arabic). The goal was to bridge the front lines and the ethnic divides with educational tools and a message of peace, understanding, reconciliation, and hope. Each issue of Sawa focused on a central theme designed to take children beyond the confines of their temporary homes (the bomb shelters), stimulate their imaginations, encourage them to think, provide entertainment, and impart lessons in an interactive and approachable way. UNICEF also established summer camp programmes as a way to bridge gaps between children from across regional, ethnic, social and religious barriers. The purpose of these activities was: to find a way to reach children in spite of the fighting; to give them a chance to learn and play wherever they were to make up for the lack of schooling; and to help young people deal with their day-to-day hardships and fill the hours spent in bomb shelters. Contact: beirut@unicef.org

* See also:

7. Rruga Sesam & Ulica Sezam Children's TV Series - Kosovo

8. The Educational Impact of Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim: A Sesame Street Television Series to Promote Respect and Understanding among Children Living in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza

9. Sesame Stories (Sippuray Sumsum/Hikayat Simsim) - Israel, Palestine, Jordan

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Please VOTE in our Early Child Development POLL:

How can the voices, ideas, and perspectives of young children best be communicated?

• Through their own age-appropriate means - e.g., art, music, children interviewing children, etc.
• Through their parents.
• Through their grandparents.
• Through their teachers.
• Through community workers working with them.
• Other.

VOTE (see "Poll" heading on the top right side).

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MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY BRIDGES

11. Breaking the Silence: Using Popular Culture to Engage Young People in Human Rights Reporting by Rafal Pankówski This document explores the strategies used by the Poland-based volunteer organisation Nigdy Wiêcej (Never Again) to engage and involve young people in efforts to fight racism and neo-fascism. "...Never Again uses cultural events such as concerts and football games to recruit young people to this movement. Through this recruitment, they have organized an extensive network of volunteer correspondents throughout Poland to report on and challenge the tolerance of extreme-right and racist groups and ideas in their society. These correspondents are taught to carefully and regularly report any and all incidents of racism and xenophobia in their districts. Never Again's organizers then process and synthesize this information, publishing it in a magazine that is distributed to thousands of readers....The publication serves not only for general education, it has also provided important investigative reporting that has prompted coverage of these issues in the mainstream Polish media..."

12. BRIDGES: Building Real Intercultural Dialogue Through Glocal Encounters The Glocal Forum promotes peacebuilding and development activities designed to foster understanding and dialogue between societies through city-to-city partnerships, youth empowerment, and information and communication technology (ICT). Specifically, an interactive website provides ideas about how Glocal Forum partners (city governments as well as local and international organisations) can build capacities locally, empower youth, reach out to underprivileged children, utilise ICT for social change, build peace, and foster smooth intercultural relations. Conferences, events, and agreements are also provided here in an effort to share information about, and spark projects to facilitate, understanding and peaceful cooperation among people of different backgrounds, locally and globally. For example, one project summarised here is called "European Rails of Peace". Selected for their commitment to peacebuilding and academic records, and awarded with InterRail tickets, young beneficiaries in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia embarked on a month of train travel to attend reconciliation workshops. Contact: info@glocalforum.org

13. Y-Press - United States This youth-driven organisation works to give children a voice in the world through journalism. Members build communication skills by producing stories - to appear in The Indianapolis Star, on WFYI-FM (90.1), or on the Y-Press website - from their own perspective. In some cases, young reporters have traveled as part of their research, a process that has generated opportunities for interaction with peers from very different backgrounds. For example, the summer after the Persian Gulf War, a 4-member reporting team interviewed young people in Kuwait City on the war's effect on their lives. Late in 1999, Y-Press re-interviewed 2 Kuwaitis who attended Indiana University about their changing attitudes, 8 years later. Contact: ypress@in.net

14. ICT4Peace Inventorisation Wiki - Global Created by the ICT4Peace Foundation, this wiki is the centrepiece of an initiative to explore the application of ICTs to peacebuilding and conflict management. Visitors to the ICT4Peace Inventorisation Wiki may search for various resources, which are presented in summary format. For instance, a search for "youth" generates a link to a page titled "Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Role of the Media", which opens with an excerpt from the report "The Role of ICT in Preventing, Responding to and Recovering from Conflict". A list of online resources, with links and brief summaries, follows - amongst them is the Burundi Youth Council, which offers news reports and publications and fosters online multi-ethnic dialogue. Also, a dedicated search engine indexes sites with content pertinent to ICT for peace processes. Contact: Daniel Stauffacher danielstauffacher@ict4peace.org OR Sanjana Hattotuwa sanjanahattotuwa@ict4peace.org

15. Forgotten Diaries - East Timor / Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Serbia / Montenegro, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uganda Launched in June 2008 by Youth Action for Change (YAC), Forgotten Diaries centres around an interactive website designed to connect youth in conflict and post-conflict areas in Serbia, the Caucasus, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kurdistan, Ethiopia, and East Timor. These online intersections will serve as the platform for 30 participants (aged 15-28) to partake in project management training so that they might effectively develop and implement local projects to help heal their communities. Any visitor to the Forgotten Diaries website may read about the conflict-related issues specific to, and shared commonly among, each of the countries highlighted. Contact: info@youthactionforchange.org

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Final weeks of DISCUSSION

Based on the joint World Bank/CI paper "Communicating the Impact of Communication for Development: Recent Trends in Empirical Research," by Nobuya Inagaki, that identifies and analyses peer-reviewed journal articles, this discussion is focused on whether this paper makes a compelling case for the impact of communication for development. We are also looking at impact evaluation in general, and the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges inherent in evaluating communication for development.

For background, please see The Drum Beat #447 - Trends in Impact Evaluation of C4D [Part 3] and the archives of the Drum Beat Chat Discussion Forum.

While we will be continuing this discussion for just 10 more days, we are very interested in your assessment and response to the knowledge in Nobuya's paper. Join the discussion at drumbeatchat@comminit.com If you need assistance registering for the discussion, please contact dheimann@comminit.com

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EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGEMENT

16. Gemin-i - Great Britain & Northern Ireland (UK) This initiative revolves around several web-based solutions designed to improve education and empower young people worldwide to interact with other students and communities globally. For example, Gemin-i.org's Rafi.ki is a free social network of schools that gathers students and teachers from over 600 schools in 84 countries to facilitate project-based learning and to provide an international dimension to all aspects of the curriculum. By creating an online learning community, organisers aim to improve academic achievement while bridging national, religious, and social divides. The project also strives to create global citizens by helping pupils collaborate with each other on charity-driven projects that address issues such as conflict prevention. In some projects, there are also opportunities to meet politicians and express the participating students' views on particular topics. In 2005, pupils from Kenya, Malawi, and England presented their perspectives - in person - at the G8 Summit in Scotland. Organisers claim that interactive nature of the Rafi.ki project adds an extra dimension to the classroom, enabling students to gather evidence from and share cultural and other information with fellow students across the globe. Contact: Chris Vaughan chris@gemin-i.org OR info@gemin-i.org

17. Peace Education: Why and How? by Pamela Baxter and Vick Ikobwa This paper discusses why peace education programmes may be important and presents the methodology and lessons learned from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees/ Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (UNHCR/INEE) Peace Education Programme (PEP) in East Africa and the Horn. This paper details aspects of the PEP programme, and shares lessons learned - just a few include:

• The success of a process-oriented programme such as peace education requires the skills, attitudes, and values that the children learn in school to be reinforced by adults within their own community.
• Instead of focusing training on a select group of individuals (those considered opinion leaders), it is preferable to focus on all school children and to involve self-selected participants in the community programme (thus enabling a 'bottom up' approach).
• The capacity of experienced refugees to take up training roles within the programme must be developed to ensure that local knowledge and experience are tapped and community ownership of the programme promoted. Many graduates of the programme have developed ‘peace committees’ to minimise and resolve conflicts within and between communities have set up youth groups to promote constructive peace through sporting and cultural events.

18. Multi-Country Consultation on Reducing the Impact of Small Arms and Light Weapons on Children and Their Communities: What Works? This report emerged from a 2-day meeting held in March 2008 in Kingston, Jamaica. Background remarks - and summaries of presentations from the first Session of the conference - explore the dimension of the problem of violence in the Caribbean, and the impact of small arms and light weapons (SALW) on children and adolescents. Communication strategies are highlighted in portions of the report; for instance, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Costa Rica has undertaken a national campaign with the tagline "Arms? No thank you". This campaign attempts to bring a message to the national and local levels, with a focus on involving children between the ages of 8 to 12 in peacekeeping efforts through strategies such as: production of t-shirts, stickers, and banners; exchange of educational kits (notebooks, pencils, stickers, and rulers) for toy guns; public service announcements (PSAs) on television; school meetings; parades; symbolic establishment of "firearm-free" schools; and an educational video and paperback guide with exercises and readings focusing on the negative impact of firearms on peace, and on alternative conflict resolution.

* See also:

19. This is My Home: A Minnesota Human Rights Education Experience

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This issue was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com

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