Life as a ASIA Fellow with CPCS
In 2009 CPCS hosted visiting ASIA Fellow Chona Echavez of the Philippines. While in Cambodia she conducted research on the role of youth in the peacebuilding process, particularly how young people conceptualise peace and unpeace and their presence in the communities.
At the end of her Fellowship Chona published an article reflecting on her experiences in Cambodia. It was published in the November 2009 Newsletter of the ASIA Fellows Program and the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program under "Chona R. Echavez. A Love to Last A Lifetime. 8. 10. Asian Sojourns & Flavors, pp 10-11." To read Chona's reflections on her research experience in Cambodia, please click here.
Background
Over the last decade, local initiatives for peace in South East Asia such as the Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT) in Cambodia and Action Asia have been laying the foundations for what has now become the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), a home to a range of interconnected programmes which promote the advancement of peace processes and research and learning in Asia and beyond.
Much of our recent work in civil society has been to build connections between committed peace builders working in different conflict situations and across different parts of the region. We have developed close network relations that provide support and opportunities for exchange and strengthening of peace practice in the region. We have recognised the need to create opportunities, in education and training, as ways of strengthening our human and material resources in working for peace. One such programme, developed together with Responding to Conflict and Pannasastra University Cambodia, is the MA course for practitioners Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS Asia).
The CPCS was developed as a home to strengthen some existing initiatives and create new programmes that help people across Asia make more informed and strategic initiatives into violent conflict and transformation and advance peace processes.
The guiding principle that brings our component programmes and organisations together is to consolidate our various experiences and knowledge into useful resources. Our goal is to disseminate these resources through conversation, formal training, publications and to put them in the hands of practitioners who will benefit from this extensive knowledge base. The Centre was conceived as a way to develop and reflect on best practices: that is, to make best practices our work for peace.
Our purpose
The CPCS seeks to:
- bring experience from the ground to inform best peace practice
- disseminate and share the reflections and learning of peace practitioners
- apply and test theory and approaches for best peace practice
- support countries and conflict situations through network support and consultancies
- support leadership and initiative in people and situations
Overriding Programme Approaches and Principles
The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies has agreed models, principles and methodologies that inform all of its interventions. These are applied to the programme as a whole.
A key principle is that CPCS intervenes in response to requests from local peace organisations and networks, often activated by individuals who are already members, or familiar with, Action Asia as a network of CPCS. It is important that leaders are supportive to enable training and initiatives to become on-going action focused processes. Interventions are therefore only undertaken if people in that country want and agree to the rationale and need for the work and its ethos. CPCS works alongside its local partners in giving on-going support and capacity development as requested.
The Model as the Basis for Interventions
As an active intervention in a context characterised by conflict, all initiatives will be informed by the following understanding of an effective approach. Each phase will more often than not overlap with the next and will take account of the different levels:
- Analysis of the situation, relationships, power, attitudes, behaviours, root causes, links between the levels to gain better understanding.
- Identifying entry points and strategising options.
- Taking action to transform situations of injustice and violence into positive outcomes.
- Reflecting on the outcomes of these actions, recording, disseminating and sharing the learning with others.
- Building in learning to future analysis, strategies, actions and reflection.
- Planning needs to be flexible to take account of the rapidly changing context and to capitalise on opportunities arising. Therefore, more detailed planning will continue to be built in along the way to take account of others' further input and needs as they arise through the programme.
Key Methodologies of CPCS Programme Interventions
- Long Term Approach: When a culture of violence has taken root, action to move towards a culture of peace is necessarily a long-term process. It takes time to have lasting impact and attempts to speed-up the process are likely to have severely negative effects on quality and long-term impacts. Thus, once we prioritise a particular situation, we envisage a long-term accompaniment of as much as 25 - 50 years, shaped by the needs and analysis of local partners and individual network members.
- Linking Analysis to Programme Strategies: Programme initiatives need to be based on thorough, ongoing analysis and understanding of the dynamics and complexities of the context. CPCS prioritises the analysis of its local partners and network members but also relies on other sources to inform its perspective.
- Holistic and Integrated: This includes linking the levels, initiatives and integrating cross-cutting themes and issues to address different aspects of development and the causes of conflict. Root causes of conflict must inform the actions; i.e. structural and systematic causes are important, as are attitudes and behaviours.
- Challenging: Recognising fundamental power imbalances as a root cause of conflicts, including economic inequalities and different access to power structures. Initiatives set out to challenge these, both in the broader context as well as within ourselves. This approach recognises and challenges individuals to bring about personal change in attitudes and behaviours as the starting point to bringing about effective change in their own context.
- People Centred and Participatory: Valuing unique contributions of unique individuals, whilst involving representatives from all affected groups and responding to stated needs. Giving a voice to people ? the communities to the highest level - whilst linking diversities.
- Learning and Reflecting: Everything we do is a source of learning. Learning from past experiences is a valuable tool in deciding on future actions and initiatives with unintended outcomes often being an excellent source of learning. Sharing the learning can assist others in similar situations and enable further learning for ourselves. Monitoring and evaluating are an integral part of the learning process.
- Process-Oriented: Development, PB&CT are ongoing processes rather than a final end point. Development, as change, is on-going. Disagreements will always exist and conflict is seen as important to challenge us and inspires creativity in solving problems and finding solutions. Sustainable processes are required to enable us to deal constructively and positively with situations as they arise and before they become violent.
- Most importantly, any initiative and interaction between all those involved, will reflect the values, approaches and practices it is endeavouring to promote.