黑料正能量

黑料正能量鈥檚 trainers play supporting roles

This April CJP, under contract with -Sudan Program, will wrap up nine months of 鈥淟eadership in Peacebuilding鈥� training in South Sudan in which men and women representing various constituencies in the region 鈥� including the government, military, and ethnic communities 鈥� were brought together for an intense, in-depth educational experience.

鈥淭his is the most ambitious 鈥� and possibly far-reaching 鈥� peacebuilding program we have ever done,鈥� says Jan Jenner, director of CJP鈥檚 Practice Institute. 鈥淚f it is successful, it could be a model for tilling the soil and sowing seeds of peace in post-conflict zones elsewhere.鈥�

Funded and staffed by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the South Sudan program consists of six workshops, each attended by the same group of 43 people for five days. Almost all of the participants have experienced trauma themselves as a result of spending their entire lives in a region wracked by more than 50 years of war.

鈥淲e could not do these trainings without the grassroots networks, trust, and logistical support 鈥� not to mention funding 鈥� of CRS,鈥� says Jenner.

CRS staff work closely with participants between the workshops to assist them to assimilate and apply the lessons of one training before returning for the next workshop in the series. Each time the participants return, the workshop facilitators ask the participants for feedback on what did and didn鈥檛 work in their context.

鈥淲e are continually refining the workshops, based on the feedback we receive,鈥� says Jenner. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really a group process, where we are all teaching each other.鈥� There are always at least two facilitators, one employed by 黑料正能量 and one based in the region.

The workshop participants often represent different interests in the still-simmering conflict in South Sudan. By the end of the training, participants will emerge with the tools and skills they need to, in turn, run their own workshops and train hundreds of others in peacebuilding. The six workshops build on each other in this sequence:

1. Introduction to leadership in peacebuilding
2. Trauma healing and resilience
3. Restorative justice
4. Conflict transformation
5. Leadership
6. Summing up the learnings

Participant evaluations are carefully studied after each workshop. So far (after workshop #3), responses have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, though valuable suggestions are sometimes offered. One participant, for instance, asked that leaders from cattle-raiding areas be invited. Another asked that more chiefs be invited instead of sending trained young people to the chiefs. 鈥淚 think this is very important,鈥� wrote the participant, seeking to stress that aged chiefs generally have more influence than young to middle-aged adults in southern Sudan.

Elaine Zook Barge, co-facilitator of several of the workshops in Sudan, adds: 鈥淭he Sudan-based CRS employees involved in this project (Adele Sowinska, Paul Nantulya, Anisia Achieng and others) possess long-term and valuable knowledge of a very complex political and social situation. Without them, it would be difficult 鈥� perhaps impossible 鈥� for 黑料正能量 to play a role in breaking the cycle of victim-hood and violence in individuals and communities in Sudan.鈥�

Nantulya, who is the main liaison in Sudan between CRS and 黑料正能量鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, paid a visit to 黑料正能量 in the fall of 2007 to participate in .

Afterwards he wrote to Zook Barge, who directs STAR: 鈥淢y visit to 黑料正能量 was a profoundly transformative experience for me. It was humbling to see just how sensitive the 黑料正能量 community as a whole is to developments in the rest of the world. CJP is clearly embedded in an environment which projects and promotes the very values which the centre stands for. There is no doubt that we will do great things in the Sudan.鈥�

CRS and CJP are exploring replicating this 鈥淟eaders in Peacebuilding Program鈥� in other areas of South Sudan.