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Peacebuilder’s last interview sends powerful message

By
Teniola Ayoola
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Peacebuilder Abdullahi Isse Abdulle (Isse) was killed in an al-Shabab attack in Somalia on July 12, but one of his final interviews reveals his poignant message to the world.

Isse traveled to Washington DC in May this year to share his story at #PEACETALKS, and event hosted by Peace Direct and Eaton Workshop, where he spoke with Peace News Network.

“I come, actually, to advocate for the role civil society can play in peacebuilding—globally, and nationally,” said Isse.

Isse graduated from Ohio State University and directed the Social-life and Agricultural Development Organization (SADO) in Somalia. The humanitarian organization provided aid and lead peacebuilding initiatives.

“There are around 2 million [Internally Displaced People] in Somalia,” said Isse, “That have fled from their homes and [are] living in other parts of their country. They fled because of the conflict, because of the insecurity.”

“We have been assisting and supporting people when there was [not] any form of governance in Somalia.”

He spoke about the impact of al-Shabab, and about how he was once forced to flee his own home.

“We then [drove] about 70kms and then the car ran out of fuel,” he said “We had to walk for five days until we reached the other region that out clans lived in.”

He was separated from his family for seven months, but he still advocated for non-violent solutions.

“I don’t think the fighting will defeat one party or bring the solution,” Isse said. “Peaceful talks can.”

He encouraged the international community to recognize the power of locally-led peace, arguing that civil society knows the history and the dynamics of a conflict.

“I cannot do what you can do, [you] who are born here in America,” he said. “You cannot do what I can do, where I come from, in Somalia.”

The attack by al-Shabab in Kismayo this month took Isse’s life, and 25 others, but his legacy will live on in his hope for his country and in the work of his organization.

“Solutions to these complex problems in Somalia will come from the community level. It is the local community who knows these people like Al-Shabab. It is the community that will know the best path to peace.”

Women in Kaduna State step up as peace leaders

By
Mohammed Ibrahim
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Hajara Suleiman fled religious violence in her village in Kaduna State when clashes between Christian and Muslim groups became too intense. Now, Suleiman is an example of a transformation happening for many women in Northern Nigeria.

Margaret Kwa’ada Julius works with vulnerable citizens at the NGO Eye Opener Youth and Women, and she brings women like Suleiman together to implement peace.

“Women have a very big role to play in this country,” says Kwa’ada Julius. “We have influence.”

Through her participation in Kwa’ada Julius‘ program, Suleiman says she has learned to live harmoniously with neighbors from different ethnic and religious groups.

“I have seen a lot of progress,” Suleiman says. “Because all the women of this organization we show love to each other—love and affection. We didn’t differentiate anybody from any religion or any ethnic group.”

Fellow participant Eucharia Everest agrees. “[Kwa’ada Julius] has taught me how to unite with people, whether they are Muslims or Christians, she has taught me how to unite together with them.”

Regina Onah also works in conflict resolution in the region, as part of the Development and Peace Initiative. After political and religious clashes in the region left over 800 dead in 2011, Onah and her team went into Kafanchan village to implement peacebuilding projects.

“We achieved success,” Onah says. “When we got there we realized that there were some communities where Christians don’t go into because they were Muslim-dominated communities. There are areas that were Christian-dominated communities that Muslims didn’t go in.”

They held interfaith talks, and even football matches, to bring opposing groups together.

“We were able to bridge this gap,” Onah says. “We identified key stakeholders or gatekeepers in the communities, we were able to bring to the table community-based organizations, religious leaders, some political leaders too.”

Globally, when there’s an effort to settle violent conflict, women’s involvement at the negotiation table has been proven to increase the odds of peace agreements being reached. One study of peace processes over the last three decades showed that when women’s groups were able to influence a peace process, an agreement was almost always reached. Another study revealed that the peace agreements reached with women’s involvement were also likely to last longer.

“Usually people see women as vulnerable,” says Onah, “or as people who don’t have the capacity to mediate or negotiate when it comes to peacebuilding . But I tell you, women have what it takes.”

Rahmatu Adamu works at the Interfaith ‎Mediation Centre in Kaduna, and met with divided groups in Maiduguri (the birthplace of militant Islamist group Boko Haram). Adamu says even if they aren’t leading peacebuilding initiatives, women can be powerful influencers.

“We should find a way to communicate with each other, it is the bed of the whole thing–communication,” Adamu says.

“Women can influence our men to toe the line of peace. Women can influence our children to toe the line of peace. All we need is that self-esteem and that self-confidence. Once we have that I think we have the capacity.”

Reframing refugees: New approach boosts economies

By
Peace News Staff
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Tarek Mulla was a software engineer in Syria before war forced him to flee to Lebanon. He was 25 years old and, like many refugees, he struggled to find work. But with the help of a new program from Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), Tarek has found a job in Melbourne, Australia. This year he became the first refugee candidate to relocate through the initiative.

The world now has 25.9 million refugees, who are often viewed as threat or burden to their host countries

“There’s an image of refugees, that they are needy, dependent,” says TBB co-founder Bruce Cohen. “So one of the barriers we are overcoming is showing that there are refugees who are educated, talented, skilled, add value, can contribute—have contributed and will contribute again.”

TBB work to change the way refugees are seen and give them a chance for labor migration. They have found success particularly in rural Australia and Canada.

“Labor mobility is a new solution for refugees,” says Cohen. “If countries will make their economic migration pathways more flexible and accessible to refugees we have found that there are companies that are more than willing to hire refugees because they need the talent.”

In Germany, a recent study found that better integrating refugees has allowed skilled labor gaps to be filled and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) released research that revealed that EU immigration boosted Germany’s GDP growth by an average of 0.2 percent every year between 2011 and 2016.

“Without immigration from the rest of the EU, Germany’s GDP would have grown by 1.2 percent instead of 1.5 percent in 2015,” says DIW researcher Marius Clemens. “EU immigration has made—and continues to make—a considerable contribution to the economy.”

In northern suburbs of Chicago, USA, refugee resettlement groups have also seen benefits.

“In the last ten years there has been a boom to that part of the city because there are refugees from all over the world living there,” says Suzanne Akhras, from the Syrian Community Network. “Iraqis, Somalis, Bhutanese, Vietnamese—so that area is very diverse, and doing very well now…all these businesses [are] booming.”

One of the biggest hurdles of labor migration is the paperwork of visa applications, with many refugees struggling to prove their identity, evidence of funds, and qualifications.

“The barrier—often unintended barriers—administrative barriers in the way that governments have designed their visa processes have to be changed,” says Cohen.

“These movements are a way for us to demonstrate to these governments that this is worthwhile, make your pathways more flexible, think about who you could include and bring to add value to economic development.”

Op-Ed: Tim Phillips on drivers of conflict, and reconciliation

By
Tim Phillips
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Tim Phillips is the founder of Beyond Conflict. Here, he speaks with HUB reporter Saralyn Cruickshank about talking (and listening) across divides.

During his career, Tim Phillips has learned a great deal about reconciliation and human behavior. One lesson in particular stands out: The Enlightenment was deeply flawed.

“During the Enlightenment, scholars believed that humans are rational beings who happen to have emotions,” Phillips says. “In fact, the opposite is true—science is showing that we are highly emotional beings who happen to have moments of clarity.”

It’s a lesson that’s been reinforced throughout the 27 years Phillips has spent leading the nonprofit Beyond Conflict, which he founded in 1992 to support governments and organizations as they broker peace and reconciliation in areas ravaged by war, oppression, trauma, and discord. Phillips helped pave the way for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which aimed to bring restorative justice to victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses under Apartheid, the nation’s strict system of racial segregation that came to an end in the early 1990s.

Since then, Phillips has worked to resolve conflicts in more than 75 countries, including Northern Ireland, Cuba, and countries in Central America and Eastern Europe. During each mission, he’s seen the burden that emotions have on human behavior.

“A friend working to bring peace to Guatemala and El Salvador in 1992 told me that exclusion is a main driver of conflict,” he says. “At the time, I understood what he meant intellectually, but as I started working around the world, I saw that some form of cultural, social, or economic exclusion was consistent in every place.”

He later learned, from his extensive work with neuroscientists and psychologists, that such forms of social rejection are experienced as physical pain in the brain. The close association between brain and social sciences led Phillips to establish the Beyond Conflict Innovation lab for Neuroscience and Social Change, which uses cognitive and behavioral science research to inform the design of better interventions for building peace and promoting social change.

Phillips was among the scholars and practitioners participating recently in a half-day conference in Athens, Greece, hosted by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins. The conference, titled Talking (and Listening) Across Divides: What We Can Learn from Research and Experience, brought together experts whose work sheds light on conflict resolution as well as methods of coalition and consensus building among groups with competing agendas.

Phillips participated in a panel discussion with Roelf Meyer, a former leader of South Africa’s National Party, which enacted and enforced Apartheid, and Ebrahim Rasool, the former South African ambassador to the U.S. who spent time in prison alongside Nelson Mandela for his anti-Apartheid activism. You can watch the talks here:

This story was originally published in the HUB. Photo: Dewet/WikiCommons

Op-Ed: How can cultural diversity drive peace and development?

By
Peace News Staff
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Opinion: What is one way we can reinforce cultural diversity as a driving factor of peace and development? Here, the world’s leading peacebuilding NGOs answer the question in honor of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. This story was first published in Generations for Peace.

Monica Curca | Founder & Managing Director at Activate Labs

I believe that whenever there is an effort intentionally or unintentionally to erase, diminish or discount the cultural lived experience of any person or group it is in the service to violence and oppression. That is to say that as peacebuilders we have the obligation to create spaces of mutuality and cultural diversity as a universal protocol to combat violence and oppression. One way we do this at Activate Labs is by honoring and amplifying cultural diversity through first person storytelling – by which each person is centered as the owner and alchemist of their own histories and identities.

Uzra Zeya | CEO at Alliance for Peacebuilding

Every day, peacebuilders navigate danger and discord to prevent violent conflict and sustain peace. While every country is unique, some truths are universal, namely that inclusion generates more lasting peace. The evidence case is strong, from Liberia to Northern Ireland to Colombia. As a field, however, peacebuilders should ask ourselves if we are fully modelling inclusion in how our organizations are structured and operate. With ample evidence that diverse groups produce better results, we can aim higher— from modelling inclusion in organizational leadership, to giving local, diverse, and youth actors greater voice at gatherings. Let us draw inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change…We need not wait to see what others do.”

Aseel Zahran | Education Specialist at Generations For Peace Institute

Reinforcing cultural diversity requires a commitment to inclusion as a dynamic collaborative process that enhances the participation and contribution – rather than mere representation – of everyone within a community. Inclusion is also not just about providing a platform where people can express their different cultures and ways of being, but also acknowledging that everyone can bring something valuable and unique that can enrich the whole, and that everyone can contribute to fostering social cohesion. In fact, it is the responsibility of everyone.At Generations For Peace, we are constantly grappling with how to ensure inclusion in our learning spaces. We create safe spaces where young people from different backgrounds feel safe and supported. They learn to be grounded in who they are, but also to respect and honour the different identities around them.

Friederike Bubenzer | Senior Project Leader at the Institute For Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)

I believe that really listening to one another’s stories has the potential to open our eyes to the beauty of the difference in the Other. When we hear those stories, we see each other in one another, and we are united by our common humanity rather than divided by difference. As the Nigerian write Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says: ‘Stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess, to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.’

Charlotte Melly | Head of International Programmes at Peace Direct

Reinforcing cultural diversity as a driving factor of peace and development means providing opportunities for dialogue and interaction which respond to community needs. This means working at the grassroots to understand the contextual knowledge and diversity of civil society and developing tools that allow local groups to contribute to peace in the way that works best in their context. For example, in Nigeria, this means empowering young people from diverse backgrounds to find common ground through sports. In DR Congo, this means bridging ethnic divides through agricultural cooperatives that not only increase understanding between participants, but also build resilient communities. Nurturing cultural diversity for peace means opening the spaces for dialogue and reconciliation that resonate in the contexts and cultures themselves.

Todd Shuster | Co-Founder of The Peace Studio

As human beings, we are all the “same kind of different.” Each one of us has a unique mind, personality, and appearance. Each one of us has inherited traits as well as characteristics shaped by our education and life experiences. Most everybody on this planet wants the same things—peace, health, safety, comfort, personal attainment and fulfillment, a sense of purpose and meaning, love, friendship, family. When we notice differences between ourselves and others, we might feel uncomfortable or unsafe. At times we may feel so frightened that we might separate ourselves from those who don’t seem to be quite the same as us. In some cases, we may even become violent because of such differences. It’s the unfamiliarity that breeds corrupted thinking and destructive behaviors. The salve, then, is coming to know others whose culture, or way of being, or appearance is different from ours. When our friendships at work and in our communities embrace such diversity, any differences we detect in others become familiar to us. They then come to seem less peculiar. And then we realize that we are, indeed, the same kind of different. We’re all in the boat of life together. We are all in fact quite similar. We can be with one another in peace.

Malu Marella‐Sulit | General Manager, Programs & Communications at Sport at the Service of Humanity (SSH)

Intolerance and hatred are major deterrents to peace and understanding. They are rooted in ignorance and fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar. Therefore, one way we can pave the way for inter-cultural understanding is to create environments where people, regardless of culture and beliefs, are able to engage with one another through a shared interest or activity. In the process, they get to know each other and find common ground.Sport has this unique power to celebrate our common humanity because it brings people together – allowing them to meet each other across boundaries, sharing a common love for the game, competing on equal terms, following the same rules and respecting differences even in competition. *Note: to avoid bias, responses are placed in alphabetical order of organisation namePhoto: UNESCO

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