BLOG POST: Understanding the dynamics of polarization in Colombia
A brief reflection about polarization and its effects by Sergio Guarín León, Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, Colombia.
Common confusions
1. In all societies there are groups that have opposing positions on the way public affairs should be conducted. These positions are explained by the interests, needs and fears of individuals, as well as by their interpretation of reality, the information they have access to and their own experiences.
2. Social life implies the constant clash between these positions, which is known as conflict. The conflict is not negative per se and its management is an essential part of the public debate. When a society can manage the conflict peacefully improvements happen frequently or at least, awareness, new decisions and movements are generated.
PROJECT: Systemic Conflict Analysis, Kachin State
Myanmar’s civil war is five decades old. Since 2011 hundreds have since been killed and more than one hundred thousand displaced in northern Kachin state, threatening the country’s entire peace and reform process. In 2012 Adapt conducted a systemic conflict assessment of this conflict as part of a fellowship from Columbia University. Based upon key informant interviews and a chronology of events methodology, the research revealed non-linear dynamics which render the Kachin conflict intractable. The authors continue to work with affected communities, who are beginning to realise their aspirations for a political process to address the war’s underlying causes. For more about Adapt’s work in Kachin, check out the Peacebuiling Programs page.
PROJECT: Adapt develops new methods for creative planning in international development
Adapt Peacebuilding is supporting the NGO Christian Aid Ireland to institute adaptive programming approaches in its human rights, governance, gender and peacebuilding work in seven countries. Adaptive programming approaches recognise that its difficult if not impossible to know which strategies are likely to be effective in complex environments, and prioritises learning and reflection to improve strategies in close to real time.
BLOG POST: The Untapped Potential of Visual Arts and Innovative Education for Peace
In this blog, Peace Direct intern Celia Carbajosa spoke to leading social entrepreneur, activist and Rotary Peace Fellow Maria Gabriela Arenas- or ‘Gaby’ as she goes by- about an approach to violence which she thinks is largely overlooked: that of visual arts and innovative education. Gaby is the founder of TAAP (“Taller de Aprendizaje para las Artes y el Pensamiento”), a foundation based on promoting peaceful living and learning through creative workshops. TAPP uses drawings, photography, videos, textiles, sculptures and other tools to stimulate children, parents and the wider community to change how they think about violence and come up with communal solutions to eradicate it.
REPORT: Forestry Management and Peacebuilding in Karen Areas of Myanmar
This report, by Stephen Gray for International Alert, provides principles and practical strategies to support peacebuilding via forestry management in Karen-inhabited areas in the southeast of Myanmar. Improved governance of natural resources should be a focus of peacebuilding efforts, as it offers means to 1) mitigate conflict risks that have undermined Myanmar’s previous peace processes, 2) promote respect for pluralism through the recognition of the identities, rights and practices of ethnic minorities, and 3) support the devolution of governance (in this case forestry management), consistent with the goals of creating a democratic federal union. The report builds on examples of initiatives that are already working well, and recommends principles and practical strategies that are sensitive to the current context.
SLIDE DECK: Participatory Systems Mapping
In March 2014 Adapt conducted a workshop on participatory approaches to systems analysis at Columbia University in New York. View the slides here and read more about how to do participatory systems mapping throughout our newsfeed.
BLOG POST: ‘Different but not indifferent’ Non-violent community-led protection: La Guardia Indígena
In the mountainous Cauca region of southwestern Colombia, nineteen different indigenous communities from the Nasa tribe (approximately 18.500 people) live their lives autonomously from Bogota’s centralized national government. Known for their organizational capacity and sense of community, the indigenous communities of the Cauca region have a history of popular resistance in Colombia. For example in the 1920s, the Nasa collectively boycotted the taxes imposed on them by the Governor of Cauca for living and working their own land. Also, the Nasa were the first indigenous tribe in Colombia to organize themselves in a regional council, the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (CRIC), in 1971.
BLOG POST: Colombia’s peace in 2018: a new government, polarization, and instability
With a new president’s approach to peace, Colombia faces old and new challenges for building peace. In a recent evaluation, Iván Duque searches to modify the peace agreement in three main areas: Land restitution and illegal crop eradication programs, the political representation of the FARC, and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP in Spanish). We analyze these changes through the lens of political polarization.
Systems Thinking and Adaptive Management in International Development and Peacebuilding
This presentation at Columbia University outlined how, compared to traditional methods in international development and peacebuilding, systems thinking and adaptive management can be used to make our interventions more effective and less likely to cause harm. The presentation covers relevant concepts of thinking, methods of analysis and MEL, and adaptive management methodologies. All in all, a necessary concept and practice toolkit for professionals working to improve lives in complex environments, which we hope will lead to a graduate course delivered at Columbia University from next year onwards.
VIDEO: Systems Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation in Colombia
This video recording of a presentation by Stephen Gray to Fundación Ideas para la Paz focuses on systems approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Stephen first introduces the general principles related to methods that focus on systems and complexity, and then examines the specific methodology used by The Omidyar Group.
