Muthumari Nagar seeks help

This is one of two villages I am trying to raise funds for whilst I am in Sri Lanka.

The Final Days of Nonviolent Peaceforce Presence in Sri Lanka

The Closing of the Batticaloa Office

Chika Onah is NP's Head of Field Office in BAtticaloa. Here he talks about what will happen after NP leaves the District.

What is going to happen here is NP’s former staff in Batticaloa (the National staff) have came together to start a new organization. The new organization has been registered and they want to continue most of NP’s work. They want to equally add additional responsibility to that, like “livelihood and education”, so that is what is going to happen here as from Monday. (24th October) 

There are still needs for protection though you cannot compare the need now to two years ago or three years ago. But there’s still a need for protection and am very very happy that a local organization, like the one being formed by the old staff, is going to take up that.


Equally other networks are being rekindled. I heard from Murthi (a local partner) that they are forming a Provincial Peace Committee now. This will take care of the Eastern Province rather than before when they have a peace committee only within Batticaloa; maybe they have within Trincomalee and Ampara but now they are coming together to form one on a Provincial level.


There are equally other organizations that are really into human rights and protection issues too so they are really coming together to continue the work but I must confess protection needs here is not the same as two years ago it has really really improved. I think our best legacy is seeing that any civilian is protected, whether this is direct protection like the accompaniment we give or the assistance with the process. 

I know it will be very very difficult for anybody to do such a thing but I believe our old staff can. They already know what the meaning of ‘accompaniment’ is, the meaning of presence. I believe they can carry on with this and this is something we saw in our MSC (Most Significant Change) impact study.


During the MSC workshop in Vavuniya one person has said how ‘accompaniment’ achieve a lot of things. They had brought stakeholders together and locally important people agreed to start accompanying civilians who needed particular things, such as Character References, from a Grama.Nildari. (GN - local Government Official) The GN had said he would give but rarely did. But since they had organised ‘accompaniments’, the applicants had started getting their G.N’s certificates. I think that is a very very big legacy.


Another legacy we are living is the capacity building training. Really! anytime we have given the training most participants said, they’ve attended a lot of training but this is one is very very different, in terms of the curriculum, in terms of what they are hearing. You know, they are used to the 'normal training', may be livelihood training, or some business training but they’d never really think that they can protect themselves. All they were thinking is that ‘protection’ is only the responsibility of governments, police.


So these are some of the legacies that NP left behind and you could see even as we are closing we have a lot of training requests for this particular training, 'Basic Negotiations Skills and Threat Mitigation'.


The new organization, 'Yours and Mine - Vision for Community', will continue, together with Human Rights Centre for Social Justice and Community Development and with two other local partners. Now they will really have a lot of trainers who will know the work, together with the ex-NP staff. They will  continue delivering these trainings specially to the Mediation Boards; they really saw the importance of the training.

Equally that was why even the Mediation Board, in Kaththankudi has liaised with the police to see how they can extend the training to the civil protection committee which is a committee between the civilians and the police force

Earl Barthelot was NPO's Programme Coordinator in Batticaloa and has now established a new agency, with former NP staff, to continue to deliver the trainings in protection and negotiations skills they've been doing. so successfully, with NP.


"So for us, and the community, the most important thing was as far as protection is concerned; protecting persons and their accompaniments in Sri Lanka.


I would say there is no-one doing this type of work and without international staff being here no one would have done this type of work.


The way the internationals were trained and the way they behaved with the community was very good because people, the community, felt very friendly with NP’s Internationals. Especially they thought usually in Sri lanka that if you’re international you’re unbiased or you won’t take any sides.


You are a neutral person so they tend to believe you and they will come asking for help. If it is a national or local person they wouldn’t trust you because of the different dynamics, different groups involved in the conflict. So that is what was special with NP.


To all our stakeholders overseas I say ‘Help us as much as you can and we will do our best’."

Human Rights Centre for Social Justice - in Batticaloa

One of Nonviolent Peaceforce's close partners in Batticaloa talks about their work and the assistance they have had from NP. Human Rights Centre for Social Justice is predominantly a network of youth working for the promotion and protection of human rights. It is proof that despite the difficulties many civil society groups face they are still active and working for peace and reconciliation.

Batticaloa Basic Skills Negotiations Workshop July 2011

The Human Rights Centre for Social Justice is a small agency based in Batticaloa and one of Nonviolent Peaceforce's close partners. In a picture below you'll see one of our trainers, Jeya,  leading a discussion group on protection issues in Batticaloa Town in July 2011.  This was a Basic Negotiations Skills and Threat Mitigation training, followed by a Training Of Trainers (TOT) which forms the core of our current capacity building programme. This workshop was attended by 13 men and 6 women all from from the Batticaloa District. The average age of the trainees was 24 yrs with staff and volunteers working together,

‘This area has constant unrest and a new scare of 'Grease Yakkas', only rumoured, is having a fear impact in the Eastern District." says Chika Onah our local Head of Office, "NP wants to increase knowledge and capacity of local change agents/people to deal with protection issues such as these, in the future when NP has left’.  'Most communities are dissatisfied with how police are dealing with these issues’, said Chika, 'There are still protection needs here. The Internationals are leaving but the local people remain feeling more exposed'.


'This is the first time to attend this kind of training' one participants said – 'quite different – this gave us a sense of responsibility for our own protection'.


Human Rights Centre for Social Justice works within the District on Human Rights issues; the rights of displaced people, gender based violence, and they organise 'youth for human rights'. They also have a child rights awareness programme. The founders of the group came from both legal as well as social work backgrounds who come together to help rebuild civil society following the 3 decades long civil war. 

"One issue now spreading fear in the community in Batticaloa District is the suspicion of 'grease yakkas'. A Yakka is a traditional evil spirit and many believe that this mythological 'creature' is being used by political forces to creat instability. The police put this down to rumour but this has instilled real fear amongst the people and they feel their concerns, from the minority community, are not being treated seriously. The workshop discussed how the community can better protect itself and mobilise the different parts of the community to work together to reduce fear and increase security." 


After breaking into small working groups a representative from each group reports back. In this picture the rapporteur compares a protection strategy to the body - different parts of the body have to work together. "These youth in this training are the future for protection in this community. International agencies are rapidly withdrawing but the local situation still remains volatile. These youth can be change agents in building local trust and ensuring longer term security for the community" Chika NP Batti Head of Field Office.

Group work is a vital tool in helping participants really participants get to grips with the concepts. The metaphor of the human body is used. Each group goes away to think of the specific purpose of each part of the body. They then compare that with the specific parts of the community, schools, church, leaderships, courts, police etc. Each plays a part, when working together, to ensure the security of the whole community.


'NPSL sees groups such as HRCSJ an important vehicle in delivering awareness in the community on strategies to improve civilian protection. They play a vital role now in NP's exit strategy. We are trying to build their capacity to respond to protection needs in the future in a community which remains very volatile', said Chika Onah, the local Head of Field Office in Batticaloa.

Our Children's Centres Appeal

Never a dull moment here in Sri Lanka. As some of you who follow my blog will know my organisation, Nonviolent Peaceforce, now focuses its work in the North and East of the country. We deliver training in basic negotiation skills and conflict mitigation. Yes might be a mouth full but we are over subscribed with local civic leaders, Mediation Panel members and even Grama Sevekas (local government civil servants) all wanting to do the short course. 

We also have focused on child protection for several years, initially this was helping in the protection and rehabilitation of former child soldiers and now takes the form of child rights training at a village level. We work with the National Child Protection Authority in selecting and training Child Rights Defenders. An earlier blog post describe a meeting with one.

As part of this child protection programme we have become engaged with two small communities. Karaveddy  in Batticalao District and Muthumarinagar in North Vavuniya District. They both each desperately need a community hall which would have multiple uses, one being as a pre-school and post school youth centre. Can you help us assist the Women's Rural Development Societies of each village to build their simple centres?

The centres will be owned, managed and developed by the WRDSs of both communities and overseen by the local District Secretariat. Our role is simply help then get their voice onto the national and international level to appeal for fund to help them rebuild their communities. Both villages have been brutally affected by war but then more recently by devastating floods.

Details of how you can contribute are here. You can also join our facebook group (Karaveddy and Muthumarinagar Village Support Group)


Thanks

Why do you do the work you do? someone recently asked me!

From my earliest days I have tried to understand what makes people turn to violence. Working closely with communities in conflict, in the Philippines and then in East Timor, I learnt to understand a little about how the long term oppression and denial of justice leads people to take to arms. However although understanding their motives I never found myself in agreement. I believed there were better ways of securing justice, equality and peace and none of these values ever seemed to result from violence.

Sadly as a Country Programme Manager I don’t have many opportunities to work with ‘the people we serve’ but on my visits to the District where we have active programmes I am always humbled by the generosity and huge appreciation shown for us by local the communities with whom we work. On a recent visit to Batticalao a local tea shop owner talked fondly of NP workers who left here 4 years ago. They had clearly had an immense impact on his life that he should recall them in such detail now, ‘Their Tamil was perfect’ he remarked, putting my language skills to shame. Meeting people like that tea shop owner gives me a clear sense of NP’s impact.

We try to use Stories of Change as one method of assessing the impact of our work. Working on issues of conflict and protection such stories are frequently emotionally painful but in a recent workshop one women said of the day, ‘Now I know that my experience, painful though it is, is not unique and I can share now with others and find strength’. I do believe that bringing together networks of people who have all suffered from decades of conflict, is a valuable and needed service here but needs to be done with some sensitivity so as not to re-surface trauma.

It is a popular saying here ‘NP, No Problem’! I like to think that that’s how we work. We try to make what seem intractable problems less awesome and insurmountable. Training people in simple negotiation skills, and to assess then mitigate the risks they face around them, can give them the tools to survive. The war and open battles here have now passed but the many problems which gave way to decades of violent conflict still bubble away. Playing a small part in helping people tackle those problems and reduce the scope for violent confrontation is valuable, life changing and needed.

We all hope at NP in Sri Lanka that the impact we have had during our time here will outlive the phase-out of our presence by the end of 2011. Through our current training programmes we endeavour to pass on the skills we have been using to defuse situations of conflict. We very much hope that the staff of our many local partners, empowered by these skills, will continue to work on the ground in helping civilians protect their space and advocate for their rights long after we are gone. I may not have time to learn Sinhala or Tamil but I believe that the tea shop owner will remember us as people who really did make a difference.

Batticaloa Mediation Panels

Our trip to Batticaloa was a much more more sedate affair. Our colleagues in NPSL took us from Vavuniya to Habarana, almost the last town before you enter a vast area of scrub land and jungle, the home to many of Sri Lankas remaining wild elephants. This separates Batticaloa from traditional ancient homeland of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Often referred to as 'border country, it separates the predominately Buddhist/Sinhalese areas of the south and west and the predominantly Hindu/Tamil areas of the East and North. It is dramatically beautiful, driving through the low mountains, via the ancient ruins of long gone kingdoms, to the plains of arid scrub, and the now ageing fox-holes of the military and small their new 'fortresses' which dot the landscape.

The barren landscape on the road to Batti.

We came to visit some of the local partners and stakeholders of the NPSL programme here to try and explain to them why NP now feels it is time to strategically exit from Sri Lanka. Part of this process of withdrawal is to accelerate the programme of training and strengthening of local agencies and individuals. We aim to strengthen their skills to be their own peace builders. Our own tailor-made 'Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping' training tries to impart basic skills in conflict mapping, mediation skills and mitigation of potential threats. It is vital to understand the nature of conflicts within ones own community, to identify incipient conflicts that might become violent and then by using mediation and negotiating skills to mitigate those threats.

Three young people here in Manmunai West tell us how they are using the skills they learnt in our UCP training. 

The Katunkudy Mediation Panel is one group who have been able to do our USP training and Christine and I meet some of them by chance at the entrance to the Katunkudy District Secretary's Office after we'd had a short meeting with her. Here we learnt that their mediation panel, the lowest rung of the Judiciary in Sri Lanka, has already heard 3000 complaints since it was appointed 2 years ago. "We meet every Sunday", the chairman of the mediation panel told us, a school principle. He explained "we then appoint a small panel of three to each case and many times we are able to get a compromise between parties." Some cases involve land rights which are a constant problem as people are resettled or return home after years of being displaced due to the conflict.

A Visit North and East

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As the new Country Representative for NonViolent PeaceForce in Sri Lanka I really needed to get a better idea of what NPSL has been doing in Sri Lanka. With Christine, our International Programme Director, I set off by a sleeper, night-train, to visit our District offices, first Vavuniya and then Batticaloa.

Now that was a big mistake. None of the romance of a gentle easy trip through the night, awaken refreshed in the early morning for a productive day's work. None of it! I just sifted through my emails that night and one says,, 'arrived in Vavuniya station 5.30am feeling like I have been in an automatic washing machine at high spin".

Here are the NPSL staff in Vaviniya and the Child Rights Defenders who met us after our train ride.

Well the exhaustion of the journey of 8 hours was rapidly made up for by the fascinating series of meetings. The focus of the NPSL work in Vavuniya is Child Rights Protection. To that end NPSL works with the Government National Child Protection Authority and local civil society groups and we focus on villages that have been resettled after the end of the long violent conflict which has so affected this region.

We learnt of the host of problems faced by children, defined as those aged from 0 to 18yrs. Many communities have not only been uprooted and moved once but had their lives disrupted many times. Through the last few decades the battle lines have moved and shifted constantly.

Most impressive of those we met were the young Child Rights Defenders. This is a group of late teen and early (twentie-somethings) youth, who are trained as volunteers to help identify vulnerable children. They had an animated discussion with us about their work. One lad offered that it was largely because of the training he'd done with NPSL that he'd secured his first paid job. He is now a child rights staff with the local NGO called Sarvodaya.  A Young Child Rights Defender Describes the Work He Does

'What are the most common problems you find?' we asked. 'Family values have really been shaken by the disruption of war and the disintegration of family networks. Many sons and fathers have been killed or disappeared or now languish in prison or some other form of detention. With other families mothers have gone overseas in search of work', explained Dharshini, a 25yr old young mother, another volunteer working with NPSL

A Women's Group in Batticaloa acts out a drama showing the prevalence of child abuse.

Many hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans now work in various countries overseas to earn an income to bring up their families. Indeed inflows of foreign currency from overseas workers is now a major (if not the major) form of foreign currency earnings flowing into the Sri Lankan economy. But families decimated in such ways are, not uncommonly, the subjects of child abuse. Alcoholism amongst unemployed, or underemployed, is an all pervasive problem. Bring together alcohol, absent parents, early marriage (an escape from the forced conscription under the Tamil Tigers was to get married) and the desperate living conditions of displacement camps, and child abuse becomes rife. This is the unseen impact of violent conflict which stores up the causes for more future conflict.