Peacebuilding through Song

This initiative acknowledges children as the future of Nepal and works towards instilling in them a respect and commitment towards peace. The initiative has successfully run a peace folk song competition in schools throughout the district and published the resulting collection.

Description

Children are the future and will one day be leaders of the nation. Children should know and be aware of non-violent culture and the tools and techniques of non-violent conflict resolution from an early age. They can incorporate non-violent tools and techniques for conflict resolution such as dialogue, facilitation, mediation and negotiation in their daily life as necessary. In addition, they can transfer a culture of peace to others. Taking this into account, the Rural Development Centre (RDC) developed and implemented "Peacebuilding through Song" to promote such goals throughout 2006, with almost all schools in Sankhuwa Sabha district participating in the peace-oriented folk song competition.

Aims / Objectives

• To make children aware of peace in a simple, general way; and
• To raise mass awareness about peace.

How it is Articulated

Any students who wanted to sing and had some singing talent participated in the folk song competition. RDC organised the peace-oriented folk song competition in three different places at the three different levels (community, Village Development Council, and District). School teachers and distinguished people from the district selected the singers on the basis of voice, lyrics or script, and music. Of course, local people from the district made up the audience.

Achievements / Learning Points

A booklet and audio version of the peace-orientated folk song competition was published in 2006, and it is still gaining popularity. RDC has noticed that the awareness of people of peace and their attitudes towards peace have improved thanks to the songs in the district. It has further noticed an increased commitment amongst people for creating or building peace in many public or social functions. Most interestingly, children in the schools have become more aware of peace and more committed towards working for peace in the district.

Geographical Area of Operation

Sankhuwa Sabha district in Koshi zone.

Funding Resources

German Technical Cooperation's Rural Programme Nepal (GTZ-RPN).