LINC focuses on supporting individuals and groups engaged in crisis intervention, conflict transformation and community relations as a means of securing long-term solutions to the needs of people in conflict. The organisation also promotes local church and community groups in incorporating peace-building and social justice into their programme of work.

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Seeing mediation as the core of their work, they provide training for individuals in managing aggression & conflict, and promoting negotiation to find positive ways of resolving disputes.

Mediation NI promotes conflict resolution at the grassroots level, focusing on giving people ways to resolve conflict in their daily lives, in their home, workplace, or place of study. In doing so, their projects promote community cohesion & the development of a stronger society.

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The organisations promotes peaceful approaches to conflict resolution and collaboration between communities. Through its “Pride of Place” competition, Cooperation Ireland encourages  people to come together to take pride in their communities. Co-operation Ireland’s youth & education projects – Artlinks and Civic-link - bring together young people from all communities and gives them the opportunity to meet & learn about other cultures.

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Currently Jeewa Shakthi aims to mobilise people at the grassroots level to achieve a sustainable peace in the country by both promoting awareness around, and encouraging the practice of, democracy, and providing training that gives people the practical skills in conflict transformation and prevention which are lacking in Sri Lankan society.

Good governance through political coexistance

Election violence has been one of the main threats to community peace for many years. The Good Governance initiative deals with this head on by bringing community leaders and politicians together to put a stop to outbreaks of violence, giving the individual communities a political voice during the election process.

Jeewa Shakthi selected an area that had reported some of the highest levels of violence in previous elections and sought agreement from all politicians standing for election to abide by responsible campaigning practices. After Jeewa Shakthi’s intervention there was not a single report of election violence in the following election, something all parties – police, the community, and politicians – put down to the success of the project.

Conflict management and federalism – workshop series

This initiative works to reduce conflict within communities by educating leadership figures in methods of securing peace through awareness, negotiation and reconciliation. The community leaders are taken on a field tour and participate in a training and workshop programme to educate them in methods they can employ to keep conflict at bay within their own villages.

The participants also had their prejudices challenged through exposure to the lives of groups they had little understanding of. For example, some participants were very much against the concept that Tamils face problems in Sri Lanka, and as such were taken to visit the Tamil refugee camps. One participant in particular was so moved by the state in which the refugees have been living for the past 10-15 years used all the money he had with him  to buy biscuits for the Tamil children in the refugee camp, despite being one of those most vocal in thier opposition to the idea Tamil people face any hardship in Sri Lanka.

Street drama program for the presidential election in 2005

Jeewa Shakthi organised a street drama group performance to promote peaceful voting before the presidential election in 2005. The performances were successful in reducing election tension that often results in violence. Staging drama performances in the areas that had previously been dangerous at election times enabled them to educate the communities of the need for responsible actions, from both the political parties and the voters themselves.

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South Exchange Programme

This project involved an exchange programme between Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim people, visiting each others communities and participating together in community activities. The aim is to develop long term relationships, mutual respect, and understanding. The participants themselves followed up on their experiences through business ventures, and today this has become the mainstay of the initiative.

Peace Network

This initiative is intended to create a network that allows the sharing of accurate information as fast as possible on conflict situations. The development of an early warning system allows the news of conflict or planned acts of violence to be disseminated as quickly as possible and acted upon immediately.

As a result of this initiative HREPO have a widespread network that reaches out to all levels of the community. This network of people provides them with fast, reliable information on possible conflict situations occurring in the community. Consequently they have been able to successfully act during the first stages of conflicts for there resolution. The network is formed of people from all levels of the community, and the regular presence of key people in the meetings has had an impact on the villagers, as shown by a recorded decrease of conflicts.

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Protecting IDP’s from Sexual and Gender-based Violence

This project is aimed at reducing sexual and gender-based violence committed in the IDP welfare centres, and to provide assistance to those affected by sexual and gender-based violence. It also aims to educate and caution potential offenders against gender-based violence in the future. Through these means the initiative makes a positive contribution to the healing and conflict transformation process in the larger ethnic conflict, which is essential for sustainable peace building.

From the reduction in the number of complaints RDF receive at the counselling centres, it seems that a considerable number of problems are addressed through the initiative. A reduction of between 45% and 60% is perceived along with the increased awareness among women on their rights, and the authorities they can contact for support in cases of a sexual violence.

Conflict Transformation

This project addresses people of all ethnicities who live in seven selected districts affected by the war, and involves them in a series of seminars and workshops run in order to train local communities and individuals in conflict transformation. It operates in rural Sri Lanka and works hard to bring together different ethnicities in the same training.

Participants are given the skills to transform their conflicts, and encouraged to form community-level organisations. These organisations are intended to be the first step towards the processes of community development and reconciliation that are needed so that the war-affected people can transform the conflict.

Peace Programme for Muslim IDPs

This programme brings Muslim IDPs together with other communities in their area to bring about a solution to resettlement and develop a sustainable peace. RDF provides them with the knowledge to develop sustainable solutions for their relocation, and helps them meet with different groups who can provide assistance. The project aims to reduce conflict between IDPs and their host communities by improving relations between the two groups; ending the isolation of Muslim IDPs and bringing them support from other communities in their bid to resettle.

Awareness Programme on the UNCRC

By promoting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Sri Lanka, this initiative hopes to see – and indeed has seen – more children in education in the target areas, less child labour, and a focus on bringing children up in a non-violent environment. Ensuring that when the children of today become the decision-makers of tomorrow, they will take with them a doctrine of peace.

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Multi-ethnic Pre-schools

Since 2000, Sithumina has been involved in the establishment of multi-ethnic pre-schools in villages in Kahatagasdigiliya and the surrounding area as an alternative to the existing method of separating pre-school children according to ethnicity. The schools include children from the Sinhalese, Muslim, and Tamil communities, and represent the various religions within those groups. The teachers are also drawn from all these ethnicities and religions and are specially trained in working with multi-ethnic groups. The goal of the schools is to teach Sri Lankan children, and by extension their parents, the value of mutual respect and friendship between different ethnicities.

Celebrating Festivals of All Religions

In order to emphasise the right of each religion in the region of Anuradhapura to celebrate their festivals, and to improve inter-religious cooperation, Sithumina promotes the celebration of the major festivals of each religion on a cross-community level. Celebrating significant festivals of all religions provides an opportunity for the villages to congregate, and to respect and support each others’ religions; promoting religious and ethnic harmony in the area.

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Inter-ethnic Commercial Networks

This project aims to re-establish business connections between Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils, thereby reducing fears each ethnicity has of the other and building trust. Participants are selected from interested young farmers, fishermen and small-business people in different areas. They receive training on how to strengthen a multi ethnic society through commerce.

Co-existence through Pre-schools

This project provides multilingual teachings in pre-schools to ensure fair and equal representation within communities. This serves to educate young children about other ethnicities present in their communities and creates respect and tolerance. All generations are seen to benefit from this schooling project as families come together to raise money and restore the buildings.

Road and Drinking water provision for a Multi ethnic village

This project brought together the two different ethnic communities within a village to unite them on a single project. By working together to achieve a new road to connect the separate communities, and creating the infrastructure to provide access to drinking water the two separate groups were able to realise they both want and need the same things; regardless of different ethnic backgrounds. This understanding is fundamental to achieving peace; developing person-to-person relationships and creating a sense of community belonging and purpose.

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They conduct ‘cultural sharing’ programs and educational programs to promote ethnic cooperation between Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and to facilitate a better understanding on the conflict.

Tamil Youth Radio

This project provides a radio program in Tamil for the plantation community, particularly aimed at young people. It gives young people a space to access information, exposing them to outside sources – widening their perspective and giving them new approaches to solving conflicts and contributing to the peace building process by giving out unbiased information. Further, the initiative supports them in solving problems such as finding employment outside the plantations, corresponding with government officials in Sinhala, and participating in higher education.

Young Women’s Empowerment Programme

The Young Women’s Empowerment Programme targets talented young women who are interested in politics, and provides training and education intended to develop the participants into future political leaders of the plantation community. The hope is that the project leads to the inclusion of their voice in legislative structures such as Provincial Councils, widening the discussion of the conflict and peace process by including an as yet neglected voice.

Community Social Mobilisation Initiative

Although they form a large percentage of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the voice of the plantation workers is not very well represented in discussions related to ethnic conflict and peace process. In order to strengthen the voice of the plantation workers, this project aims to mobilise them into small groups, empower them through training and education, and encourages them to unite together as larger, stronger organisations. Training is provided to raise awareness of the ethnic conflict and related issues, and to provide them with the skills to organise, speak out and take action. Other programmes are also run which aim to ease tensions and improve the relationship between plantation workers and the surrounding communities.

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Conflict Resolution through Farming

Burundi faces a crisis over land, and the struggle to access or control land is now the main cause of many rural conflicts. This project aims to address the situation in Ryarusera and Bugarama, two areas which have seen a particularly high number of land disputes, by supporting farming activities, and promoting peaceful conflict resolution.

Participants are local farmers and are offered workshops in listening, mediation, conflict management, and conflict resolution, encouraging participants to resolve disputes out of court. ODDBU also provide more practical training in farming methods, as well as material support and have distributed more than 30,000 seedlings of wheat, potatoes, fruit and vegetables, as well as 170 goats, to 950 participants.

Reintegrating Ex-Combatants

This project, which ran from March to December 2008, aimed to re-establish former soldiers in society. It provided various income generating opportunities to help them become economically self-sufficient and integrated.

Demobilised soldiers can present a problem post-conflict, having sometimes lost their homes or livelihoods, and become estranged from their communities. Some reports suggest that the current insecurity in some parts of Burundi is largely caused by ex-combatants who have not been able to reintegrate socio-economically, and have resorted to criminal activities. This project therefore provided opportunities for income generation to reduce ex-combatants’ poverty, support their families, and promote community stability. 258 participants were successfully provided with livelihoods such as farming, carpentry, masonry and tailoring.

Reintegrating Child Soldiers

This project helps reintegrate child soldiers who served as combatants or were involved in various ways in the Burundian armed conflict. OBDDU works to demobilise children who were separated from their families, and help them return to their families or communities. They also provide healthcare, psychosocial counselling, educational and recreational activities, and skills training while the children are waiting to be reunited with their families. The project has successfully reintegrated 474 young people.

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