Faith Community Network

The Faith Community Network helps communities in South Thailand to resolve conflicts, working with local religious leaders.

Many of the problems that have contributed to the violence in South Thailand have in fact existed for a long time. Differences in religion and culture have been cited as causing violence. In fact, it is important for the central state of Thailand to understand the differences of the southern states.

NGOs working in the deep south of Thailand have learnt the importance of creating spaces for local people to voice their opinions and take part in activities. It is key that people feel they control their own destinies if there is to be peace in this region.

Islam is the majority religion in the 3 most southern provinces of Thailand – Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Religious considerations play an important role in any development project. Leaders are an important part of the culture of Muslim communities in the region, so work which cooperates with community leaders – religious, village-level, and political – is crucial to the success of development projects.

By gathering people together and providing an open space for them to express their opinions on the problems affecting the village, its possible to create a peaceful foundation for future development. Development that is successful does not come from the state, but from the people most affected.

In Pa-te, in the Yaha district of Pattani, problems of violence because of the war are widespread, as well as unemployment and drug abuse. Community-based decision making has led to education programmes in local schools as one way of stopping future generations falling into the same trap. With the help of the Faith Community Network, they developed types of Muslim schools known as ‘keerooartee’, to educate young people about the benefits of peace, and for which they have managed to get government support.

In Salopatae, the economic centre of Yala province, the mosque did not serve as the centre of the village for the Muslim community. People practiced religion in their own homes, and therefore lost the community aspect of the mosque as a meeting place. The Faith Community Network worked with the villagers to redevelop the mosque, rather than the local government office, as the centre of village activity. The redevelopment of the mosque allowed for the same type of youth education as in Pata, as well as the establishment of a women’s group that makes items from local materials for sale.

Kadudou village, in the Pinang District of Yala, was in a state of conflict. People didn’t trust each other. Many meetings were arranged & eventually they set up a sewing group in order to develop some kind of livelihood for the villagers. Again, the local mosque had lost its role as a centre of village life, meaning people didn’t talk to each other. The sewing group took on its role.

These are just villages in a global world. The Muslim community in Thailand is a minority – Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country, but it is wrong to say that religion is the cause of the violence in the South. Rather, the Thai state fails to understand the local culture sufficiently, and act accordingly. The same is the case for the state’s response to the violence, it is wrong to simply brand everybody ‘terrorists’ and then respond with more violence.

As these examples show, involving local people directly leads to new & sustainable ways of resolving conflict and building a peaceful life.

Posted by Kokaew Wongphan, 21 December 2009

No related posts.

They initially found funding from the East West Institute (EWI), and the  focus of their activities is on promoting trust and cooperation amongst the many ethnic groups in the region. The council publishes a tri-lingual youth magazine called ‘Youth Bridges’, which brings together voices of youth activists from across the Balkans. YC4CBC actively promotes education, and provides students in Kosovo, Serbia, & Macedonia with information about courses, seminars, & projects, available to them.

No related posts.

Support the work of this organisation

Athwaas is an alliance of women in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh, facilitated by the WISCOMP organisation. Athwass has set up Samanbals– centres for women of all communities, ages and backgrounds to meet and share their concerns whilst learning income generating skills. With several Samanbals now in operation they have become a powerful network for promoting peace and campaigning for political change.

In this video, Ashima Kaul of Athwaas explains their work (Ashima is also our Kashmir Local Correspondent).

Key achievements

Through the network of women attending the Samanbals Athwaas has:

• Brought together Hindu and Muslim women who had been widowed by the conflict in order to overcome their hostility and work together spinning raw cotton
• Supported a group of women refugees to start a successful tailoring business and became community leaders
• Mobilised and encouraged women to engage in civil society

Related posts:

1. Inter-religious Dialogue in Kashmir Shrines of mystic saints and Sufis in Kashmir continue to...
2. Holy Cows in Kashmir On December 4 2009, Fazal Haq Qureshi, 65 year old...

Yakjah uses creative forms like theatre, films and art to open spaces for children and youth to express themselves, listen to each other, understand differences and learn to accept the reality and experiences of the other. Yakjah’s aim is not to resolve the conflict but to transform attitudes, change perceptions, rebuild relationships, invoke critical thinking, explore alternatives for responding to the conflict non-violently and learn to engage with diversity in the region so as to build pluristic structures. Every time Yakjah brings children and youth together for rediscovering each other, it opens spaces for a new culture of peace and co-existence.

Related posts:

1. Mourn and condemn death of young people in Kashmir (Yakjah Press Release) Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network is deeply saddened by the...
2. Inter-religious Dialogue in Kashmir Shrines of mystic saints and Sufis in Kashmir continue to...

Support the work of this organisation

CPBR aims to bridge divisions in Sri Lanka by creating networked peacebuilding groups in diverse areas of the country, simultaneously empowering communities to address their own needs and raising awareness of the similarity of such needs across the country’s ethnic boundaries.

CPBR conducts workshops, dialogues, gatherings and camps on peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Through these methods they aim to promote awareness, empower, mobilise, strengthen and unite different groups of people belonging to all ethnicities and religions from different parts of the country in achieving a just, acceptable political solution to the ethnic conflict. CPBR’s approach is to select groups that can make a powerful impact on the conflict and to work with them, enabling them to gradually expand through widespread networking to make their shared vision come true.

CPBR workshop

CPBR aims to strengthen, mobilise and network these particular multi-ethnic, multi-religious groups around the country to promote and demand a political solution to the ethnic conflict, based on equality, justice and inclusion. The aim is that each groups will take responsibility for the task initiated by CPBR and create a social movement for peace. A social movement for peace emerging from the people is CPBR’s ultimate objective.

Young Visionaries

The Young Visionaries programme trains young people to be leaders in conflict transformation. The Young Visionaries are trained in conflict transformation and non-violent direct action skills, and also in how to find spaces for peacebuilding.

No related posts.

No related posts.

In recognition of PHPO’s contribution to promote interaction and cooperation between different ethnicities, the organisation was invited as a Civil Society representative for a discussion at the Peace Secretariat in Vaunia with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Government.

Nidahase Wedikawa (Stage for freedom)

PHPO are currently involved in the Nidahase Wedikawa project, in which a number of civil society organisations operating in Kekirawa region coordinate and mobilise together to act as agents against the war, violence and harassment.

Related posts:

1. IDP camps to be opened News from Sri Lanka: The Sri Lanka government has announced...

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.

No related posts.

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.

No related posts.

Having conducted peace-related work for over twenty years, they have realised that for a lasting, powerful impact on a national level, the country needs a peace movement that unites and covers the entire island. Currently they have independent entities working for peace through isolated initiatives, but their work would be more effective if these organisations unite and work as a single body.

Cultural Group for Peace (Sama Sanskruthika Parshadaya)

Samasevaya supports a group young people from different ethnicities who write, perform, and record music about peace. Their aim is to popularise the Sri Lankan peace process and bring different ethnicities together.

The group composes the music themselves, and performs their songs in villages and at special events. These events, arranged through Samasevaya, are not limited to peace activities, and therefore allow a broad range of audiences to be reached. The group’s songs are also broadcast throughout the country via the provincial radio station, Rajarata Sevaya.

Inter-religious Trust-building Activities

This project brings together the various religious groups of Sri Lanka, and helps them understand how their religions share core beliefs about the importance of building peace together. At least two major annual gatherings of people from all religions are held in a neutral public place. These gatherings are used to share the non-violent values and teachings that form the core of all religions. They also offer an opportunity for religious clergy to meet and pray together, according to their own religions, for the united cause of peace for the country.

Inter-ethnic Exchange Programmes

Since 2002 Samasevaya has been facilitating Sinhalese visits from Anuradhapura to Tamil areas in Jaffna, and vice versa. The aim is to create acceptance, understanding and a feeling of unity between the two ethnic groups by giving them the opportunity to observe the cultural aspects of Tamil and Sinhalese life, and through this, learn the similarities and differences between them. The scheme also gives participants an opportunity to experience the lifestyle of the other ethnicity, as well as their food and culture, and gives them an opportunity to witness the impact of war on the other ethnicity. The visits are followed up with training sessions and workshops in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

Environment Protection Program

Samasevaya have recently established an environmental protection program in the Anuradapura region, with the objective of supporting peace through the promotion of environmental peace.

No related posts.