Programme de l’Université citoyenne en République Démocratique du Congo - JAMAA Grands Lacs

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

JAMAA was founded with the aim of mobilising the potential of local communities to promote good living together, constructive conflict management, participatory governance and the economic empowerment of women and young people in vulnerable situations. The organisation focuses on reducing community violence through a process of inter-community dialogue, internal mediation, reintegration, and strategic, participatory advocacy. Through its Citizens' University programme, which aims to integrate young people into civic life, the organisation works with civil society players on the promotion of democracy, peace and civic commitment, with an emphasis on public-private partnerships with socio-political leaders (ministers, MPs, NGO directors, etc.), who come to facilitate the weekly seminars for citizen participation.

Presenter(s)

Asseyons-nous et discutons - Maison de la démocratie et des droits de l’homme

GUINEA

The Maison de la démocratie et des droits de l'homme (M2DH) is a space for information, training, education, awareness-raising and citizen mobilisation for the promotion of democracy and human rights. The "Asseyons-nous et Discutons" project was carried out in 32 at-risk neighbourhoods in Conakry and Dubréka. The overall aim of the project was to promote dialogue and social consultation through traditional conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms. The players involved in the project were neighbourhood chiefs, community leaders, religious leaders, women and young people from the localities concerned. A number of activities were carried out, including community meetings, awareness-raising sessions and educational talks, all of which helped to prevent and resolve social and political conflicts between citizens.

Presenter(s)

Building Inter-communal Bridges - Interfaith Encounter Association

ISRAEL and PALESTINE*

The Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) is an Israeli-Palestinian non-profit NGO that works to promote genuine coexistence and sustainable peace, through joint community building on the grassroots level, using interactive interfaith dialogue as its vehicle. The objective of the project is to advance inter-communal equality-based peaceful relations by developing and sustaining seed-groups of Jews, Muslims and Christians, religious, secular and traditional, who regularly meet and bond through conversations on issues that have deep existential meaning for participants – learning to appreciate similarities, accommodate differences and building and maintaining friendships with people they disagree with. Participants are empowered with tools to initiate and lead future encounter groups and other activities and encourage others to join the IEA groups as a means of promoting peacebuilding processes.

* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of Council of Europe member States on this issue.

Presenter(s)

International Trustbuilding Program - Initiatives of Change International

SWITZERLAND

Initiatives of Change International (IofCI) is a world-wide movement of people of diverse cultures dedicated to building long-term peace and trust across the world’s divides. The Trustbuilding Program (TBP) helps divided communities to reconcile and create lasting peace from the ground up. It aims to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperation. Key actions include trustbuilding workshops, dialogues, using sport to bring polarized groups together and community outreach activities. The Program is the flagship programme of the IofC movement. It focuses on reconciliation, healing, peacebuilding and fostering democracy in Kenya, France, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, India, Nepal, South Africa, Nigeria, Burundi, Ukraine and Cameroon. Participants are those that are divided in the community and diverse stakeholders who wish to build trust, particularly faith and community leaders, youth and in some countries, government officials.

Presenter(s)