Posted on March 1, 2023 by Camille Thirot - Uncategorized
PCi’s Western Balkans project “Amplifying local voices for equitable development” – ALVED, hosted a series of Media Consultation Dialogues which brought together media professionals from Serbia and Kosovo to discuss and reflect on challenges and opportunities to improve the media scene, reduce divisive narratives, and increase cooperation between journalists and media across the ethnic divide. The Dialogues included topics such as the work of media regulatory bodies; the importance of local media; independent media sustainability; what are the roots and causes of divisive narratives and why is there a lack of empathy for “the other”.
One of the Media Consultation Dialogues focused on “Women in the Newsroom” and looked at the positioning of women in media and the level of (in)equality with their male colleagues and the ways this affects the way that women are represented in the media. A comprehensive questionnaire was sent out to close to a thousand media professionals in both Kosovo and Serbia and PCi is proud to present the results of this study together with a set of recommendations on how these worrying findings can be addressed.
In 2023 it is utterly unacceptable to find out that one in three women working in Serbian media and one in four in Kosovar media have been victims of sexual harassment. Or that around close to 30% of women working in Kosovar and Serbian media have been discriminated due to their age or appearance. The fact that seven out of ten women are considering changing jobs and professions is certainly not a result of a satisfactory status of women in Kosovar and Serbian media.
The comprehensive Report Survey can be accessed below:
Posted on January 26, 2023 by Camille Thirot - Uncategorized
Our latest annual report reflects on some of the achievements we had but also on the challenges we faced building peace in the last year.
With programmes in North Africa (Libya), Western Balkans (Serbia-Kosovo) and Europe/Switzerland (Syria) we also maintained contacts with different stakeholders in Ukraine and the South Caucasus. Our work in the year is detailed in our Annual Report, below, alongside our financial statements. Our key charitable programme activities in the year are highlighted below.
In Libya, through the Social Peace and Local Development Project (SPLD), we:
Continued to support more than 20 Social Peace Partnerships (SPPs) comprising 563 members, strengthening social cohesion across Libya;
Deepened the development of a cadre of 20 peacebuilding professionals who provide support to the SPPs as well as disseminating the SPLD approach;
Strengthened the approach to women, peace and security through implementation of a new project component focused on gender in six municipalities;
Created Livelihood opportunities through a new project component that addressed economic stressors, including conflict and COVID-19, that negatively impact on community relations, gender equality and social inclusion;
Supported a network of 36 peacebuilding practitioners who carry out peace actions involving 26 communities across the country.
In Serbia-Kosovo, our key achievements included:
Five Media Consultation Dialogues brought together media professionals from Serbia and Kosovo to work to end divisive narratives;
A Rapid Response mechanism was established in Kosovo to assess the impact of COVID-19 on non-majority communities, to support an advocacy strategy and increase awareness amongst government stakeholders on challenges facing these communities.
In Switzerland, we engaged with the UN-led peace negotiation processes concerning Syria by providing capacity-building support to the political opposition delegation representation in Geneva. No activities took place inside Syria.
Posted on June 30, 2022 by Camille Thirot - Uncategorized
As part of the Conflict Sensitive Assistance forum in Libya, PCi has developed a number of resources for international assistance providers working in the country to inform the conflict sensitivity of their activities.
The Conflict Sensitivity Manual for Libya provides guidance for international assistance providers on applying conflict sensitivity within their activities, particularly relevant within the Libyan context. The manual looks at the basics of conflict sensitivity, what it is and why it is important in Libya. It then provides practical guidance to integrating conflict sensitivity in practice. It also provides specific tools which international assistance providers can use to identify and respond to conflict sensitivity considerations within their activities.
The Conflict Sensitivity Risks, Trade-offs and Opportunities resource provides a reference for international assistance providers to review common conflict sensitivity interactions in Libya and apply adaptations to their own programming.
Posted on May 16, 2022 by Camille Thirot - Uncategorized
Since 2013, Peaceful Change initiative has been supporting community-level peacebuilding initiatives in more than 40 Libyan municipalities. This report captures our experience and lessons learned from nearly 10 years of integrating gender into our programme. Key lessons include:
Using a gender lens to analyse conflict was key to increasing community understanding of why women’s agency in local peace and conflict should not be underestimated
Understanding interests and needs of diverse groups of women helped to offer relevant incentives for them to engage in local peacebuilding activities
Working with men on their attitudes and behaviours and identifying ‘male allies’ helped to create a safer space for women to participate
Funding and opportunities for women to strengthen their leadership skills and implement their own initiatives represented an important tool to deepen women’s participation
Safely raising the visibility of women peace leaders helped shift social perceptions towards women and their role in peace and decision making
Posted on March 29, 2022 by Camille Thirot - Uncategorized
The PCi report: ‘Unpacking the impact of conflict economy dynamics on six Libyan municipalities’ includes policy recommendations to mitigate the impact of the conflict economy in Libya.
Peaceful Change initiative’s (PCi) new report, ‘Unpacking the Impact of Conflict Economy Dynamics on Six Libyan Municipalities’ fills an important gap in our understanding of conflict dynamics in Libya, arguing that political elites and armed groups cannot be assessed in a vacuum, without exploration of the socio-economic context of the communities that they claim to represent. The research takes a localised approach, exploring factors that influence local conflict economy dynamics, which vary from area to area. It is also a human centred approach, viewing Libyans as participants in the local conflict economy – both willing and unwilling – rather than only as passive victims of the conflict-affected environment in which they live.
The report concludes that reducing the societal impact of Libya’s conflict economy cannot rely solely on high level elite bargains – and a top-down approach to security sector reform. National level conflict dynamics and local instability are linked and this must be tackled via a twin track approach whereby local interventions are supported by the implementation of national-level reforms that address structural issues. In addition, in support of local social cohesion, the paper recommends the establishment of economic-social peace partnerships that promote pro-peace business activities across conflict divides. It also recommends conflict sensitive livelihood and peacebuilding interventions that minimise the risk of assistance worsening conflict dynamics, and that maximise opportunities to contribute to sustainable peace.
Posted on January 31, 2022 by Alex Williams - Uncategorized
Our work in the year is detailed in our Trustees’ Report, below, alongside our financial statements. Key charitable programme activities in the year were:
Continued delivery for our Libya projects, which now sees the social peace model adopted across 40 towns in the country. In the reporting period we have had a particular focus on combating hate speech which has arisen between different ethnic groups in Libya as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working with partner organisations in Serbia and Kosovo to amplify local voices, especially those of marginalised groups, in support of equitable development. PCi’s own particular contribution has been to work with media organisations in both countries to address the way in which conflictual narratives are perpetuated.
Support to schools in conflict-affected parts of Georgia, Abkhazia to maintain education during COVID-19 disruptions. PCi facilitated the sharing of experiences between teachers across conflict divides on how to address challenges to education posed by the pandemic.
Posted on December 9, 2021 by Alex Williams - Uncategorized
Peaceful Change initiative is pleased to announce the launch of research into cross-community initiatives in Kosovo and Serbia, undertaken jointly by the Universities of Pristina and Belgrade as part of the Amplifying Local Voices for Equitable Development (ALVED) project, supported by the UK government.
Posted on January 6, 2020 by Alex Williams - Uncategorized
Armenia today represents a vivid example both of new opportunities and challenges that the youth are facing. This is partly evidenced by the fact that 88% of young men and women (18-29 years of age) view the 2018 change of government in Armenia positively. At the same time, issues including unemployment, poverty, housing as well as other challenges in the socio-economic sphere carry their own particular impacts on youth resulting in a large number of young people leaving the country, either for permanent emigration or seasonal guest worker jobs. This report synthesises findings and analysis of research into the participation of youth in decision making and peacebuilding in Armenia in the context of the political changes since April 2018.
The Report (produced in Yerevan 2019,) has been produced as part of “Progressing Youth Participation in Armenia on Governance and Peace” project.
Posted on July 15, 2021 by Abigail Orr - Uncategorized
The ‘Bader’ campaign was launched on Facebook on 17 February 2021, on the 10-year anniversary of the Libyan uprising. The campaign provided a platform for young leaders from different communities in Libya to talk about their experiences of promoting peace, social cohesion, and women’s inclusion. By amplifying the voices of young peace activists, Bader sought to inspire others to take action. Within a month of its launch, the Bader Facebook page had received 15,000 likes and over 500 stories had been submitted by young activists across Libya. Through the campaign, 3 young leaders were selected to receive grants of up to 20,000 LYD to implement their projects. The profiles of 19 of Bader’s most outstanding participants are outlined in this booklet.
The direct link to this flipbook is here and you can view as plain pdf here
Posted on May 20, 2021 by Alex Williams - Uncategorized
PCi’s trustee Joan McGregor and Senior Peacebuilding Advisor Raj Bhari have been working with ILO to produce a new guide: Promoting Social Cohesion and Peaceful Coexistence in Fragile Contexts through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The guide is aimed at TVET practitioners to consolidate their role as active promoters of social cohesion and peaceful co-existence.
The guide seeks to strengthen the role of skills development policies and programmes in peacebuilding efforts through inclusive learning methodologies and training in relevant core skills.
It also provides practical guidance on how to adapt training, to mixed community groups, embed conflict resolution skills, cooperation, and other relevant core skills into training curricula, and create conflict sensitive, inclusive, and diverse learning environments for all.
