COVA, HYDERABAD
Peace Alliance Partners (PAP) Program
CONCEPT NOTE
Initiated by COVA (a national network of over 800 voluntary organizations working in India to promote communal harmony, peace and social justice), the Peace Alliance Partners (or the PAP) Program aims to bring together large development organizations into a nation wide network to secure communal harmony and social integration through their ongoing development interventions.
The PAP program consists of quarterly Learning Sessions and a variety of field activities that enable members of the partner organisations to understand the nuances of communal conflict and the necessity of social integration. Further, PAP program equips the participants to secure community harmony and social integration in their areas of operations by inculcating new attitudes and skills and without the investment of any additional resources.
THE ISSUES
Biases and Prejudices:
No individual could claim to be totally free of all biases and prejudices. All of us are plagued by biases and prejudices formed on grounds of religion, caste, race, gender, language, region and other such differences. These hidden biases and prejudices influence our behaviour and lead to discriminatory practices, social conflict, violence and even genocides.
Development: The Double Edged Sword
Development interventions could be used to integrate and also to alienate different communities or social groups living in the same area or locality. Of late, many development interventions are becoming exclusive and seek to target only one specific community. While such targeted interventions may indeed help in addressing the issues and problems specific to the community and accelerate its development, they also result in alienating other communities in the vicinity. Such alienations could lead to mistrust and hatred eventually resulting in violence that may destroy in two days all the achievements of decades of development interventions.
Disaster Management:
A number of trainings, drills and elaborate manuals are available to equip individuals and organizations to deal with natural disasters like floods, cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes etc. However, no such trainings or manuals seem to be available to deal with man made disasters like social conflicts, riots and genocides.
THE PAP PROGRAM
PAP Members:
Large development organizations from all over India would be invited to enlist in the Peace Alliance Partners network. Each member organization would be offered four one-day Perspective Building and skill development programs, once every three months.
Learning Celebrations:
Each program would be a daylong occasion that aspires to broaden the perspective and develop skills of the participants on issues of communal harmony, social integration and conflict management in an atmosphere of celebration and participative learning.
Who could be the learners?
The board members, staff, extension workers and active volunteers of the member organizations could be the participants for each program. It is suggested that the group size for each program should be 25 to 30 members.
What would you learn?
The Modules are designed to address the three issues listed above viz. biases, prejudices and how to over come them; using development interventions as a strategy for social integration; and finally acquire the necessary skills and capability required for conflict management and riot control.
Under the last theme the participants would learn to recognize the signs that precede any social conflicts or violence, action to be taken to prevent the eruption and spread of violence, measures for relief, rehabilitation and trauma counseling and finally, dealing with the police and preparing proper legal ground for the conviction of the perpetrators.
How do you learn?
A variety of tools and techniques would be used to enable participants to acquire fresh perspectives and new skills in a participatory manner. PAU (Participatory Analytical Understanding) is a new method developed by COVA to deconstruct the apparently irreconcilable ideological conflicts and generate an understanding of the bases and causes of social differences. This would enable participants to overcome biases, obtain an objective understanding of contentious issues and work towards substantive and productive community integration.
PAP Newsletter:
It is proposed to start a quarterly newsletter for the PAP network to enable members to share experiences and ideas regarding communal harmony and social integration through development interventions. The newsgroup would also facilitate the national network to initiate collaborative interventions in times of emergencies and conflicts.
THE LEARNING CELEBRATIONS AT A GLANCE
Program Designation:
Perspective Building on Social Discrimination and Conflict Resolution.
(Focus on addressing conflict between different religious communities- adaptable to caste or any other conflict).
LEARNING PLAN FOR THE FIRST YEAR:
How biased are you?
The first Module will help participants to identify and understand their sub conscious communal and social biases and enable them to establish the link between their personal biases, social conflict and communal / caste violence. The Session will also enable participants to acquire a graphic understanding of the hardships and destruction caused by communal riots and caste conflicts.
Redesigning organisations and reading conflicts:
The second Module will help in recognizing the communal/ sectarian biases inherent in organizations. It will equip participants to redesign organisations so that they become vehicles to secure social integration through their ongoing development interventions. Secondly, participants will also learn to read the onset of any sectarian conflict and learn about measures that could reduce tensions and prevent the outbreak of violence.
Guarding against myths and mischief:
This Module will enable participants to understand the dynamics of stereotyping and myth creation regarding different communities. The participants will also learn the techniques to contain riots and prevent the spread of violence.
Cleansing within and without:
The last Module of the first series will assist participants to overcome biases and stereotypes. It would also help them in understanding the politics of social conflicts and enable them to center stage development agendas as a strategy to secure communal harmony and community integration.
OTHER DETAILS
Program Duration:
Two years. Four sessions per year. One session every quarter. Each session to be of one day duration – from 10.00 am to 5.30 pm.
For programs outside India, two sessions can be organised together to save costs. In all 4 sessions will be conducted in two years once every six months.
Location and Arrangements:
The sessions will be conducted at the office or the field area of the host organisation requesting the course, according to the convenience of the organisation concerned. The host organisation should make all arrangements for conducting the sessions.
Pot Luck Lunch:
It is requested that all participants of the sessions bring their own lunch packs and share it together. This promotes fellowship and bonding.
Discourse by Religious Leaders:
The host organisations are requested to invite one religious leader to speak about a religious festival celebrated / to be celebrated around the time of the program. The religious leader should be requested to speak about the history and reasons behind celebrating the particular festival and also the activities and functions involved. Representatives of different religions should be invited for each of the sessions to enable participants to know about the festivals and traditions of different religions.
Festival Sweet:
All festivals have some sweet dish associated with them. The host organisation is requested to arrange for the preparation of a sweet dish associated with the festival about which the discourse is being arranged for a particular session. The sweet is to be served to the participants during lunch. COVA would reimburse the cost of preparation of the sweet.
Travel for COVA Resource Persons:
COVA resource persons would travel to the venue fixed by the host organisation. For travel within Andhra Pradesh, COVA would take care of the travel of the resource persons. For all other states, the host organisations should pay travel charges of Rupees 2000 per session for the team of resource persons. Reimbursement for foreign travel would be on actual travel costs.
Hospitality:
Host organisations are requested to provide local hospitality to the resource persons.
Participation Certificates:
All the participants who attend at least three of the four programs offered in a year would be given a Participation Certificate detailing the courses attended.
Professional Fees:
A fee for a set of four sessions spread over a year would be as follows:
For organisations with a budget up to 50 Lakhs: Rs. 15,000
For organisations with a budget above 50 Lakhs: Rs. 25,000
For international organisations and corporates : Rs. 40,000
For programs in other countries : $ 1,200
Responses from earlier participants (Feedback):
“Training on Communal Harmony is necessary for NGOs and their staff. The tools used in PAP Training viz. Group Discussion, Roll Play and Char presentation are very useful, as is the assessment mode of self on Communalism. The Role Plays and other methods helped to elicit information and draw out biases”
– E.V.S. Naidu, DRUSS, Nellore.
“Very interesting and innovative. This program enhanced my perspectives with regard to Communal Harmony and Peace. The tools used are very interesting and revealed how much secular I was”.
– Ch. Yekambaram, MARI, Warangal.
“The Program used various methods to drive home the point on Secularism and Communal Harmony effectively. Verbal narrations and visuals enhanced our learning”.
– P. Jyothi, Good Shepherd Convent, Mangalagiri, Guntur District.
“The methodology was effective. Quiz competitions and Group Discussions enhanced our knowledge, which we will pass on to the grassroots”.
– Mahesh, CRSD, Madakasira, Ananthapur District.
“The PAP training by COVA helped us in finding solutions to the clashes occurring in villages. Previously, due to lack of training and experience, we used to focus only on our developmental activities. Now we are able to resolve the problems in the villages. We have acquainted ourselves with how to promote communal harmony through development activities to attain the National Integration”.
– Y. Rajesh Kumar, LODI, Warangal
“We received very valuable inputs on how to achieve National Integration through working with the mixed communities. Group Discussion on ‘characteristics of an ideal organisation in promoting National Integration’ provided valuable insights”.
– CHRD, Kadapa.
“The training totally changed our perspective towards mixed communities through the lecture on “Development: A double-edged sword”. Hitherto we used to work more with single communities. The disadvantages and consequences of working with single communities are explained lucidly encouraging us to work with mixed communities in order to promote the Communal Harmony”.
– Obadiah, SYA, Velugodu, Kurnool District.
“I am totally satisfied with the training, which I had never undergone during the past 15 years of my working experience in development sector (NGO field). The training brought changes in my perspective. It helped me to recollect my childhood memories and tune my behaviour to be more secular after undergoing the training”.
– M. J. Thomas, PD, BIRDS, Muhtyalapadu, Kurnool District.
“Quiz conducted as part of the PAP training exploded myths about Muslims, communal riots and other communities. I found the quiz very valuable and informative. I broadened the vistas of my knowledge about other communities”.
– Suvartha, SEEDS, Guntur.
COVA, 20-4-10, Charminar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.
PIN: 500 002 Phone: +91-40- 24572984, Cell: 9346238430
Fax: +91-40-24574527, E-mail: covanetwork@gmail.com URL: www.covanetwork.org
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