This last week I have been holed up in the Hotel Sarajevo, about 15 minutes outside the Capital of the Federation of Bosnia i Herzegovina attending a workshop facilitated by World Vision International with the grand title of "Integrating Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitivity", or I-PACS.
I-PACS is about conflict mitigation and designing programming in ways that ensure that Aid and Development are not exacerbating conflict sensitivities but rather part of a response that promotes peace, and maybe reconciliation. The fact is that aid can sometimes be used as a tool to control people, or unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) promote the agenda of one of the parties in conflict.
It has been interesting, talking about issues of Interfaith Relations, Conflict, War and Peace in a country that only about 20 years ago saw one of the worst genocides in recent history. An then this morning we woke to Police vehicles cordoning off the corner and the news that the authorities are investigating a suspected mass grave (from the war) that is 100 meters from my hotel and 10 meters off the main road into Sarajevo City.
But today I had the opportunity to escape the Hotel and travel north into the rural city of Kakanj where we could meet and talk with some of the 'real people'. I had the privilege of interviewing a Roman Catholic priest, (a Croat) who is working with his church to address some of the needs of his parish. He spoke of a member of his congregation that cares for some of the ignored and lonely elderly people of his community; of the marginalisation and exclusion of the Roma minority and his attempts to include and empower them.
I visited one of the largest schools in the area that has about 1,050 students enrolled. The school manages three shifts (7:30am, 11:00am and 1:30pm) in a small building complex so as to cater for all the children. Schooling is obligatory, but the costs of purchasing books and material is too high for some who have limited or no income. And then, once the children complete their schooling there are no opportunities for work.
Parents are unemployed and receive little or no state assistance, either for children's basic needs or for medical assistance and the system is corrupt, uncaring and untrustworthy.
So what do INGOs do to assist in a community like Kakanj? What is the best way to partner for sustainable transformation with a community that voices little hope that the systems can change in any way that will offer them assistance?
If you know the answer let me know, but in the meantime, we do what we can to analyse the context, and ensure as best we can that what we are doing, (facilitating child sponsorship, children's education, civil society building, economic development) is the best we can and that it is equally accessible to all people regardless of social, ethnic and religious affiliation.
I-PACS is about conflict mitigation and designing programming in ways that ensure that Aid and Development are not exacerbating conflict sensitivities but rather part of a response that promotes peace, and maybe reconciliation. The fact is that aid can sometimes be used as a tool to control people, or unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) promote the agenda of one of the parties in conflict.
It has been interesting, talking about issues of Interfaith Relations, Conflict, War and Peace in a country that only about 20 years ago saw one of the worst genocides in recent history. An then this morning we woke to Police vehicles cordoning off the corner and the news that the authorities are investigating a suspected mass grave (from the war) that is 100 meters from my hotel and 10 meters off the main road into Sarajevo City.
I visited one of the largest schools in the area that has about 1,050 students enrolled. The school manages three shifts (7:30am, 11:00am and 1:30pm) in a small building complex so as to cater for all the children. Schooling is obligatory, but the costs of purchasing books and material is too high for some who have limited or no income. And then, once the children complete their schooling there are no opportunities for work.
Parents are unemployed and receive little or no state assistance, either for children's basic needs or for medical assistance and the system is corrupt, uncaring and untrustworthy.
So what do INGOs do to assist in a community like Kakanj? What is the best way to partner for sustainable transformation with a community that voices little hope that the systems can change in any way that will offer them assistance?
If you know the answer let me know, but in the meantime, we do what we can to analyse the context, and ensure as best we can that what we are doing, (facilitating child sponsorship, children's education, civil society building, economic development) is the best we can and that it is equally accessible to all people regardless of social, ethnic and religious affiliation.
