Invisible Children and its longer-term effectiveness
The organization that met with much scrutiny for its Kony 2012 campaign to raise awareness of the horrors of the LRA and child soldiers in Uganda, has announced that it will be ending their US operations in 2015.
This interview in GOOD Magazine offers a balanced perspective with one of the founders of the organization and examines some of the reasons for the criticisms levied against awareness campaigns used by Invisible Children and others - namely, the over-simplification of an issue for purposes of reaching a wider audience through social media.
In the case of Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 campaign, we questioned the longer-term implications of an effort that dramatically simplified and miscontrued the situation on the ground in Uganda. We questioned the push for military intervention against a leader that was no longer in Uganda that left the local communities to deal with the ramifications of the increased violence such a strategy could unleash. We expressed our concern then, and would maintain the same concerns now, of the presumptions made by an outside organization in deciding the best policy and strategy without involving and consulting with the group of people who will bear the consequences.
In coming weeks as this story is picked up more widely in the media, we hope the discussion will continue. Clearly Invisible Children deserves a great deal of respect for raising awareness and a desire to become engaged, especially amongst young people, that they build through a deep understanding of social media and through a decade of face-to-face organizing. Significant questions remain about how social media campaigns - that respect and engage the grassroots realities they cover - can be effective tools to bring about lasting change.
Invisible Children Co-Founder, Laren Poole in Gulu, Uganda. Photo courtesy of GOOD Magazine
Sworn Enemies Show Path to Peace
We like stories like this from Colombia that illustrate the power of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Hector Perea and Jhon Obando were once on opposite sides of the armed conflict between FARC and the government paramilitary. But in their personal journeys to escape the violence they grew up into, they found themselves working side-by-side at a Colombian timber company that is bringing former enemies together.
[quote]Forgiveness is accepting the past and seeing people not through what side of the war they were on but as civilians with rights," he said over the din of wood cutting machines at the factory outside Cali, Colombia's third city, a seven-hour drive west of the capital Bogota. All of us working together is an example that reconciliation is possible. Colombia needs to know it's possible if people are given an opportunity."[/quote]
- Hector Perea
Those concepts—forgiveness and reconciliation—are the cornerstones for the ESPERE program being run by our Global Associate in Bogota, Lissette Mateus. You can read more about Lissette's recent expansion of the project here. Lissette's mentor and advisor on the project, Fr. Leonel Narvaez (and partner to the Institute) spoke recently on how the advancement of their curriculum is making an impact across Colombia to folks like Hector and Jhon.
December 2014 Newsletter
As the weather in Chicago cools down, the work of the Goldin Institute around the world is heating up! Take a look at our latest work as we begin to look forward to the new year–and beyond.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
ESPERE Project Expands International Reach
On November 21 and 22 the Perdon Y Cuidado (Forgiveness and Care) conference was held in Mexico City, Mexico. Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa helped to coordinate this international conference exploring the ESPERE methodology first established in her home country of Colombia.
Key members of the Institute's team also took part including Denis Okello of Uganda, Sebastian Sosman and new Advisory Board member Akif Irfan (pictured above). Our long-time partner Father Leonel Narvaez of the Colombian peace-building organization Foundation for Reconciliation delivered a powerful keynote address emphasizing that dialogue without understanding has limited results.
[quote]Violence is the failure of dialogue."[/quote]
- Fr. Leonel Narvaez
Sebastian Sosman captured the spirit of Fr. Leonel's remarks and gives perspective in his personal reflections on how the ESPERE program is highly adaptable to other regions of the world.
[quote]"Mexico City 2014 was a courageous meeting that provided hope in achieving the intended aims of ESPERE and I believe we shall cause changes in the lives of the people who have been suffering from the 20 years insurgency by the LRA in Northern Uganda."[/quote]
- Denis Okello, Goldin Institute Uganda
For more photos and a complete summary of the Mexico City Event, please click here.
Good to the Last Drop
Clean Water Milestone in the Philippines
On November 10, our friends in the Philippines celebrated the significant accomplishment of completing access to clean water to 100% of the schools in the Kabuntalan municipality of the Maguindanao province!
Twelve water pumps were ceremoniously turned over as a result of the partnership between people of Maguindanao, the Goldin Institute, the Department of Education and the Philippine Army. In particular, we tip our hats to Dr. Susanna Anayatin and her team who understand that access to clean water has a ripple effect throughout the region.
One student offered his optimism created by a new well supplying clean water to an elementary school:
[quote]Despite the pitcher-water we had, we were always still searching for a source of water because it was not enough for our needs, now we have enough water for all of us."[/quote]
View the progress of the water project at our interactive map. We look forward to working with the Kabuntalan municipality as they serve as a model for other regions to working together to provide clean water to their residents.
Connecting the Dots in Kenya
Mapping the Social Capital of Kenya
The Goldin Institute's Executive Director Travis Rejman recently participated in a meeting convened by World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.
The Washington D.C. meeting gathered scholars, social-entrepreneurs and community leaders to discuss objectives, outputs and potential entry points for a planned research program in Kenya. Overall strategies were discussed to ensure that all of the resources working in Kenya could better coordinate and collaborate more effectively. A particular focus on strengthening the role of local leaders to help monitor transparency to break down the widespreadcorruption.
Because of his background and experience working on partnerships in Kenya and Uganda, Mr. Rejman was able to help explore the intersection of religious diversity and public policy challenges when working directly within the region.
Haiti in Chicago
Visiting the Haitian American Museum of Chicago
The Goldin Institute recently made a visit to the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC) to coincide with their second anniversary. This was a significant milestone for Founder Elsie Hernandez, and also for the City of Chicago, as her plans for the museum dated back 12 years before finally being able to break ground in 2012.
The Museum is the first of its kind in the Midwest and was established to provide a space to promote Haitian history, culture and art. Given our work in Haiti, the HAMOC provides a natural partnership for outreach opportunities as it grows and evolves into a premier cultural institution in Chicago!
Next Newsletter
Watch our next newsletter for an exciting progress update from our partners around the world.
In the interim, get your Goldin Institute fix by jumping onto our Facebook page for the latest news as it happens and join the growing community dedicated to uplifting stories of grassroots partnerships around the world at the tumblr site GoGrassroots!
As always, if you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Fr. Leonel Delivers Powerful Keynote Promoting Forgiveness
Like many of his colleagues, Father Leonel Narvaez, the Co-Founder and President of the Colombian peace-building organization Fundación para la Reconciliación (Foundation for Reconciliation), has a gift for weaving anecdotes throughout his presentations and sermons.
Here in Izcalli, Mexico, at the Fourth International Meeting of the Fundación's Escuelas de Perdón & Reconciliación, (The "Schools for Forgiveness & Reconciliation," known by the acronym ESPERE), Narvaez relied heavily on his full arsenal of stories. Nov. 22 - 24, representatives from ESPERE programs from 10 countries gathered to share their experiences, discuss best practices, and mark their collective progress as an organization. One of Narvaez' stories in particular resonated among the attendees:
[quote]Violence is the Failure of Dialogue."[/quote]
- Fr. Leonel Narvaez
As Narvaez tells it, as a graduate student in the late 1980's he had met and befriended Dick Cheney, then a relatively unknown Defense Secretary under President George H.W. Bush. At some point he had been invited to stay at Cheney's house, which he described as a "museum" of firearms: "This man had all kinds of guns and rifles on the walls," he said. "Guns for hunting, guns for fighting, old guns, new guns. I had never seen so many guns in a house."
[slide] [img path="images/Mexico01.png"]Lissette Mateus Roa, Sebastian Sosman, Akif Irfan and Fr. Leonel Narvaez[/img] [/slide]
Cheney also had countless animal trophies on display. "This man was a very serious hunter," Narvaez said.
Cheney also took Narvaez on a personal tour of the Pentagon at the time, at one point showing him a display model of an intercontinental ballistic missile. "He told me, this is the most intelligent missile we have – it can reach 30,000 miles and we control it by satellite. And it only costs ... I don't remember exactly but I think he said $10 million dollars. It was a lot. And I don't know how many missiles they had. Maybe 1,000 or more, I don't remember. But they spend so much money on these things."
"I told him: Mr. Cheney, do you know how much good I could do with what you spent on just one of these missiles?"
To a man who had dedicated his life to building peace, the experience must have been surreal. It is also a testament to Narvaez' character that he has nothing bad to say, about his former host, apart from some good-natured ribbing about his skill as a hunter. This is remarkable, considering the vast gulf between their philosophical approaches towards violence.
Among other things, Cheney is known as an outspoken advocate of pre-emptive military force, large-scale military spending, and probably the highest-ranking government official to defend torture and rendition of suspected terrorists. It would be difficult to find a human being further on the political spectrum from Father Narvaez, who has spent his life working to reverse the damages wrought by five decades of conflict in Colombia.
The contrast is compelling: Narvaez, unassuming and self-deprecating, engaging the then-Secretary of Defense Cheney, challenging him on the wisdom of the priorities of US Defense spending. At its heart, the story is also about being able to engage in meaningful dialogue with people of opposed worldviews. This is at the heart of Narvaez' story about Dick Cheney, and it is also the heart of the tremendous success he has had at the helm of the Fundación para la Reconciliación.
Since it was founded in 2003, the Fundación has touched countless lives in Colombia, and contributed in meaningful ways to the peacebuilding efforts there. The Fundación has also seen its model of forgiveness and reconciliation spread beyond Colombia's borders and across Latin America with a speed that would have drawn jealous interest from Exxon or McDonald's (or Dick Cheney, for that matter).
The primary vehicle for this rapid expansion has been the ESPERE curriculum, a pedagogical workshop that is built on the simple yet powerful premise of forgiveness and reconciliation. Born out of the difficult work of Narvaez and his colleagues in Colombia, ESPERE (which also translates as "Hope") has been adapted for a broader international audience, and tailored to meet the needs of a diverse continent. Today, ESPERE is thriving in countries with experiences of recent conflict, such as Peru, but also in countries like Mexico, where an explosion of organized criminal activity in the past fifteen years has introduced new cycles of violence and retribution.
ESPERE has also shown itself to be adaptable to environments that have not experienced these more familiar forms of conflict, but where the need for forgiveness and dialogue is nonetheless great. These include countries as diverse as Chile, Brazil and the United States, where traditional categories of conflict are not present.
Examples of ESPERE programs are further testament to the program's adaptability: From the Pacific Northwest to the Mar Del Plata, it has found its way into federal prisons, to shelters for victims of domestic violence, to classrooms in remote villages and urban shantytowns.
And it has not stopped in the Western Hemisphere. In a remarkable development, elements of the program have found their way into the villages of Northern Uganda, where the Acholi people are coping with the reintegration of child soldiers returning home after fleeing the ranks of the Lord's Resistance Army.
In describing the organization's core values, Narvaez favors a phrase, "La violencia es el fracaso del diálogo," violence emerges from the collapse of dialogue. This idea is as powerful in its simplicity as it is universal. But, as Narvaez can attest through his own experience, dialogue without understanding and without the goal of teaching forgiveness, has limited results.
This is a concept that, according to Narvaez, is earning an increasing share of attention in academic and policy circles focusing on post-conflict reconciliation. However, it remains far from the mainstream.
His point was illustrated in an unexpected and tragic way, when, on Monday the 24th, the town of Ferguson, Missouri erupted into violence after a grand jury found no probable cause for criminal charges against a police officer accused of shooting an unarmed teen. The televised coverage of the angry demonstrations and looting were broadcast around the world, including to Mexico, where it coincided with the last night of the ESPERE conference.
A failure dialogue has been present at every stage of the Ferguson story, a vacuum that allowed a verbal confrontation between Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson to escalate into the use of deadly force on the streets of Ferguson. These same conditions persisted through the response to the news of his death: angry protests, met by a heavy-handed, militarized police overreaction, which eventually escalated into rioting, tear gas and growing outrage on both sides.
La violencia es el fracaso del diálogo: A new cycle of violence is born out of a failure of dialogue and an absence of forgiveness.
But, as the ESPERE conference showed, the world is also full of men and women armed with tools for breaking these cycles, and with the courage and energy to try.
Visit to Haitian Art Museum of Chicago
First of its kind museum in the midwest celebrates the rich history of Haitian culture and the arts
We recently made a visit to the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC) to coincide with their second anniversary. This was a significant milestone for Founder Elsie Hernandez, and also for the City of Chicago, as her plans for the museum dated back 12 years before finally being able to break ground in 2012.
The Museum is the first Haitian American Museum in the Midwest and was established to provide a space to promote Haitian history, culture and art. In particular, the Museum has partnered with the Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York to provide Creole language lessons.
The Museum is of particular significance to the Goldin Institute as we have partnered with organizations in Haiti to address the increase in violence against women following the earthquake in 2010. We look forward to supporting the Haitian American Museum as it grows and evolves into a premier cultural institution in Chicago!
[slide][img path="images/cesar_and_alejandro.jpg"]Museum Program Director Cesar Ramirez takes GI staffer Alejandro Di Prizio through the permanent collection on display at the HAMOC[/img] [img path="images/FullSizeRender.jpg"]Museum and Goldin Institute associates on the recent tour of the HAMOC.[/img] [img path="images/sculpture.jpg"]One of the many sculpture pieces on display at the HAMOC.[/img] [/slide]
Colombian Global Associate and Partners Expand Peace Initiative
Forgiveness and Care Conference
Mexico City Nov. 21 - 22, 2014
Our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa helped to coordinate this first of its kind conference to bring together an international audience exploring the successes and challenges to the ESPERE methodology for forgiveness and reconciliation pioneered in Colombia. In addition to Lissette, the Goldin Institute was represented by Denis Okello, who previously completed Lissette's workshop training in Uganda last June, as well as Sebastian Sosman and Akif Irfan.
Our long-time partner Father Leonel Narvaez, the Co-Founder and President of the Colombian peace-building organization Fundación para la Reconciliación (Foundation for Reconciliation), delivered a powerful speech in which he described the origins of violence.
[quote]La violencia es el fracaso del diálogo."
Translation: "Violence emerges from the failure of dialogue."[/quote]
- Father Leonel Narvaez
Fr. Leonel's spirited talk led to conference participants embracing this key concept and engaging in robust dialogue. Read more about Fr. Leone's remarks here.
The conference continued to explore the concepts of care and reconciliation to teach others in peace-building and community reconciliation. We have featured the history of the project and its successful impact in Colombia in prior reports.
For the Mexico City Event, Lissette focused on the various types of care promoted by the ESPERE method: Care of Self, Care of Others, Care of Intellect, Care of Strangers, Care of Transactions. Care was also put into a religious and historical context. Moving beyond the conceptual, speakers explored the practical aspects of program delivery.
In order to continue the energy of the program, the group discussed techniques to motivate those who would be implementing the program. Using exercises developed and tested by Lissette and her colleagues through the last several years, activities focused on breaking down barriers to communication and learning to trust each other - the same skills that will eventually serve these community leaders when reinforcing the methods in their own home countries.
Finally, and most important to recognizing and appreciating cultural differences, a panel discussion of schools in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Peru revealed lessons learned, common threads and unique aspects of delivering the ESPERE program in each country. These discussions centered around experiences administering the workshop as well as media presentations of prior ESPERE workshops and conferences.
[slide]
[img path="images/GI_participants_better.jpeg"]Forgiveness and Care Conference[/img]
[img path="images/fr_leonel_speaking.JPG"]Above: Fr. Leonel addresses the conference participants in Mexico City [/img]
[img path="images/balloon_activity.JPG"]Above: one of the many team-building exercises being conducted at the Conference[/img]
[img path="images/good_group_shot.jpeg"]Above: The attendees and organizers pose for a full group shot at the Mexico 2014 ESPERE Conference[/img]
[img path="images/fr_leonel_w_lissette_seb_akif.JPG"]Above: Fr. Leonel with Lissette, Sebastian and Akif at the Conference[/img]
[/slide]
New Findings in Gender Violence in Haiti
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has released a new report with findings on how significant gender-based violence hinders development in Haiti. This piece summarizes some of the more significant discoveries made by the report.
Unfortunately, these findings are not entirely surprising and reinforce to us the importance of supporting women-led community based solutions to addressing violence. Our project work in Haiti allowed us to work with, and be inspired by, women who stood brave and used their own creativity to eradicate the violence they encountered in the aftermath of the 2010 Earthquake.
Today is the perfect day to commemorate the work of our partners like Malya Villard-Appolon, who was instrumental in bringing her community together to combat sexual violence through her organization KOFAVIV. We salute the accomplishments made and the framework left in place to build on the good work done.
Calls for a national peace and reconciliation policy in Uganda
We couldn't agree more with this Ugandan New Vision report, in which Makerere University dean Daniel Ruhweza calls for a government - led national policy on peace and reconciliation, stating:
[quote]... A clear national framework would act as an impetus to the promotion of nation cohesion and healing process.[/quote]
The kind of national framework for such a plan could go hand in hand and be informed by the National Platform for Child Soldier Reintegration we worked to establish with our Ugandan colleagues. A quick overview from the full report:
As a first step in building the National Partnership for Child Soldier Reintegration and prevention, the Goldin Institute led a community driven research project to lift up the voices of former child soldiers as crucial sources of information and ideas. This research has restored the engagement of people on the front lines of conflict in Northern Uganda who have deep, concrete and insightful perspectives on both the specific project needs related to strengthening peace and local governance. The research also served to demonstrate how such projects might be shaped to most effectively engage on-the-ground realities and community dynamics.
We are proud of our continued work with the wide-range of civic organizations both religious-based and secular, that led to the National Platform. Please see our issues page on the topic here to learn more about how we continue to build on our work in Uganda and offer a proven map for further peace and reconciliation frameworks.
Makerere University lecturer Danie Ruhweza (right) talks to Human Rights Network-Uganda CEO Mohammed Ndifuna during the training on human rights and peace building at Lydrines Hotel in Luwero district. PHOTO/Francis Emorut
Lessons learned in Haiti
Paul Fallon, an American architect from Boston, tells his story about being pulled into the rebuilding of Haiti - literally by his involvement in the planning and construction of an orphanage. This orphanage was built in part as a remembrance to a friend's daughter who perished in the 2010 Earthquake while doing aide work with her University.
We can identify with the author's sentiment, especially as it relates to the Institute's own project work in Haiti. It is challenging to counter impressions of being an outsider, while gaining acceptance that your work benefits the community that you are working with and for. An excerpt from Fallon's piece, provides context for the 'draw' to such work:
[quote]Now, as this earthquake pushes Haiti into the world's consciousness, I begin to understand what others already know: how deep the country dwells in my psyche, how quick I am to regurgitate my adventures there, how my ordered and rational mind grapples to extract sense from that irrational yet beguiling place. [/quote]
Read Paul Fallon's full piece from the Boston Globe here. The essay is from his memoir just released today.
Port-au-Prince a few days after the 2010 Earthquake. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Colleague hosts Dalai Lama at Princeton
We were excited to announce our participation at the Princeton University Poverty and Peacemaking conference in our last newsletter.
The highlight of this event was the appearance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at the conference.
Our colleague and former project partner, Professor Matthew Weiner organized the weeklong event that culminated in a provocative conversation with the Dalai Lama primarily on the topic of "the meaning of service." Professor Weiner shares his full reflections and take-aways from the meeting with the Dalai Lama in a Huffington Post feature. A selected excerpt from the piece:
[quote]By some accounts he did not always address what was asked, but the compass directing his answers was clear: your intentions matter, develop your heart, be honest with yourself, work very hard at these things, and let them direct your efforts. Such action, and this is indeed activity, must precede any external action of service for it to be genuine and sustainable. The real mover, he said, is love.
When pushed on how such compassion is feasible even in the face of hatred and prejudice, he acknowledged that his moral strategy was decidedly hard work. From a Buddhist perspective it will take lifetimes to get it right. For all of his laughter and visible ease, the Dalai Lama is a serious man playing the long game. He has spent a lifetime studying texts on this very topic. He rises daily at 3:00 a.m. to meditate for three hours. His impossible goal, put forth through sacred vows, is to save all beings from suffering. But is it really possible, Prof. Eddie Glaude asked urgently. Professors were not born as professors, the Dalai Lama responded with a laugh. First they had to learn the alphabet, then to read and write. Now look at them!
- Professor Matthew Weiner reflecting on the Dalai Lama's appearance at the Poverty and Peacemaking conference [/quote]
Photo Credit: Associated Press