June 2014 Newsletter
Goldin Institute Update and Newsletter
As we celebrate the welcome news that our partners at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti are bringing at least a dozen sexual violence cases to trial to hold perpetrators accountable, we ask for your help in raising awareness about the danger our Global Associate Malya Villard-Appolon and her partners at KOFAVIV continue to face for their heroic work to represent the victims and accompany them in the quest for justice.
As the co-founders of KOFAVIV and the most visible leaders representing victims of sexual violence, Malya and Marie Eramithe have come under increasing pressure from perpetrators to drop the charges and give up the fight for justice in the courts. Both have been accosted on the streets, bullets have been fired at their homes, the offices have been moved to more secure locations and their children have had to be relocated to escape the danger.
They will not give up the fight. Neither will we.
Our partners at World Wings International have long stood with us on the issue of defending human rights in Haiti - especially those rights directly impacting gender-based violence. As stated by our friend and colleague Alicia Cubota Smith:
[quote]Villard-Appolon, as with the many other women suffering from gender-based violence, needs our help. Public awareness is a crucial first step."[/quote]
- Alicia Cubota Smith
As a survivor of sexual violence herself, Malya's strength and courage to advocate on behalf of victims of violence is as clear as her voice. In 2012 Malya was awarded the CNN Hero of the Year Award
We are proud continue the fight against sexual violence in Haiti led by our Global Associate Malya Villard-Appolon and her colleague Marie Eramithe Delva. Since co-founding KOFAVIV in 2004, the organization has helped more than 4,000 rape survivors find safety, psychological support and/or legal aid. KOFAVIV is founded and staffed by victims of sexual and gender-based violence. You can learn more about KOFAVIV and the current situation by viewing this broadcast of Malya's lecture in Chicago at Loyola University from April 22, 2014.
Next Newsletter Preview:
Philippines: Our projects in the Philippines continue to progress as Global Associate Dr. Susana Anayatin and her team work to provide access to clean water. Watch our next newsletter for new ways to understand and explore the water installation projects made possible through your support.
Uganda: Diane and Travis are traveling to Uganda to participate in a training led by our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa from Colombia. Lissette will be training our partners in Uganda to use the ESPERE methodology developed in Colombia to engage the local community in using schools as centers for reconciliation for former child soldiers in the region.
If you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive our e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, please contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Uganda Update: Report on the Creation of a Regional Platform
In 2012 the Goldin Institute conducted research to understand and improve the lives of former child soldiers (FCS). In collaboration with former child soldiers, parents of former child soldiers, community leaders, district leaders, non-governmental organizations and opinion leaders, the Goldin Institute worked to engage those impacted by the Northern Uganda civil war to obtain an in-depth understanding of the societal, familial and public framework in place for former child soldiers.
The research was set up as a series of conversations amongst key stakeholders. Most significantly, FCS were given the role of interviewer, asking questions of other FCS about their experience with reintegration efforts following the war. The roles then reversed and the interviewer became the interviewee; concurrently conducting and contributing to the research. This framework allowed for FCS to share their experiences with those who are able to relate. The framework was also useful in breaking down barriers between FCS. FCS who were once forced to fight against one another were now in a position of relying on each other as an ad hoc support group.
The research revealed several key challenges FCS faced collectively upon their return from captivity. Specifically, FCS experienced sustained psychological trauma, community stigmatization and disillusionment with government support services.
[quote]Reinsertion is a child's return from captivity and reunification with family. Reintegration is a child's return from captivity, reunification with family, treatment and mitigation of mental and physical trauma and the development of a livelihood and contribution to society."[/quote]
The study also found that reintegration must be distinguished from reinsertion for all parties involved. Reinsertion is a child's return from captivity and reunification with family. Reintegration is a child's return from captivity, reunification with family, treatment and mitigation of mental and physical trauma and the development of a livelihood and contribution to society. The use of the term reintegration advances the idea of "working with" former child soldiers as they re-build their lives; it also minimizes the idea that private and public sector agencies are "working for" former child soldiers.
The widespread challenges amongst the FCS revealed the need for a collaborative effort amongst all sectors to effectively improve the lives of FCS. The current government provisions and interventions frequently failed to address the personal experiences and needs of war survivors, particularly those of FCS. The study not only revealed the perilous situation that FCS are in upon return from captivity but also developed the mission and framework of the National Partnership in Uganda as a means to address the needs of FCS.
The National Partnership in Uganda leverages the idea that sustainable recovery and peace within Northern Uganda can be achieved through the recognition of the unique experiences of FCS by government, civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations. The National Partnership will function as an effective national mechanism and a link and entry point for regional and international engagements towards prevention and reintegration of FCS. The National Partnership should also play a key role in developing a database for all FCS in the country and championing their cause through policy formulation, appropriate program recommendation and design and research. The National Partnership continues to evolve and grow, serving as a model for other countries grappling with reintegration of former child soldiers.
To that end, this summer, the Goldin Institute will be coordinating efforts to bring our colleagues in Colombia together with our associates in Uganda, so that best practices can be shared on effective ways to bring about reconcilation within communities and reintegration to former combatants. To view the full report containing photos and research on the creation of the regional platform, click on this link.
Malya Villard-Appolon Addresses Sexual Violence
Combating Sexual Violence in Haiti
We are pleased to share this broadcast of Malya Villard-Appolon of KOFAVIV, lecture in Chicago on April 22, 2014 at Loyola University. In this public lecture, Malya spoke about her advocacy work from the courtrooms and IDP camps in Haiti to venues around the world including the UN Commission on Human Rights, the U.S. State Department and the IAHRC. Malya was awarded the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year for her work as co-founder of KOFAVIV (Commission of Women Victims for Victims).
KOFAVIV is a Haitian grassroots organization that provides social and legal support in an effort to combat sexual violence against women and girls. Based on our partnership with KOFAVIV to fight gender-based violence in Port au Prince after the earthquake, we know first-hand the power and effectiveness of Malya and her team in Haiti.
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Spring 2014 Newsletter
Spring is making its way slowly toward the Goldin Institute's headquarters in Chicago. While seasonal change is in the air locally, systemic social change is underway at our global offices abroad. In this issue of the e-newsletter, we document the important work of our Global Associates. We are pleased to share these success stories from the field highlighting the positive, long-term changes underway, particularly in the Philippines and Colombia.
We invite you to take a look back at the first quarter of 2014 by viewing this short video overview of the newsletter.
Philippines
The Goldin Institute's efforts to provide access to clean water in the Philippines have continued to develop through the hard work of our Global Associate Dr. Susana Anayatin and her team. As part of her ongoing efforts, the team completed the installation of a 20 cubic meter water depository at J Marquez Elementary School located in the armed conflict area near Cotabato City on February 5, 2014. While conservative in size, its impact on the 1,875 students, 50 teachers and immediate community of about 1,000 families is immeasurable.
Working in collaboration with school administrators, the military and community members, Dr. Anayatin deftly leveraged the unique strengths of each group to respond to the water needs of J. Marquez Elementary School. In the planning stages, Dr. Anayatin partnered with the residents and educational officials to cultivate community ownership and promote the water resource as an incentive for students to attend school. Considering the location of J Marquez Elementary School within the armed conflict area in Cotabato City, Dr. Anayatin also engaged in dialogue with all sides of the conflict, including the military, to utilize everyone's skills and resources. In a symbolic ceremony commemorating the installation, students participated in a water ceremony wherein they were sprinkled with water. Water scarcity has always caused the community to purchase water and use it sparingly. Viewed as a limited and expensive commodity, the students enjoyed the rare experience of using water for play and enjoyment.
Amidst the work to provide access to safe drinking water, a storm surge hit Dr. Anayatin’s home province of Maguindanao on January 18th and 19th. Responding to this local emergency, the Goldin Institute Philippines organized a relief operation known as Alay Pagamamahal, which translates to Love Offering. Within days after the storm, Dr. Anayatin and her team coordinated meal distribution, provided counseling and activities to children, clothing and other supplies for immediate relief. While the team utilized funds from an anonymous Goldin Institute donor, they also worked closely with local parishes, churches, regional government and the military to coordinate the distribution of scarce supplies. Currently, three months later, the team continues to restore what was lost by the powerful storm.
Colombia
In Colombia, where ongoing civil conflict is a part of life, the Goldin Institute’s Global Associate, Lissette Mateus Roa and her team are working to create a peaceful coexistence between community members by leveraging Colombia's vast education system. Governmental changes every four years brings with it new educational priorities that public schools often struggle to adopt. Teachers and administrators drop current initiatives and quickly shift focus, resulting in a disjointed educational curriculum. These professional issues are often further complicated by the stress of working in a conflict zone. Struggling to deal with the personal and professional challenges, teachers and administrators often have conflict-laced interactions with each other and students. Observing the weak educational opportunities provided to students and the stark need for child soldier reintegration, Lissette developed a pilot project to help use curriculum and counseling to turn schools into centers for reintegration. The Pedagogy of Care and Reconciliation (PCR) project is currently running in three schools in Colombia in addition to ones in Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic.
The project utilizes the ESPERE methodology which focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation. Teachers participate in a 6-day workshop where 3 days are dedicated to forgiveness and 3 days are dedicated to reconciliation. Following the workshop, teachers engage in dialogue sessions for 6 months; discussing topics such as school rules, priorities in student education, current problems and alternative student punishments. The dialogue portion in particular provides a rare opportunity for teachers to voice their concerns and be heard. As changes are made at the top, the positive effects of peaceful coexistence and alternative solutions are visible at the bottom as evidenced in a recent encounter in the Dominican Republic. An older student in the Dominican Republic was bounced around to several schools; known as a troublemaker, his reputation preceded him, resulting in teachers unwilling to welcome him into their classroom. After getting to a school utilizing the ESPERE methodology, a teacher asked him to repay his past misdeeds by teaching primary school students. Teaching younger students as an alternative to going to the principal’s office brought out his compassion and self-control, which had not surfaced before.
Looking Forward
As the ESPERE methodology proves successful in the field sites, Lissette is preparing to extend the school-based training to our partners in Uganda this May, 2014. The team in Gulu is excited to adapt this model to work with former child soldiers and the community as they grapple with forgiveness and reconciliation.
Keep an eye out for more information about this project in the next newsletter.
Also watch the next e-newsletter for the latest news from the Grassroots Leadership Development project. The team is hard at work with our colleague Bliss Browne of Imagine Chicago to develop a course that will inform and inspire grassroots activists in leading community-driven initiatives worldwide.
If you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, please contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Uganda Update
Building on Two Years of Partnership Planning:
An update to the National Platform for child soldier prevention and re-integration in Uganda
This past June, co-founders of the Goldin Institute, Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman spent two weeks in Africa to coordinate and take part in the official launch of the National Platform for Child Soldier Reintegration and Prevention - Uganda Chapter. The event was the culmination of over two years of partnering with the Institute's Global Associate based in Kenya - Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat.
The official report has just been issued (view in entirety here), but we would like to highlight the key findings and developments that came out of the event.
Background on the Issue
The conflict in Northern Uganda, which claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 400,000 people over the past thirty years, has recently entered a period of relative calm. Since 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Forces have been largely dismantled and have moved outside the borders of Uganda. With the displaced - especially young people who had been recruited into the armed militia groups - moving back to their homes and villages, there is a great need to rebuild democratic governance structures and the livelihoods of returnees in ways that map to and reconstruct local realities.
In Uganda, both the rebels and the government have used children in their war actions before and after 1986. There are a number of statutory instruments that outlaw the use of children in combat action or under age employment such as the Constitution, the children's statute in addition to the various international conventions on children. However, these legal instruments were not enough to prevent the use of child soldiers or to ensure that children are reintegrated. Through research and shared planning, the National Platform findings have identified areas where a broad range of civic and grassroots leaders can make a concrete improvement.
History of the project to date
The Uganda Platform is based on the Goldin Institute's successful launch of a similar National Level program in Colombia in 2007. Like the proven Colombian model, a key feature of the this platform has been unifying reintegration efforts (in this case amongst Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC) to directly serve former combatants, not only reintegrating those children who have escaped fighting, but also to seek an end to the use of child soldiers.
Building on what was learned in Colombia and other Institute initiatives, central to the Uganda National Platform was involving former child combatants directly by providing them a voice in the proceedings. Specifically, 12 former child soldiers lead the oral testimony gathering. This experiential approach broke down many of the hierarchical barriers and produced a more accurate understanding of the lived experiences and aspirations of former combatants.
Goals and objectives of the Platform
The overall goals of the National Platform are to: 1) reintegrate former child soldiers in Uganda and 2) prevent the use of children in armed conflict. The platform will document its processes, successes and challenges in order to assist partners in DRC, Somalia and South Sudan as they build similar National Level Platforms that together will partner in a regional network dedicated to reintegration and prevention.
Eleven specific goals were established and approved by the 100 stakeholders from across Uganda with observers from the DRC, South Sudan, Kenya and the United States:
- Direct and sustained engagement of former child soldiers in all aspects of the network, from setting priorities, service in related projects and evaluation.
- Research and documentation of child soldier related issues.
- Advocacy for public policies that will benefit former combatants.
- Strengthening of institutional mechanisms to promote access to education, healthcare, nutrition, shelter and employment for ex-child soldiers and children impacted by the violence.
- Build Capacity for member organizations of the national platform to address issues of child soldiers.
- Coordinate the disparate programs for demobilization, prevention and reintegration of child soldiers to improve efficiency and reach.
- Monitor with relevant government ministries and departments to keep watch over the implementation of policies that impact ex-child soldiers.
- Evaluate impact of resources and programs targeting ex-child soldiers in Uganda.
- Distribute information and reports from members of the national platform.
- Assist in sharing information, tools and insights in building the regional platform.
- Mobilize resources for the running of the platform activities.
[slide] [img path="images/at_the_banner_diane_and_TR.jpg"]Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman meet with members of the former child soldier delegation[/img] [img path="images/TR_and_two_delegates.jpg"]Executive Director Travis Rejman meets with delegates to the National Platform[/img] [img path="images/diane_and_dorcas_and_uniden.jpg"]Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat (center) and Diane Goldin with Platform delegate[/slide]
GI Global Associate Issues Progress Report on Project in Colombia
One of the core issues of the Goldin Institute's mission has been our work partnering with communities to promote co-existence, reconciliation and peace-building efforts.
Our partners in Colombia have made great strides in achieving this mission by building community-driven reconciliation tools that are an inspiration to our global network.
Since 2007, when we convened with local and international partners in Colombia to launch the National Partnership for Child Soldier Reintegration, we have continued to seek ways to help local leaders create new and more effective ways to reintegrate former child soldiers.
One community leader who came from the 'National Partnership teaching-tree' is our global associate based in Bogota, Lissette Mateus Roa. Last month, Lissette updated us on the progress of the pilot project began in her hometown in late 2011 called Pedagogy of Care and Reconciliation (PCR).
Lissette explained in the video update how the project is helping bridge the often deep-rooted differences that exist between teachers and students in the schools within her own community. The causes of these differences are complex and unique to the culture of Colombia, but in general are related to the country's decades long civil conflict. Lissette reports that in the schools that have participated, the makeup of the students is a direct sampling of the larger population at whole - especially in rural areas. This includes students who are likely to have experienced the domestic violence, learning challenges and poverty often associated with those displaced in Colombia by the civil conflict.
As Lissette points out in both the update video and also in this more comprehensive report:
[quote]Most people need new tools for relationship building ... that is what we workshop together with the teachers using the main methodology called ESPERE. In these day-long sessions, two main components make up the training: Forgiveness and Reconciliation ... people learn how to forgive and trainees of the project learn how to empathize with those they may have viewed as being different."[/quote]
[slide]
[img path="images/IMG_0394.JPG"]Above photo: Teachers consult the ESPERE guide at a recent workshop outside Bogota[/img]
[img path="images/IMG_0067.jpg"]Above photo: Goldin Institute Associate Lissette Mateus Roa leads a break-out circle at recent ESPERE workshop[/img]
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To broaden the reach of this innovative new approach to reconciliation, Lissette's team has built an online social platform where training tools can be accessed as well as an online library of all supporting documents related to the PCR project (audios, videos, and photos). Perhaps most importantly, the social platform allows teachers and administrators the opportunity to provide instant feedback to improve the reconciliation methodology by reflecting on their own direct experience.
We continue to be excited to be a part of Lissette's project as she sees it through being more fully implemented. The ESPERE method has already shown great promise in being a model for improving the structural and social aspects of reconciliation and as part of the PCR, more widely applied internationally. In fact, we are currently exploring how to apply the same techniques being used in the PCR project by Lissette and her team to our partners in Uganda.
We invite you to join us and Lissette in completing the PCR project – find out how your donation can work directly in peace-buiding efforts.
Update on Pedagogy of Care and Reconciliation Partnership Project
In this short video, Lissette Mateus Roa brings us up to date on what the partnership project has meant to the teachers, parents and students involved. This multi-sector approach has allowed for practices on how best to bring about change that will allow for acceptance and a better understanding of the issues faced by those impacted by Colombia's decades-long civil conflict. As Lissette so clearly states herself in the video:
[quote](Our) School is about ... How to forgive ... how to learn about another people ... how to see another people through new eyes."[/quote]
- Lissette Mateus Roa
Lissette was kind enough to share her own personal photos taken at the most recent workshop she conducted, which are also included in this video.
We are excited to continue to partner with Lissette on this project and see it come to life and expand further. Please view the video above and find out how you can become more involved in support of Lissette and the Pedagogy of care and Reconciliation Project.
First Pitch
Like the film we featured and reccomended to our network recently, this is a story much bigger than the game of baseball - and although cholera continues to be one of the most dire issues faced by the Haitian people, seeing one of the kids featured in the movie realize his dream and throw out the first pitch at the Toronto Blue Jays game last night is cause for celebration. Way to go Japhney!
Lessons From Isaac
Drawing parallels between his native New Orleans and Haiti, writer Lolis Eric Elie writes a short and compelling piece on why we should care ... " Haiti is similar (to New Orleans). If you took it out of the world market picture, financial markets would not collapse. But if you took Haiti out of the cultural picture through its music, its architecture, its visual arts, we as a world community would be greatly impoverished."
