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IPJ Nepal Project
IPJ Nepal Project Background
Recently Updated! The IPJ began its Nepal initiative in San Diego in December 2001 when the IPJ invited representatives of civil society and political parties to have a facilitated discussion on possible solutions to the internal conflict. In January 2003, the IPJ conducted an on-the-ground assessment of the conflict in Nepal. This assessment was conducted both inside the capital of Kathmandu and in the district of Gorkha, where the Maoist movement was born. The assessment included private interviews and discussions with individuals and groups representing civil society and political actors, as well as discussions conducted in a “town hall” setting in several villages. The IPJ also met with international donors, foreign governments, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and intergovernmental organizations. In June 2003, the IPJ conducted a workshop to increase the participation of women in politics. The workshop included thirty-seven women from political parties and from civil society organizations who began working together for the first time during the workshop and have since continued their collaboration. The workshop provided information on international experiences and lessons learned in civil conflict and democratization efforts, and examined the conflict and political situation in Nepal. The three-day workshop also included a one-day intensive training on preparing women candidates for running in elections or participating in campaigning. The IPJ conducted the workshop in collaboration with the Ugandan NGO, Action for Development (ACFODE), which has been successful in preparing women to participate in governance and development in Uganda. The IPJ carried out an evaluation of the workshops by conducting a survey-questionnaire and through numerous interviews of political party and civil society representatives in June 2003. The results included a request for the IPJ to continue to work with women's organizations in the form of a series of workshops that would provide opportunities for coordination and increase the knowledge base and skills of women working in civil society regarding political participation, transitional justice, conflict resolution, and human rights. The assessment and evaluation in June 2003 also resulted in human rights organizations requesting assistance. This assistance included building their capacity to coordinate efforts, teaching mechanisms for bringing their concerns and Nepal's needs to the international community, and providing professional development opportunities to their staff. In addition, several members of political parties and even some of those who had participated in past government-Maoist negotiations requested opportunities to develop their negotiation skills. IPJ Deputy Director, Dee Aker traveled to Washington, DC that same month to present at a the “Conference on Nepal” convened by the National Intelligence Council and Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, on impact on, and the role for, Nepal's women in ending the current conflict. Aker recommended points of leverage for civil society actors (particularly gender, ethnic, and caste civil society actors) and outlined mechanisms that the international community can support that will facilitate broad inclusion in the peace process. The work in Nepal expanded in May 2004 to include programming specifically for political party leadership. Accompanied by CMPartners, conflict management specialists, the IPJ conducted a two-day Negotiations Training Program for senior party leadership and women political leaders. Also in May 2004, the IPJ convened the second workshop for a cross-sector of participants for Women, Politics, and Peace: Working for a Just Society II. Lilia Velasquez, a human rights lawyer who specializes in gender, worked with Dee Aker to facilitate a discussion on women’s role in transitional justice and reconciliation. Ms. Velasquez also joined the IPJ in facilitating a workshop with Human Rights organizations and advocates to discuss the role of human rights defenders in the current Nepali context. Finally, Dee Aker, concluded the May 2004 trip with visits to Dalit communities in Kathmandu Valley to evaluate the efficacy and implementation of human rights training. Work with women leadership advanced in November 2004 when six members representing diverse groups came to the IPJ conference on Promoting Women's Equal Participation in Peace & Security Processes: Operationalizing UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Presentations on the impact of the sales of small arms and the rights of indigenous peoples were among the Nepali presentations. Plans were made for a continuation of IPJ work with the women in the Women, Politics, and Peace Program in 2005. Following King Gyanendra's assumption of all powers from the elected government in the constitutional monarchy in February 2005 (Nepal Crisis and Appeals), the IPJ conducted an assessment in Kathmandu from May 13 through May 26, 2005 to analyze the needs in the new context and determine how the IPJ would its work in Nepal. The IPJ met with representatives from the following sectors: government, political parties, student unions, national nongovernmental organizations, women, media, security forces, jurists, business, and the international community to determine the state of affairs in governance and human rights. The IPJ produced a brief report which identifies roadblocks to peace and democracy, suggests opportunities for addressing some of these challenges to achieve inclusive security and sustainable peace, and renews the IPJ's commitment to work with all sectors of the Nepali community.
The current phase of the IPJ Nepal Project encourages greater collaboration and understanding among diverse groups. The IPJ remains committed to working with all parties in Nepal including the government. The participatory method utilized in designing the workshops ensures applicability and usefulness of the current programs. The content and format of the workshops increase the knowledge of and skills and techniques to address conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and democratic development. Workshops are designed to meet the specific needs of each constituency and to incorporate common themes consistent across groups. Two sets of workshops have been convened in December 2005 and February 2006. In each workshop in December 2005, Dana Erye, Ph.D., expert in democratization processes, presented case studies and lessons learned from democratization process amid conflict in other areas around the world. Erye asked participants to reflect on and relate these lessons to their own historical, political, and social context in Nepal. In small groups, participants collectively discussed and debated some of the main points presented by Erye, such as the difference between social and political change and the formation of key alliances and coalitions. Dee Aker, IPJ Deputy Director, highlighted the importance of postconflict planning during times of civil strife; and provided examples of international tools and agreements that address women’s inclusion in peace and security processes. Integrating a strong judiciary into the democratization process and working with the media were two themes that Lilia Velasquez, international human rights lawyer, addressed in each workshop. Despite political unrest and increased violence in the Kathmandu Valley the IPJ successfully carried out two workshops with emerging leaders and women and marginalized groups with the assistance of its local partner, South Asia Partnership-Nepal (SAP-Nepal), in February 2006. The political parties and policymakers component of the February workshops had to be postponed due to the arrest of hundreds political leaders in mid-January; many of those who were to participate in the IPJ program were detained. This political situation, however, provided a window of opportunity to focus more intensely on the development and preparation of emerging leaders, who may have to assume greater responsibility in their corresponding sectors with the restrictions placed on current party and human right leaders. Therefore, the IPJ restructured the program to expand the workshop for the emerging leaders so that they may receive additional skills and training, facilitated by CMPartners, conflict management specialists. As the city came to a stand still with the Maoist bandha (strike), IPJ participants came to the workshop despite travel restrictions. Some walked over two hours each day to attend. Shreen Abdul Saroor, a 2004 IPJ Women Peacemaker and internally displaced person (IDP), joined the IPJ team in the women’s workshop to share her experience with peacemaking in Sri Lanka. Her work to overcome ethnic and religious divisions in Sri Lanka and to mobilize women to demand and obtain their rights includes increasing the opportunity for women to be at the peace negotiation table. A number of local Nepali organizations representing IDPs, Dalit, single women (widows), and rural development projects also reported on their recent publications, research, and analysis on the current state of the Nepali crisis. In April 2006, Aker and Taylor returned to Nepal and were joined by Ancil Adrian-Paul, Mary Ann Arnado, and Eric Henry. Adrian-Paul is currently based in Afghanistan working to address sexualized violence against women in postconflict contexts and contributed to Inclusive Security, Sustainable Peace: A Toolkit of Advocacy and Action created to promote the use of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Arnado has experience in organizing a civilian cease-fire monitoring group, strengthening people's participation in peace processes, promoting indigenous peacemaking mechanisms, and facilitating community and regional dialogue in the Philippines. Henry, a partner at Conflict Management Partners (CMPartners), has been working with the IPJ Nepal Project since 2004. The scheduled workshops were revised due to the extension of the four-day strike organized by the political parties and government-issued shoot-to-kill curfews. Although the curfews had altered planned workshops, the IPJ was in a key position to respond immediately in the wake of the political transition and reinstatement of the parliament. Immediately following the cessation of government curfews, the IPJ organized a roundtable discussion, “From Rock Throwing to Brick Laying: The Role of Emerging Leaders in Conflict Transformation.” Henry, Aker, and Taylor were joined by seven Nepali emerging leaders from NGOs, the media, indigenous groups, political parties, and academia. In this discussion, participants proposed constructive methods to voice dissent; there was a particular interest in the role that the media could play in connecting rural communities to decision makers in the capital. On April 30, days after the cessation of the shoot-to-kill curfew, Aker welcomed thirty women from civil society, NGOs, politics, media, academia, and the legal sphere to the roundtable discussion, “Strategic Thinking about Gender Mainstreaming during Conflict Transformation and Democratization.” This session focused on exploring the brief windows of opportunity presented during a transition period, specifically to begin to address discriminatory societal norms and to review and redraft constitutions and laws and. During this program, the participants also discussed the challenges and opportunities for women in societies emerging from conflict. The IPJ conducted a number of individual consultations and conversations with primary Nepali political leaders, both on the phone and in person, once the curfew was lifted. Main areas of concerns were representation in the new government, specifically that of women, rural people, indigenous groups, and the Madhesi community, as well as ensuring property rights for women and citizenship rights in the mother’s name. In May, SAP-Nepal conducted a Peace Forum for participants from a range of backgrounds, including NGOs, academia, law, media, and politics contributed to the discussion. One participant said that the forum provided the “opportunity to not only document thoughts, but analyze those thoughts so that we can bring our young dynamic youth leaders, our young women, and marginalized groups as future leaders of Nepal.” Relationships formed in previous IPJ workshops were strengthened as participants engaged in an informal cross-sector and multigenerational dialogue. In the spring, the IPJ and SAP-Nepal began partnering with Equal Access-Nepal on the Peace Radio Project (PRP). Coordination occurred in two areas: content and community outreach. The IPJ and SAP-Nepal provided content for Equal Access’ Sundar Shanta Bishal (Peacebuilding) program, including access to the 2004 IPJ Women PeaceMakers’ documentary, “Leading the Way to Peace,” stories of IPJ Women PeaceMakers, and expert interviews with IPJ consultants. In June, community facilitators were trained to conduct twenty-two listening groups in two regions. Through a teleconferenced encounter with political and civil society representatives at a breakfast in June, local IPJ Leadership Circle members and donors to the Nepal project were able to hear directly from and ask questions of Nepali leaders active in the transition after the king had stepped down. Minendra Rijal, Spokesperson for the Nepali Congress- Democratic Party, and Shobha Shrestha, Program Officer for SAP-Nepal and local IPJ partner, shared first-hand accounts and analysis from the political and civil society perspectives, respectively. They also reflected on the role IPJ has played in the last few years in supporting the Nepali people in their search for a just transition to peace. In July 2006, Aker and Taylor returned to Nepal to convene the “Democratic Essentials Summit: Cross-sector Communication, Negotiation, and Collaboration.” This summit was organized to advance personal negotiation skills and explore ideas that can prepare diverse constituencies for democratic participation. The Honorable Annette Mukabera, the youngest woman in the Parliament of Uganda in 2001, Shobha Shrestha, Program Officer of SAP-Nepal, and Eric Henry and Gardner Heaton of CMPartners joined the IPJ to assist in the facilitation of the summit. Henry and Heaton reviewed basic negotiation and communication techniques, and guided participants through a preparation and negotiation process. They also emphasized the practical skill of inquiry, in addition to advocacy, and the need to address the emotional response to change. Mukabera shared the experience of the eight-year constituent assembly process in Uganda, as well as how to work for greater women's participation and the involvement of younger people in politics to drive national change. Shrestha facilitated a dialogue with two survivors of the conflict, one a victim of state forces and one a victim of Maoist cadres. In addition, the Equal Access team presented the audio collage, “Voices from the Countryside,” addressing inclusion of Dalit, single-women, and youth in democratic planning. A highlight of the summit was the Nepal debut of the documentary film, Leading the Way to Peace, the personal stories of courage, achievement, and hope of the 2004 IPJ Women PeaceMakers. All media presentations were in Nepali; the film had been voiced over for IPJ by Equal Access and it will continue to be shown in Nepal. Participants in the summit commented that the summit enabled diverse groups to have a voice and expanded networks and contacts. A five-day evaluation was conducted by three external evaluators to assess the effectiveness of the year-long project in achieving its stated objectives of increasing the knowledge of and skills needed to promote conflict resolution, negotiations, peacebuilding, and democratic development. Specifically, through the use of questionnaires and interviews, participants evaluated the effectiveness of the IPJ Nepal Project in providing information on building coalitions, enhancing cross-sector dialogue and cooperation, engendering political processes, and increasing skills in human rights advocacy and conflict resolution. On the one-year anniversary of Jana Andolan II, the IPJ returned to Nepal in April 2007 to support and contribute to the Nepali’s continued peacebuilding efforts. The IPJ Nepal Project team, Dee Aker, Interim Director, and Laura Taylor, Program Officer, conducted an assessment trip to rural districts as well as a series of workshops and private interviews with key stakeholders in Kathmandu. In partnership with Shobha Shrestha and the SAP-Nepal team, the IPJ carried out participatory programming with the Inter-Party Women’s Alliance, women and marginalized groups, emerging leaders, civil society and Today’s Youth Forum. On April 9, 2007 the Inter-Party Women’s Alliance (IPWA), a coalition of women leaders from each of the eight parties in the interim government, as well as the RPP and other smaller parties, participated in the day-long workshop, “On the Campaign Trail: Strategies to Advance and Mainstream the Women’s Agenda.” Representing six parties, many of the participants were central committee members or held decision-making posts in the parties’ women’s wings. As individuals, and later working in smaller groups, participants analyzed their relationship to and with their constituents, focusing on their agenda, and how to transcend the group lines they have traditionally represented in the past and promote gender justice in Nepal. Using a framework for a gender audit of their own parties, participants adapted the questions to the Nepali political context. To conclude the day, the IPJ shared a series of resources, including the 2004 and 2006 Women PeaceMakers conference reports. Twenty-three women representing a diverse cross-section of Nepalese society participated in the workshop, “From Personal Recovery to Political Agency” on April 10, 2007. By creating spaces for mutual support and advocacy, survivors came together to determine joint strategies to address common problems. The workshop engaged participants to recognize the signs of vicarious trauma, as well as the resilience and psychosocial strengths of women during and after violent conflict. Following the international debut of the 2005 IPJ Women PeaceMakers documentary, Reversing the Ripples of War, one participant stated: “We can really feel like we are not the only country [that] is tackling this problem and it help[s] to empower us.” The workshop concluded with participants sharing their methods of self-care to mitigate the negative effects of trauma through awareness, balance and seeking community. In realizing a deeper sense of personal worth, or by fostering individual self-esteem and providing a environment where individual voices can be heard, participants were better prepared to not only realize their rights, but to demand their rights and to build coalitions for action to obtain those rights. Participants gained skills and analytical tools to better translate their vision for peace into tangible strategies for change and concrete victories that improve the lives of people in their communities throughout the day-long workshop, communities “Another Kind of Power: Constructive Conflict and Consensus Building through Nonviolence.” Together, 25 participants utilized consensus-building methods to dialogue and plan with one another to develop strategies to transform conflict in Nepal through positive, constructive means. Using a simple framework for international conflict management to think about how to strategically impact various aspects of the peace process, they worked individually and in small groups to identify key domestic and international actors at the grassroots, middle range and elite levels that had influence in the political transition in Nepal. Based on their current work, or where they would like to put their energy, each small group developed a series of action points to leverage their combined resources to gain influence with specific actors. Approaching reconciliation through a theory developed by John Paul Lederach, the participants worked in small groups to consider what balance of truth, justice, peace, and mercy was needed in Nepal. With new perspectives, they revised plans and refocused actions to leverage the most effective collective power to achieve their articulated goals. The roundtable of 17 leading civil society representatives was designed to create a space for select community activists and spokespersons to provide insight into the current political transition in Nepal. The discussion began by looking at group’s priorities and the primary challenges faced. While coming from a range of backgrounds and interests, the majority of participants stated that they were actively working on education and awareness-building about the constituent assembly (CA). While the date for CA elections was postponed just a few days later, each of the issues raised by the civil society roundtable must still be addressed. From implementing civic education to establishing a just representation system, civil society must ask itself what role is has to play. How will the greater community get justice? What are the challenges to bringing diverse Nepali needs to new legislators in the interim government or creating the new constitution? What might the future hold and what means are there for civil society to be heard? While media attention in the international community focuses on the political statements of the eight parties, this session afforded the opportunity to learn about shared platforms and joint strategies to ensure the voice and influence of civil society in the CA and the future democracy in Nepal.
In July 2007, the IPJ was invited to address the Nepal Forum of the 25th annual conference of the Association of Nepalese in the Americas (ANA). The conference was held at the Westin Los Angeles airport hotel and was attended by an estimated 5,000 Nepalese and well-wishers of Nepal, making it the largest ever gathering of Nepalese outside Nepal. Interim Director Dee Aker and Nepal Program Officer Laura Taylor were joined by fellow presenters including Deputy Speaker of the Nepalese Parliament Chitralekha Yadav, Terai leader Upendra Yadav and other Nepalese experts on the judicial system, democracy promotion, economics and Diaspora affairs. In their presentation “Bridging the Gaps: Peacebuilding across Gender and Generations,” Aker and Taylor shared best practices from the IPJ’s six-year Nepal Project which offered alternative methods on how to transcend caste lines, economic barriers, historic prejudice, patriarchal biases and geographic isolation to engage in collective efforts to promote a peaceful democratic transition in Nepal.
A two-day community dialogue on “Forging Communication Channels, Fostering Voices for Peace” was organized from Nov. 17-18, 2007 to introduce the IPJ Peace Radio Program (PRP) in Humla, Far Western Development Region of Nepal. The PRP focuses on developing new facilitation skills and sharing new information on peacebuilding and conflict resolution among participants. The interaction was included 32 participants, a majority of whom were women and half were an ethnically Lama or Nhinba, and was facilitated by Aker, Taylor and DB Lama of The Himalayan Innovative Society (THIS-NGO). A one-day regional forum “Getting Started, Gaining Influence” was organized on Nov. 23, 2007 in Pokhara, Western Development Region (WDR). Forty-four participants, 3 from each of 10 communities throughout WDR and 14 from Pokhara itself, attended the forum. The program was participated by the listeners and facilitators of IPJ PRP. Aker and Taylor were joined by Upendra Malla, Member Secretary, Manabiya Srot Bikas Kendra Nepal (MSBK-Nepal) and Regional Chief of SAP-Nepal facilitated the program. Malla has worked in the field of development in the areas of good governance, peacebuilding, education development and capacity building in partnership with various reputed NGOs and INGOs for the past eight years. The Women, Politics and Peace, Working for Just Society VIII series continued on Nov. 25, 2007. The participatory workshop brought together 26 women from the political, legal and civil society spheres to examine the theme: “Reconnecting, Rethinking and Mobilizing for Sustainable Peace: Where We Are, What We Need”. Aker and Taylor were joined by Lesley Abdela, gender expert and consultant with the United Nations in Nepal to facilitate the program. Abdela is a senior partner in consultancy at Shevolution and CEO for the NGO Project Parity and has worked in the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Balkans including in the post-conflict recovery regions of Iraq, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. She brought information on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 in Nepal, which framed the discussion as participants summarized shared priorities in their agreed Minimum Principles of Action. Twenty-nine emerging leaders, 15 women and 14 men, participated in “Essential Mediation and Communication Strategies: Using Neutral Language in Conflicts” organized on Nov. 27, 2007. The program, facilitated by Aker and Taylor, was designed in collaborated with Ryan Millard, IPJ Intern in fall 2007. As a leader in a democratic society it becomes essential to not only be an advocate for the rights and interests of the constituents you represent, but to also learn how to communicate effectively with groups whose interests conflict with your own. Participants learned how to neutralize language and to hear more clearly the thoughts and intersts that are being communicated by parties in conflict. Finally, Aker and Taylor conducted a series of consultative meetings with political parties and civil society leaders of Nepal, as well as U.S Embassy and U.N officials and representatives of INGOs working at the grassroots in Nepal. The assessment summarized the potential to sustain the tenuous peace in Nepal and identified next steps to promote transitional justice and human security in the country. Future programs to strengthen constituencies for peace and democratic developmentare currently being developed.
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Home | About IPJ | Programs | Academics | Publications & Reports | Events Calendar | Non-Discrimination Policy Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, CA 92110-2492 | 619-260-7509 | fax 619-260-7570 Please send all inquiries to ipj@sandiego.edu | Copyright © 2004 University of San Diego |
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