Invitation to apply for research grants

The Creating Safer Space network welcomes applications for research grants. We will fund 15 – 20 research projects to understand and support unarmed civilian protection and self-protection in the midst of violent conflict.

Our research focuses on conflicts in Colombia, South Sudan, Myanmar and the Philippines, but research on other Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) will also be supported.

Grants range from £20,000 – £100,000 GBP for projects of 6 to 16 months in duration. Projects must be led by organisations in the UK or in LMICs.

The application deadline is 15 April 2022. More information is available on our website: https://creating-safer-space.com/grants/

Potential applicants are invited to attend one of the following information sessions, where we will provide more information about our grants and how to apply:

In English: 10.00 – 11.00 on Tuesday 1 February
In Spanish: To be confirmed
In English: 8.00 – 9.00 on Wednesday 2 March

Please contact creating-safer-space@aber.ac.uk for Zoom joining details.

New work package: Civilian (Self-) Protection in Papua

The Creating Safer Space network is pleased to announce a new work package on the following topic:

Civilian (Self-)Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua: Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives

The work package is led by Delsy Ronnie (Nonviolent Peaceforce Philippines) in collaboration with Arfiansyah (International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, ICAIOS)

More information about the work package is available on our website: https://creating-safer-space.com/civilian-self-protection-from-violent-conflict-in-papua/

Ben Ngoye

Strathmore University – Kenya

Researcher

Dr. Ben Ngoye holds a PhD in Management Sciences from Universität Ramon Llull/ESADE Business School, an MPH, and MSc’s in Organizational Development and in Research. His current teaching and research interests are focused on organization theory and organization behavior, on decision making, and on performance measurement and management. He has mentored several graduate/postgraduate students, and has several active training and research grants from UKRI MRC, the Gates Foundation and the Global Business School Network among others.

{ Puncak, Papua. Photo: Deco Kogoya. }

Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua

Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives

The continuing armed conflict in Papua, Indonesia, has highlighted the need to protect civilians and create an enabling environment for a meaningful peace process that would put human rights violations to an end and ensure the safety and security of civilians. We have observed that there is no substantial policy or effort to reduce the number of victims of violent conflict in Papua, nor has there been research conducted to study existing local infrastructures and initiatives for civilian (self-) protection.

The aim of this research is to support and strengthen local capacity for civilian self-protection to initiate community-based conflict and peace management in Papua. To this end, we first focus on mapping local infrastructures and initiatives to understand the vulnerability of civilians to physical harm in the Papua violent conflict and assess the capacity of existing infrastructures and actors. The project will then engage in advocacy and training activities both in Papua (civil society organizations) and Jakarta (Papuan student associations and churches networks) to strengthen nonviolent civilian protection in Papua.

Research team:

Delsy Ronnie, Nonviolent Peaceforce Philippines (principal investigator)

Arfiansyah, International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies (ICAIOS)