New Project: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills

We are pleased to announce that a new research project will start in October: “Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta)”

The project received a Creating Safer Space Small Grant through our open funding competition.

The project is led by Marwan Darweish at Coventry University (UK), in collaboration with Co-Investigators at Coventry University and the Al-Shmoh Cultural Center (Palestine).

The project focuses on the South Hebron Hills of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), where the civilian population face acts of violence by Israeli settlers in which their crops, livestock, dwellings and lives have been targeted. The project will analyse attempts by civilian actors to support the local communities in their attempts to create safer spaces within which they can continue to maintain their livelihoods, hold on to their land and way of life.

More information about the project is available here:
https://creating-safer-space.com/safety-and-dignity-enhancing-unarmed-civilian-protection-amongst-palestinian-communities-in-the-south-hebron-hills-masafer-yatta/

Project co-investigator Mahmoud Soliman during a civilian protection gathering in the West Bank.

New Project: Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict

We are pleased to announce that a new research project will start in October: “Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict”.

The project received a Creating Safer Space Small Grant through our open funding competition.

The project is led by Gordon Crawford at Coventry University (UK) in collaboration with Co-Investigators from the African Leadership Centre in Nairobi (Kenya), Coventry University (UK), the Big Steps Outreach Network (Cameroon), Authentic Memorial Empowerment Foundation (Cameroon) and Women for Change (Cameroon).

The project investigates community-led initiatives of unarmed civilian protection in the ongoing ‘Anglophone conflict’ in Cameroon. Subjected to violence from both the military and armed separatist groups, civilians have been pro-active and resourceful in devising ways to protect each other and stay safe, inclusive of coded language, non-verbal communication, direct negotiation with the warring parties, early warning networks and information sharing through local associations and social media.

The project will use arts-based and creative research methods that enable conflict-affected communities to co-create knowledge.

More information about the project is available here:
https://creating-safer-space.com/exploring-unarmed-civilian-self-protection-in-cameroons-anglophone-conflict/


New Project: Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia

We are pleased to announce that a new research project will start in October: “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.

The project received a Creating Safer Space Large Grant through our open funding competition.

The project is led by Juan Mario Díaz at the University of Sheffield (UK), in collaboration with Co-Investigators from the University of Sheffield, Universidad del Rosario (Colombia) and Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (Colombia).

The project will investigate and seek to strengthen the extraordinary capacity of Colombian communities to navigate the complex conflicts that threaten their security. Using a Participatory Action Research approach, which conducts research with rather than on communities, the project will collaborate with grassroots organisations and train community researchers in three diverse communities in the Pacific region of South-West Colombia:
i) the predominantly Afro-Colombian port city of Buenaventura;
ii) mestizo coca growers based in and around the town of Lerma; and
iii) members of an indigenous coffee-growing cooperative in Caldono, Toribio, Santander de Quilichao and Bolivar municipalities.
The aim is to facilitate an exchange of knowledge and experiences which enhances community capacities for Unarmed Civilian Protection in the region and beyond.

More information about the project is available here:
https://creating-safer-space.com/community-strategies-for-unarmed-civilian-protection-in-south-west-colombia-local-experiences-and-lessons-learned/

Photo of meeting with the local researcher of CORMEPAZ and academic partners
Meeting between researchers and project partners to discuss training and capacity-building opportunities.

New Project: Exploring Community Perceptions and Coping Strategies on Violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar

We are pleased to announce that a new research project will start in October: “Exploring Community Perceptions and Coping Strategies on Violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar”

The project received a Creating Safer Space Large Grant through our open funding competition.

The project is led by Abellia Anggi Wardani at Knowledge Hub Myanmar. The project will investigate how local ethnic groups in Rakhine state, Myanmar, identify and cope with the local violent events they encountered or anticipated.

The project uses a participatory action research approach not only to compare different conceptions of violence of the different ethnic groups in the region but also to explore divergent strategies of said groups to handle and reduce violence in their respective communities.

More information about the project is available here:
https://creating-safer-space.com/exploring-community-perceptions-and-coping-strategies-on-violence-in-rakhine-state-myanmar/

Photo of people digging a well in Rakhine
Digging a well in Rakhine

New Project: Mapping and Responding to Vulnerability through Nonviolent Collective Actions in Colombia

We are pleased to announce that a new research project will start in October: “Mapping and Responding to Vulnerability through Nonviolent Collective Actions in Buenaventura, Colombia”.

The project received a Creating Safer Space Small Grant through our open funding competition.

The project is led by Manuel Müller at FOR Peace Presence (Colombia), in collaboration with Co-Investigators at FOR Peace Presence and Colectivo ANSUR.

The project will use Participatory Action Research to work with five Afro-descendent and indigenous communities and organisations in the Buenaventura region of Colombia to map collective and individual vulnerabilities to physical harm. Community members will engage in critical analysis over the structures that have constructed vulnerability and the intersectional identities (race, gender, age, sexuality, place of residence, ability status) that interact with vulnerability at the community level. The research will explore through photos and collective histories the diverse strategies that individuals and communities have developed to protect themselves, their lands, and their traditions.

More information about the project is available here:
https://creating-safer-space.com/exploring-unarmed-civilian-self-protection-in-cameroons-anglophone-conflict/

Photo of the territory of the AINI Women's collective in the Naya river
The territory of the AINI Women’s collective in the Naya river. The flag is used by FOR Peace Presence as a protection measure to visibilize their presence.

Gender-just landscapes: Gender based violence and community protection in land, natural resource and climate conflicts

Gender-based violence (GBV) is experienced by one in three women worldwide; however, the risk of GBV grows substantially in conflict. The scale and endemic nature of GBV means that understanding vulnerability, drivers and impact is an urgent public health, human rights and policy issue. However, there is less awareness about the relationship between GBV and land, natural resource and climate-related conflict.

Our aims are to address this gap in knowledge and improve understanding of the nature and risk factors of GBV related to natural resource and climate-related conflict, locate community responses to GBV risks, and identify opportunities to strengthen Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) approaches by learning from community responses.

Our project will consolidate the evidence base and develop illustrative case studies in Colombia, Nigeria and the Philippines, which will provide learning from varied contexts and potential opportunities to adapt and apply UCP. The project will co-design an equitable and inclusive programme of research using visual and participatory action research methods that will establish new networks for UCP scaling and for GBV specialists with land, natural resource and climate conflict specialists. This will provide a basis for engagement, exchange and creation with academics, civil society, UCP advocates and practitioners and policy makers, to foster support for communities experiencing violence.

Team Members:

Dr Lora Forsythe (PI)
l.forsythe@gre.ac.uk
Associate Professor Gender, Inequalities and Food Systems
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, UK

Colombia

Javier Lautaro Medina Bernal (Co-I)
jmedina@cinep.org.co
Project Manager, member of the Technical Secretariat of the International Verification Component of the Peace Agreement, and coordinator of the National Engagement Strategy in Colombia with the International Land Coalition
Conflict, State and Peace Programme, Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular (CINEP)

Diana Lopez Castaneda (researcher)
Independent Consultant

Nigeria

Dr Aliyu Barau (Co-I)
Associate Professor Urban and Regional Planning
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano

Philippines

Timothy F. Salomon (Co-I)
Facilitator National Engagement Strategy in the Philippines for the International Land Coalition
Center for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (CARRD)

United Kingdom

Lilian Treasure (Researcher)
PhD Candidate and Vice Chancellor Scholar
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich

Dr Uche Okpara (Co-I)
Fellow in Climate Change and State Fragility
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich

Professor Tilman Brück (Co-I)
Visiting Professor of Food Security, State Fragility and Climate Change
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich


Development of civil protection capacities in women displaced by the armed conflict through popular communication and Community Legal Empowerment

Utilizing a qualitative research-action design, this project delved into the experiences in the field of unarmed civilian self-protection of a group of women who were displaced by armed conflict and now reside in contexts characterized by social and urban segregation. In these environments, they remain exposed to multiple forms of violence linked to fear-based political dynamics. The research explored the appropriation and implementation of innovative strategies, focusing on community advocacy and storytelling as active participation methods and testimonial resources for collective efforts aimed at promoting social cohesion as the foundation for peaceful community organization.

Research Team:

  • Luisa Maria Colonia, Masterpeace Cali, Colombia (principal investigator)
  • Gustavo Suárez, Universidad del Valle, Colombia (co-investigator)
  • Fundación Carvajal, Colombia (project partner)
  • Unicatólica, Colombia (project partner)
  • Humanos: Foro Iberoamericano de Periodistas en DDHH, Colombia (project partner)

Transmedia Booklet

This booklet has been prepared to communicate the key findings of the research. Through this research, Masterpeace Cali presents an innovative approach to peaceful protection strategies employed by displaced civilian populations in urban areas where violence persists and escalates despite ongoing state conflict resolution processes. Furthermore, by co-creating this booklet with the participating women, we aim to share their positive experiences related to the implementation of these strategies with other communities and grassroots organizations at the local, regional, national, and international levels. Our goal is to encourage the adaptation and replication of these strategies in other regions and communities affected by fear-based policies, thus fostering the exchange of best practices in the field of unarmed civil protection (UCP).

Further Information:

Website:

www.masterpeace-cali.org


Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta)

In the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta) of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) there are a 32 small Palestinian farmer and Bedouin communities living and working on land from which the Israeli state and settlers seek to expel them. To support the local resistance numerous actors (Palestinian, Israeli and international) have sought to protect the civilian population from the escalating acts of violence by settlers in which their crops, livestock, dwellings and lives have been targeted. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation concluded that the Israeli state has been using settler violence to cleanse the area of Palestinians.

This research seeks to analyse the history of the twenty or more years of attempts by civilian actors to support the local communities in their attempts to create safer spaces within which they can continue to maintain their livelihoods, hold on to their land and way of life. The case study is particularly significant because of the number and range of actors intervening, each with their own mode of operation and motivation. As such it presents a special opportunity to examine the challenges faced by those seeking to broaden the scale of civilian intervention in violent conflict situations as a basis for sustainable peace.

Project Team

Dr Marwan Darweish is the principal investigator (PI) of the project, with overall responsibility for the management, planning and delivery of the project.

Marwan Darweish has an unparalleled research background in the OPT and Israel. He has conducted many research projects and consultancies with Palestinian and Israeli NGOs and EU about conflict transformation and nonviolent resistance. As a Palestinian with Israeli and British citizenship his political involvements and his fluency in Arabic, Hebrew and English have enabled him to develop a close relationship with many Israeli solidarity and peace activists and with their Palestinian counterparts – a trust relationship that makes his research in this conflict zone so rich and textured.

Dr Andrew Rigby is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies with the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), of which he was the founding director.

He began researching and writing about unarmed civilian resistance in the OPT in the 1980s, and has continued his involvement over the ensuing four decades as a researcher, consultant and advocate of unarmed resistance to occupation.

Over the years he has developed a wide network of contacts amongst Israelis, Palestinians and representatives of international humanitarian aid and human rights agencies. He will draw on these contacts throughout the period of the proposed research project.

Dr Mahmoud Soliman is a Research Fellow at the CTPSR, based in the West Bank and closely associated with the Al-Shmoh Cultural Center, a small NGO in the OPT. Mahmoud is a highly regarded activist, community organiser and researcher. He will be ‘in the field’ for the majority of the research project, liaising with key informants, organising the field visits and taking a leading role in the dissemination of the findings of the research the follow up in-country activities. He will be the main contact with a Local Advisory Group (LAG) which will be established as part of the research process.

Research Outputs:

Mahmoud Soliman in a civilian protection gathering in the West Bank

South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta) during spring, Mustard seeds flowers

Internationals accompany children to school passing in front of army vehicle.

Palestinian activists protecting local community from settlers attack


Research Café: Writing a Successful Grant Application

The aim of the Creating Safer Space Café is to enable people in different parts of the world to exchange knowledge and to help build a community of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) researchers and practitioners.

This month, Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Prof. Beatriz Arias will lead a Panel Discussion on how to write a successful grant application. The Panel consists of researchers who successfully applied for Creating Safer Space research grants in our recent funding competition. Juan Mario Díaz and Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield, UK) will share their experiences of writing a successful Large Grant application on “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”. Astrid Torres Ramírez and Véronique Draily (Corporación Jurídica Libertad, Colombia), will share their experiences of writing a successful Small Grant application on “The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca”.

The Panel will be asked questions about how they developed their proposals, what challenges they faced, what advice they would give to others who apply for research grants, as well as questions from the audience. The Panel will also share their successful grant applications with the research café participants, to allow participants to learn more about what a successful grant application actually looks like.

12.30 – 1.30 pm UTC on Thursday 22 September
Please use a timezone converter to check your local time.

The session will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.

All welcome; please register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuce-orjgrG9LwrA8pSpwr6SBcynxY7irg

An important aspect of a successful grant application is to bring together a strong team and to develop an equitable partnership.
In February 2022, a group of Colombia- and Sheffield-based researchers and grassroots organisations in the region came to visit CENCOIC coffee warehouse in Popayan, Cauca. This was part of a three-day workshop, which led to the development of the project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.

Enhancing Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) in ASEAN

Creating Safer Space Co-Investigator Chantana Banpasirichote Wungaeo moderated a Panel on ‘Enhancing Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) in ASEAN’, as part of an international seminar on ‘Whither ASEAN in a Deeply Troubled World’. The seminar was held on 15-17 August 2022 at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and virtually on Zoom.

Panel members included Mark Tamthai (Peace Studies Program at Payap University, Chiang Mai), Ronnie Delsy (Director, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Asia) and Amara Pongsapich (ASEAN Human Rights Commission).

The three speakers on the panel represent UCP in research, peace building and policy-making in the ASEAN community. The picture of the region is quite varied from low intensity conflict in Thailand, normalization and peace building in Mindanao in the Philippines, to military authoritarianism in Myanmar. The panel discussed how UCP can clearly be integrated into the peacemaking process in Mindanao, while there are challenges involved in applying UCP in both low intensity conflicts like in Thailand, where vulnerability is rooted in structural violence, as well as in open armed conflict in Myanmar, where intervention is almost not feasible.

Mark Tamthai, Co-Investigator on the Creating Safer Space research project ‘Introducing Unarmed Civilian Protection in Thai Society’, raises a few observations: “1) What UCP type activities are effective depends on the kinds of protection needed in different countries. Protection from targeted violence, or racially based violence, creates particular challenges for direct immediate intervention. 2) What UCP activities can assist in the current protection needs of civilians in Myanmar are not clear. Myanmar civilians seem to need protection from many different groups. UCP in Myanmar seems to be a huge challenge in the current climate. 3) A UCP organization within the official ASEAN structure does not seem feasible at the moment due to its position on non-interference. To contribute to UCP protection programs might require an ASEAN support program for local UCP organizations in ASEAN countries.”