The Creating Safer Space network has recently held a funding competition, and we have awarded funding to 13 research projects that will further our understanding of unarmed civilian protection and self-protection amidst violent conflict.
Projects will focus on the core countries of the Creating Safer Space network – Colombia, South Sudan, Myanmar and the Philippines – and we are also pleased to support projects in Cameroon, Palestine and Nigeria.
Four of the successful projects are led by organisations in the Global South. The remaining are led by UK universities, but all include co-investigators and/or project partners from the Global South.
The Creating Safer Space funding panel was impressed with the high quality of the applications. We received 59 applications in total, of which 50 projects met the basic eligibility criteria. We sincerely regret that we are not able to fund all high quality projects.
More information about the new research projects will be available on our Projects page in due course.
Research Café: Strategies for Community Protection and dealing with Election Violence
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, Mr Thiago Wolfer (Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan) and Prof. Rachel Julian (Leeds Beckett University) will discuss how UCP approaches that have been used to prevent violence in South Sudan could be adapted and implemented in dealing with election violence, looking at Kenya in particular and how it applies to other areas.
While focused on Kenya and South Sudan, this café will also be very relevant to any researchers or practitioners elsewhere in the world, who would like to know more about how UCP can be implemented in different conflict situations.
Once you have registered for the event, you will receive an email with Zoom joining details.
New Training Course on UCP
The Creating Safer Space research network invites Expressions of Interest to participate in a 10-week training course on “Strengthening Civilian Capacities to Protect Civilians”.
This course is an introduction to the objectives, principles, sources of guidance, and methods of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP). The course is led by Dr Ellen Furnari and Dr Thor Wagstrom, and is based on course content developed by our partner organisation Nonviolent Peaceforce. There are no course fees, and course material will be provided for free.
The course dates are 26 March – 4 June 2022. The course will require about 8-10 hours per week to read, participate and complete assignments. Participants complete all activities online through modules that are accessed through the course website. While there are no scheduled meetings for this course, participants are invited to meet the course facilitators and each other during an informal kick-off Zoom meeting on Saturday 26 March. Additional informal meetings are likely to be arranged during the course, but attendance will not be required.
Eligibility Researchers, Masters/PhD students and relevant practitioners are invited to submit an Expression of Interest to participate in this course. Anyone is welcome to apply, but places are limited. Priority will be given to those candidates who are most likely to benefit from the course, with priority to candidates from the UK and from the Global South. We especially encourage applicants for our research grants to apply.
How to apply Please submit an Expression of Interest of no more than 100 words to creating-safer-space@aber.ac.uk, with an explanation of your interest in the course and how it would benefit you in your work or studies.
More information about the content of the course is available on here.
Research Café: Using Textiles as a Research Method
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. Beatriz Arias (University of Antioquia) will provide an introduction to using textiles (embroidering, sewing, and other needlework) as a participatory and creative research method, and will explore the benefits of using this method for research on Unarmed Civilian Protection.
12.30 – 2.00 pm UTC on Thursday 17 March
The session will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.
Agnieszka Ziatek-Tith supports the Creating Safer Space network with monitoring costs, advising on financial matters, and processing payments to partners and commissioned projects around the world. She will gladly answer all your questions about these subjects.
Research Cafés on Creative Research Methods
The Creating Safer Space network has organised two Research Cafés to inform researchers about creative research methods, and the benefits of such methods for research on Unarmed Civilian Protection.
Using Textiles as a Research Method
On Thursday 17 March 2022, Prof. Beatriz Arias provided an an introduction to using textiles (embroidering, sewing, and other needlework) as a participatory and creative research method.
Using Drawing as a Research Method
On Thursday 17 February 2022, Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara provided an introduction to ‘Drawing Out’ as a participatory and creative research method.
New work package: Nonviolent Artivism Against Police Brutality in Kenya
The Creating Safer Space network is pleased to announce a new work package on the following topic:
Nonviolent Artivism Against Police Brutality in Kenya
The work package is led by Martha Okumu (Peace Tree Network) in collaboration with Elias Opongo (Hekima University College).
A mural of police brutality in Kibra’s Kamukunji grounds by Detail Seve on June 4, 2020. Image: MERCY MUMO
Nonviolent Artivism Against Police Brutality in Kenya
A mural of police brutality in Kibra’s Kamukunji grounds by Detail Seve on June 4, 2020. Image: MERCY MUMO
This research explored youth and civil society nonviolent artivism against police brutality in two Kenyan locations: Nairobi and Kisumu. “Nonviolent artivism” here includes the use of wall paintings and pictures (murals, graffiti, and visual art), spoken word, poetry and music, when they are used as unarmed civilian protection strategies.
Over the years, there have been advocacy initiatives and public demonstrations against police brutality. The demonstrations have often been met with brutal force from the police, sometimes leading to deaths of civilians. For example, in 2020 there were 109 demonstrations and protests on diverse social issues of concern. The demonstrations were in compliance with the law of the constitution which gives citizens the right to self-expression and peaceful public demonstrations. Despite this, there were 9 deaths that were directly attributed to excess use of force by the police and 113 unlawful arrests.
Many civil rights groups have realized that direct physical demonstrations against the police often have a negative impact and bear a high risk of police brutality. As an alternative, artivism was adapted as a strategy for unarmed civilian protection against brutality. This research has taken a special interest in studying artivistic strategies applied by both the youth and civil society organizations and exploring the extent to which these strategies have succeeded in reducing incidences of police brutality.
RESEARCH TEAM
Martha Okumu, Peace Tree Network (principal investigator)
Elias Opongo, Hekima University College
PROJECT OUTPUTS
Shadow to Strength: Exhibition, performances, and discussions
In December 2024, the project team organised the exhibition and event “Shadow to Strength: Resilience in the Face of Adversity” in Nairobi’s Kenya National Theatre.
This documentary captures highlights of the event as well as reflections of its organisers and participants.
There is also a series of short videos capturing some of the artistic highlights from the exhibition and performances.
The event also featured a panel discussion on artivism against police brutality in Kenya, which you can listen to in this video.
Song/Poem: When a young blood bleeds
This song/poem was written by Spontaneous the Poet, and recorded as part of this project. Spontaneous the Poet says, “This piece was written in remembrance of people who’ve lost their relatives from extra judicial killings. It is actually based on a true story and I’m so grateful that they took part in the shooting of the video.”
Images of artwork
This project has produced images of artwork related to police brutality in Kenya. Some of these have been shown as part of the Creating Safer Space exhibition, which has toured around the world and is also available to view online as a virtual 360° Exhibition.
These murals were made by a local community-based organisation that works on defending human rights in Kisumu, in order to create awareness on having a peaceful election before, during and after general elections in 2022. For more images, see the Creating Safer Space virtual 360° Exhibition.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
In carrying out this research, we undertook the following activities:
Key informant interviews: A total of 56 respondents were interviewed. These respondents were youth and women community leaders, artists, victims and survivors of police brutality, CSO members, Police Officers and Judiciary Staff.
Focus group discussions (FGDs): We conduced 3 FGDs with two being held in Nairobi and one in Kisumu. A total of 36 respondents took part in these discussions.
Validation workshop: Our final research activity was the validation workshop, which was held in Nairobi. We presented the research findings for validation to 14 research respondents from Nairobi and Kisumu.
From our research analysis, we found that respondents had experienced some form of police brutality at a personal level or through family members. The major forms of police brutality experienced included:
Excessive use of force by the police while undertaking their duties;
Extra judicial killings by the police especially in low-income areas;
Arbitrary arrest;
Torture;
Excessive use of teargas;
Beating of civilians;
Shooting of civilians;
Some respondents had experienced all of the above.
Role of artists in addressing police brutality in Kenya:
By employing their creative abilities to spread awareness, spark debate, and promote change, artists significantly contributed to the effort to combat police brutality in Kenya. Our research sought to understand the techniques employed by Kenyan artists to help raise awareness of cases of police brutality, and to promote change by addressing incidences of police misconduct.
The respondents identified four major roles that artists play to help address police brutality in Kenya, namely:
They act as a mirror to the society;
They create awareness on issues of police brutality;
They show solidarity to the victims of police brutality;
They shape knowledge on how to deal with cases of police brutality.
Successful artivism strategies used to address police brutality:
Poems/spoken word
Music
Plays
Graffiti
Cartoons
It is important to note that the success of the above strategies varied depending on the location of the research.
Research Café: Using Drawing as a Research Method
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 (Aberystwyth University, UK) and Prof. Rachel Julian (Leeds Beckett University, UK) will provide an introduction to ‘Drawing Out’ as a participatory and creative research method, and will explore the benefits of using this method for research on Unarmed Civilian Protection.
12.30 – 2.00 pm UTC on Thursday 17 February
The session will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.
The Creating Safer Space network invites applications for research grants. We aim to fund 15-20 research projects to understand and support unarmed civilian protection and self-protection amidst violent conflict. Grants range from £20,000 – £100,000 GBP.
Potential applicants are warmly invited to one of our information sessions in English or Spanish.
English:
10.00 – 11.00 am UTC on Tuesday 1 February
8.00 – 9.00 am UTC on Wednesday 2 March
Spanish:
3.00 – 4.00 pm UTC on Tuesday 1 February (this is 10.00 – 11.00 am in Colombia)
Please contact creating-safer-space@aber.ac.uk for the Zoom joining details. More information about our funding opportunities are available on our website.
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