Inclusive
Communications and Relationship Building
USAID is filming a teledrama highlighting ethnic conflict
and reconciliation.
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After a 20 year civil war and 65,000 causalities,
Sri Lankans are seeking permanent peace between their
government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE). In an effort to obtain a peaceful settlement
to the country’s civil conflict, USAID seeks to
mobilize constituents for peace and link them to leaders
through a process of inclusion. USAID’s Sri Lanka
Peace Support Project builds capacity for multi-stakeholder
participation from the grassroots to the policy-making
level.
The project, supported by the USAID Mission in Sri
Lanka and USAID’s Office of Conflict Management
and Mitigation, has employed several state-of-the-art
practices to accomplish its primary goal of communication
among political parties, national civil society, and
grassroots communities. Unlike other peace support programs
that have left out key parties to the process, USAID’s
approach has allowed these players to communicate and
develop relationships among one another and across groups.
Some of the innovative ways this has been accomplished
include: 1) the use of Knowledge Attitude and Practice
(KAP) surveys which identify the needs and concerns
of Sri Lankans with respect to the peace process; 2)
the production of a teledrama series that highlights
and personalizes the ethnic conflict and reconciliation;
3) the use of information technology to improve communication
and collaboration among stakeholders; 4) the development
of People’s Forums to spark an inclusive peace
movement and 5) the application of a “One-Text
process” to bring political representatives together
to explore and develop initiatives for peace.
This multiple tier approach, focusing on capacity building,
technical assistance and community-level dialogue and
reconciliation, has surpassed expectations. A Muslim
Peace Secretariat was formed under coalitions built
by the “One Text process.” The People’s
Forums are being used as a basis for cooperation among
ethnic groups in post tsunami recovery. Most importantly,
USAID is transferring these approaches to enable peace
support programs in Nepal and Kosovo to meet similar
ends.
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