Peace Bridge’s vision for lasting impacts is to gradually reach into the intra-personal, inter-personal and organisational domains of peace builders who will model and envision non-violent conflict transformation practices. Through mobilising peace builders in their circles of influence, peace builders will spread impacts to families, communities, churches and governing bodies in the wider society.
According to external evaluator Patty Curran: “With regards to Sustainability, there is every indication that the transformation taking place in individuals who have participated in the course, subsequent trainings and mobilization efforts will last long after Peace Bridges has shut its doors.”
The nature of this transformation is described as “a distinct improvement in the quality of personal and professional relationships of those who have participated in Peace Bridges’ programs. Pastors report no longer seeing themselves as needing to know all the answers, counsellors who are more patient and less judgmental, and Peace Builders growing as reputable “go-tos” for help in conflict resolution.” This is confirmed in over 40 stories of significant change collected by the external evaluator.
The report confirms that the following strategies of Peace Bridges that will be further refined and maintained in order to enhance sustainability and impacts:
1. The selection of trainees to be peace builders in collaboration with partners who wish to mobilise peace builders in their settingsFurthermore, Peace Bridges agrees that the following recommendations from the recent evaluation will further enhance sustainable impacts and plans to develop them into our proposed three year strategy:
2. Alumni ‘Practice Days’ and Peace Builders Alliance for debriefing and reminder of key insights gleaned together and re-connecting with others who share the desire and frustrations of trying to work toward peace.
3. Efforts to collaborate with peace builders and their partners to develop peace initiatives in their circles of influence including the Equity Fund to support economically disadvantaged groups.
4. The approach taken by staff of engaging in mobilisation activities geared towards helping the peace builders build confidence and the ability to manage such activities on their own.
5. Supporting the development of and training for ‘community peace builders’, meaning those who become motivated for peace building activities as a result of the inputs of peace builders trained and mobilised by Peace Bridges.
1. That the Peace Bridges team continue to reflect on how best to be proactive with graduates who don’t seek out their support so that they can continue to be motivated despite the myriad of obstacles.
2. That Peace Bridges step up efforts to prompt the maximising of potential of graduates of long-term training through discussions related to job descriptions, performance appraisals, “training mentors”, and the pooling of peace building resources among partner organisations.
3. That Peace Bridges provide graduates with opportunities to observe mobilisation, simplified tools for graduates to use, and access to case studies in which tools shared are used successfully by graduates and others doing conflict counselling and mediation.
4. That Peace Bridge explore the possibility of providing “advanced” courses or “follow-on” workshops for peace builders who need more technical skills in mediation than the majority of participants who, at this point, seem to require simply a general overview.
5. That the insights that come from the Family Violence Research, evolve into practical ways to enhance the skills of Peace Bridges course participants and leaves them better equipped to address conflict in their communities.
6. That Peace Bridges continue to strengthen the ways in which they go about measuring change using practical indicators and stories of change and encourage graduates and partners to do the same.
7. That Peace Bridges continue to encourage “buy-in” from local churches and consider formal exchanges with growing and influential new missionary organisations.
8. That Peace Bridges look at the pool of Peace Builders who have been particularly successful in the course and seek out individuals in similar positions and invite them and their organisations to consider the value of participation in the courses.
9. That Peace Bridges track more closely the efforts of Peace Builders successfully engaged in mobilisation and reflect with them the best way forward in terms of discreet, practical support.
10. That Peace Bridges encourage graduates and their organisations to form their own links beyond those which Peace Bridges provides. This could be done geographically or sectorially (i.e. organisations with similar mandates or churches with similar demographics).
Furthermore as Peace Bridges impacts and reputation grows it is envisaged that closer links to partner organisations will lead to changes in policy of these organisations that reflects the values of non-violent peace building. This might include consultancies that support organisation to reflect on their practices and policies.
