The broader conflict context in Cambodia undergirds Peace Bridge’s belief that sustainable peace and development in Cambodia requires changes to systems of domination and violence within families, religious institutions, communities and larger systems of governance. This requires transformation of a critical mass of people within various systems to a vision, values, knowledge and skills of non– violent peace making practices.
Rather than a single community of focus, Peace Bridges seeks to seed, nurture and mature individuals to a vision of peace practice that will lead to impacts within the communities to which they belong. [1] We name these individuals peace builders and the various communities they belong to as circles of influence. The circles of influence usually begin with their immediate family, yet can extend to workplace, church, temples, provinces and nation.
Our vision is to gradually reach into the following domains through peace builders and their circles of influence:
i) The intra-personal, through training that reflects on peace builders’
experiences and enables them to unearth Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Habits
(KASH) that require change to more healthy ways of managing conflicts they rub
up against.
ii) Inter-personal, through partnering with peace builders during and
after trainings to consider ways they can express new approaches to building
peace towards and in those around them. It is anticipated that the people
closest to peace builders should be the first to notice changes and that this
will in turn lead to changes in spouses, children, neighbours and work
colleagues.
iii) Organisational, through partnering with peace builders and their
organisations, before, during and after trainings. It is anticipated that
churches, denominations, and development organisations will be impacted by peace
builders as we support them to offer constructive ways of seeking to build the
changes they have experienced into others in their organisation and the
practices of the organisation.
iv) Wider Domains in Cambodian Society, through organisations
mobilising peace builders and other colleagues to develop specific programs to
spread the vision and values Peace Bridges has supported to other domains, then
also encouraging these organisations to support those changed in the domains
they seek to reach.
Peace Bridge’s concern is to use our resources in the most strategic way to impact the widest number of peoples and systems as possible. Our noted connection to Christian groups and their spread throughout the country is the reason we choose Christian organisations as our foundational focus. Building on our strong connections with the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia and other Christian councils we aim to spread our impacts.
Specifically defining the problems and opportunities presented within these various systems requires generalisations as we encourage each peace builder to make their own analysis and specific peace practices within their circles of influence. The following generalisations of the problem and opportunities builds upon the psycho-social picture of Cambodia’s conflict context noted above and are part of the fabric of change Peace Bridges is seeking to engender:
Peace Bridges continues to work collaboratively and cooperatively with many local community groups in developing this vision and this specific proposal. In particular our work focuses on collaborating with peace builders and the organisations they work for. For instance, peace builders from ‘Sunrise’ in Cham province and Peace Bridges staff work together on a strategic plan for this province. So too, peace builders from the Methodist Bible School work to develop plans for mainstreaming Peace Bridges lessons into curriculum for students and their alumni, people already involved in various church and community leadership positions. The Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia’s Women’s Commission and Peace Bridges collaborated in making plans for 10 week long interfaith appreciation trainings in five provinces. Planning has been informed by information gleaned from a range of focus groups held with communities and partners, as well analysing stories of significant change.1. Violent responses to conflict are common in families, communities and various institutions throughout Cambodia. Peace Bridge’s definition of violence is not limited to physical actions, but includes all occasions where power is employed by another as a force to block needs and legitimate interests of others, both through withdrawal of resources as well as coercion.
There is opportunity to support peace builders to reflect on their own experiences of violence to help them form alternatives to violent behaviours (See stories of significant change (SSC), 8 and 36.)
2. Power is generally conceived as ‘power over’, employed by those higher up in hierarchies towards people lower than them to ensure obedience and respect.There is opportunity to support people higher up in hierarchical settings, to restructure their understanding of good leadership and ways of using power within and alongside to empower others. (See SSC 1 and 3)
3. Systems of patronage lead to patronising approaches from caregivers- be they pastors, development workers, counsellors or conciliators. Generally this is expressed as advice giving and making assumptions about what a person needs based upon ones being in a more powerful position and therefore knowing what is required, rather than seeking to understand a person’s situation. Pity (which includes an element of looking down on another) is far more common than empathy (which includes deeper appreciation of the identity and perceptions of a person.)
There is opportunity to create awareness of identity and how it impacts perception as well as to build new attitudes of empathetic listening that can significantly impact the way caregivers and conciliators go about communicating and seeking to assist
others. (See SSC 9, 17, 19, and 20).
4. There are not many effective forums for resolving community conflicts at the community level. Reasons for this include mindsets of passivity, fear of taking
initiative and subservience that undermines people’s confidence in their ability and other people’s ability to take look at creative, yet fair solutions to differences. A lack of impartiality on the part of mediators and conciliators is also common as a result of bribes and political associations that significantly influence outcomes.
There is opportunity to equip peace builders to conciliate and mediate disputes when appropriate) [2] so that the underlying needs and interests of stakeholders is considered in solutions that lead to fairer outcomes than other processes available. (See SSC 2, 18, 13, 32, and 33).
5. Suppression of traumatic events often leads to an inability to consider past actions or acknowledge feelings. This can result in bottling up of emotion that ends in explosive violence or crushing depression and withdrawal.
There is opportunity to promote simple methods which allow people to process emotions and consider their relationship to thinking, through cognitive therapies and use of meditation, spirituality and listening for emotions (See SSC 9, 16, 17, 30).
6. Cambodia’s violent past has led many to disconnection from relational associations that build a strong moral framework for effective management of conflict.There is opportunity to reconnect peace builders to strong moral narratives within their own traditions as Christians or Buddhists as well as within wider cultural stories (See SSC 10 and 24).
NOTES:
[1] It is accepted that there are various entry points for engagement including beginning with wider structural injustices confronting Cambodia via advocacy and collation building. Peace Bridges supports these efforts yet chooses the entry point in formation of peace practices within individuals, based upon a vision for just peace that should lead to changes in the way a person relates to their closest neighbour, usually their family, yet extends to their vision for peace in their village, churches, temple, province and nation.
[2] This does not deny the need to be aware of the limitations of conciliation and mediation and the place of other conflict processes like arbitration, advocacy and coalition building. See discussion on project affected persons pg. 10.
