October 2008 Annual Grant Awards

In March 2009, the USIP Board of Directors approved the following grant awards:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

AGUILAR, JESUS COSAMALON, Pontificia Universidad Catolica Del Peru, Lima, Peru: Between 1980 and 2000, the Shining Path and MRTA sought to defeat the Peruvian state through the use of violence and terror. This bloody internal conflict led to the most serious crisis in Peru's history— undermining its democratic institutions, and leaving some 70,000 victims. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003 recognized the urgent need to promote a plural and inclusive conception of historical memory as an essential task toward reconciliation. The project will collect and analyze all Peruvian high school teaching materials related to recent conflicts. The project will then compare these teaching materials with personal testimonies about the conflict drawn from teachers and students who reside in different areas of Lima and are of different economic classes. The project seeks to illuminate different perspectives adopted at the high school level in the pedagogy of teaching history about the recent conflict in Peru. It also seeks to demonstrate the importance of schools as a key venue for the discussion and recognition of different views about violence that may lead to the building of a consensual memory. Finally, the project will inform and help guide educational reform in Peru by providing analysis on the subject of teaching and learning of recent conflict in the country. (USIP-161-08F) $53,257

ARBOLEDA, JAIRO A., Survivor Corps, Washington, DC: A large percentage of the Colombian population has been involved in or affected by ongoing armed conflict. Reconciliation between groups cannot be forced. Individuals from disparate groups—in this case, conflict survivors and ex-combatants—need the skills to overcome the enmity of the past and be willing to work together to reconcile and build peaceful communities. The project proposes the development of a program of training, practical experience, and psychosocial support in order to assist both conflict survivors and ex-combatants in recovering from their respective traumas, reintegrating back into society, and assisting others in their personal recovery and reintegration. Survivor Corps and its two partners will train survivors and ex-combatants to become peer support workers, who will provide psychosocial support to 200 victims and ex-combatants in one municipality in Colombia. The primary objective of the project is to help conflict survivors and ex-combatants to develop the mindset and the necessary skills to begin the process of rebuilding their community. In order to have a broader impact, the project will produce a documentary film about the work, a research study examining the implementation of the project, and a comprehensive methodology for post-trauma, reconciliation work. (USIP-226-08F) $90,000

ARNOLD-FERNANDEZ, EMILY, Asylum Access, San Francisco, CA: Widespread, routine and systemic violation of human rights affects not only refugees, but entire countries and regions. Left in limbo and denied fundamental human rights, refugees become a destabilizing element in host nations and a fertile recruiting ground for irregular armed groups, sometimes provoking civil war or the spread of conflict to neighboring countries. Refugee legal aid is one tool that can help turn refugees from a force for conflict to a force for peace. The project will establish the first Refugee Rights Leadership Training program that will educate, build capacity, and inspire the leaders of the global refugee legal aid movement. The initiative will develop, organize, and implement an intensive six-day training for the leaders of refugee legal aid projects, covering advanced policy advocacy and negotiation, coalition-building, training of emerging advocates, and project leadership skills tailored to the refugee rights context. The primary goal of the project is to build the capacity of refugee legal aid providers. Participants will hone their skills to effectively enhance the impact of their own projects and help strengthen the refugee rights awareness within their country or region. The resulting training materials will be made available to refugee rights organizations worldwide on-line and through the organization's "Office in a Box" training package. (USIP-172-08F) $29,500

ATEM, GEORGE, AFRICAphonie, Province, Cameroon: The Bakassi peninsula is a 1000 mile-long border between Cameroon and Nigeria that has been under dispute since 1994. Agreements made in 2006 continue to be implemented, but in spite of the official diplomacy and a significant military presence in the area, peace and security remain elusive. Violence, including low-level ethnic clashes, kidnappings, and other criminal violence is persistent in the area. The project seeks to complement official diplomacy efforts by initiating a series of Track II activities. It will consist of three public forums in different communities, followed by a three-day training workshop that will bring together 30 civil society leaders of various ethnic groups. The project's strategy is to have an interactive, participatory and inclusive pattern of dialogue and information sharing. A video documentary covering the forum and workshop will be developed and shown on Cameroon Television and distributed to policymakers and social gatherings in Bakassi. The primary objective of the project is to raise awareness among the Bakassi population on the values of peaceful co-existence and to complement Cameroon government action with citizen action in the areas of dialogue and reconciliation. Toward that end, the project will build upon the existing peacebuilding skills of the 30 civil society leaders in Bakassi. Through the training and the production of the "Bakassi Conflict Alert" the project will also improve the early warning and response capacity among community members. (USIP-002-08F) $45,093

BAYLIS, ELENA, Pittsburgh, PA: The international community deploys thousands of personnel to carry out its post-conflict justice programs. Who are these people and what is their role in shaping this international involvement? The project identifies a network of so-called "post-conflict justice junkies," international attorneys, human rights officers, and others, who move rapidly from one post-conflict justice posting to the next. This phenomenon has significant implications for the effectiveness of international interventions. The project evaluates the existence and structure of the "justice junkie" network and whether this phenomenon is produced in part by the nature of international interventions. It will assess what knowledge is necessary for international involvement to be effective, as well as how this knowledge is transferred and used in post-conflict settings. The study will engage in surveys and interviews with international post-conflict justice personnel, as well as using other data, to evaluate these questions across multiple institutional and post-conflict contexts. This study aims to introduce the issue of patterns of behavior and knowledge among international personnel as an important consideration in assessing the effectiveness of post-conflict justice interventions. It will develop and provide empirical information on this subject and will evaluate the policy implications of that information. The study will produce multiple books and reports, each aimed at a particular audience, including practitioners, policymakers, scholars, students, and the public. (USIP-169-08F) $70,225

BEYERLE, SHAAZKA, Washington, DC: Very little research has focused on the corruption-conflict nexus. Yet it is recognized that the cumulative effects of organized violence (from gangs, paramilitaries, or security forces), and the refusal or inability of authorities to furnish human security, create intolerable conditions for civilians. Violent insurgents use these issues to justify their actions, which in turn, sustain the cycle of violence. In these circumstances, corruption can be an enabler of violent groups and can contribute to igniting violent conflict among the disaffected. The project will research and analyze the uses of nonviolent strategies and civic action over the past 25 years to curb corruption. It will distill "lessons learned" and provide policy recommendations of relevance that prove applicable to both the peacebuilding and anti-corruption communities. The fundamental objective of the project is to empower those negatively affected by the conflict-corruption nexus to become a force for positive change in their societies. Toward this end, the project seeks to provide both the peacebuilding and anti-corruption communities with new and effective approaches about applications of civil resistance to fight corruption. It will do so through publication of a book, the development of the educational curriculum, and systematic outreach campaign. (USIP-204-08F) $35,000

CRONIN, RICHARD P., Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington, DC: The uncoordinated rush by China and its five Southeast Asian neighbors to tap the hydroelectric potential of the Mekong River Basin has the potential to produce an environmental and human security catastrophe and conflict among countries in the Basin. Especially at risk are ecologically fragile downstream areas of the lower Mekong, most notably Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Great Lake, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, and the over 70 million people who rely on traditional uses of the river’s water and fish for their livelihoods. This project will develop a video tool that utilizes existing open-source and publicly available scientific data. The resulting video will illustrate the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of hydropower development on the Mekong River. A companion monograph will evaluate the particular situation of water management and development in the Mekong Basin and provide to policymakers and practitioners in the region recommendations that promote cooperative, equitable, and sustainable development policies and sensible transboundary water management. Tapping the organization's extensive contacts and networks in countries of the Mekong River Basin, the initiative will convey complex scientific information in an accessible manner and disseminate the resulting monograph and video among local, regional, and international policymakers and non-governmental organizations addressing development, resource issues, and the environment. (USIP-217-08F) $80,000

FUJII, LEE ANN, George Washington University, Washington, DC: Popular participation in violence has played a key role in several cases of neighbor-level violence, including the ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, the genocide during the Rwandan civil war of 1990-94, and the lynchings of blacks in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. The scale of the killings and the form and extent of participation varied across the three cases, but in each case local civilians played an active role in brutal violence against their own neighbors. Employing a comparative case study method and applying a micro-level approach, this project examines why ordinary people commit violence and atrocities against neighbors. In the Rwandan and Bosnia cases, for which USIP funds are requested, data will be collected through intensive interviews with people who lived through, participated in, or defied the violence by trying to save people rather than kill them. Analysis will focus on the communicative and symbolic meaning behind specific acts of violence that people committed to understand motivation, processes, and mechanisms. The project will culminate in a book intended for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Research findings will offer recommendations for stopping, stemming, and rebuilding after violence in areas outside capital cities where local dynamics not only shape how violence unfolds but also how and whether rebuilding can begin and peace can take hold. (USIP-197-08F) $105,000

GARBER, RANDI, JDC-Israel, Jerusalem, Israel: The emergency environment created by the regional conflict is leaving a generation of Palestinian and Israeli youth exposed to ongoing trauma, and its consequences. Youth in both societies need projects that can help them to build resilience and limit the effects of traumatic symptoms, which can negatively influence daily function and psychological development. The proposed cooperative Palestinian-Israeli project will train community-based professionals in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a treatment proven effective in reducing the physical and emotional symptoms of trauma. Three courses (two Palestinian, one Israeli) will be conducted, as well as a "train the trainers" activity for Palestinian professionals, which will expand the capacity to address the needs of youth at risk. Joint meetings of the Palestinian and Israeli participants will also be conducted. The primary objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity to heal youth suffering from conflict-related trauma. The project also seeks to build sensitivity among mental health professionals to the trauma experienced on both sides of the conflict as well as build mutual understanding through the joint meetings. A training curriculum and course manual based on work done in the project will be developed in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic, and English. (USIP-081-08F) $100,000

GREGORIAN, HRACH AND LARA OLSON, Institute of World Affairs, Arlington, VA: The change in international peace operations throughout the 1990s led to a broadening, deepening, and lengthening of the nature of international engagement in states emerging from conflict. Given the complexity of the enterprise and the mixed results to date, the question of how different parts of the UN system and other key actors can best coordinate their work on conflict and peacebuilding has become a major concern. The Effective Interagency Relations in Peacebuilding Project (EIRPP) is focused on a long-standing problem in international affairs, namely how to build sustainable peace in countries emerging from war. The project will devise conceptual models from fields including systems and network analysis, organizational management, and multi-stakeholder negotiation to understand how organizations work together within complex peacebuilding initiatives. Using four case studies, the project will analyze findings and develop new frameworks for understanding effective coordination. The research goal is to conduct field-based case studies informed by new conceptual models to diagnose what is working, what is not, and why. The study will focus on the relationships between key agencies with diverse peacebuilding mandates in Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, and Afghanistan. The applied goal is to use this evidence and resulting practitioner networks to devise responsive operational tools, trainings, and policies that will support effective interagency coordination and therefore better peacebuilding outcomes. (USIP-117-08F) $60,000

GROSMAN, CAROL L., Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have very limited contact and few opportunities for constructive dialogue. Storytelling opens a backdoor for individuals from these communities in conflict to reengage with the "other's" personal experience and connection to Jerusalem, a city sacred to both peoples and a core issue in the dispute. Based on an innovative and successful storytelling performance program and photo exhibit in East and West Jerusalem, the initiative will broaden its outreach by producing a film that presents the people of Jerusalem and their personal stories. Combining performance, documentary interviews, and portrait photography, the film will be produced in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. The project will also develop and publish a companion facilitation manual, presenting ways to create programs accompanying the film and a lessons learned storytelling guide for conflict resolution practitioners. The project objectives are to break down barriers between, and stereotypes of, Palestinians and Israelis, promote mutual awareness and understanding, and encourage reconciliation. The film will be distributed among local Israeli and Palestinian, regional and international media outlets and will be screened at Israeli and Palestinian community centers, religious institutions, cultural venues and educational programs. The facilitation manual and storytelling guide will be disseminated among conflict resolution practitioners. (USIP-237-08F) $115,000

MURALIDHARAN, SUKUMAR, International Federation of Journalists, Gurgaon, India: The media in South Asia operate in an exceptionally difficult context. In 2008, more journalists were killed in Asia than in any other world region. In often hostile environments that can constrain media reporting, there is a pressing need to develop strategies for ensuring that media and media professionals retain their independence while continuing to be credible players in strengthening democratic processes and peacebuilding efforts. Building on the organization's previous work through its South Asia Media Solidarity Network, the project will investigate the actions undertaken by journalists' organizations in dealing with situations of crisis and conflict. Data will be collected from journalist networks in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, permitting the PD to assess the organized actions taken to address situations of conflict at various levels and distill a set of lessons learned, best practices, and useful strategies for more effective media engagement in conflict mitigation and peacebuilding. The project will deepen awareness of the impact of media on wider realities of social conflict and harmony, create stronger channels of communication among journalists’ organizations in South Asia amid challenges to media freedom in conflict-prone societies, and sharpen the regional focus on the role of the media and its capacity for peace-building. The resulting strategy handbook will be disseminated among media networks throughout the region and on-line for use by media in the region and in conflict settings elsewhere. (USIP-145-08F) $59,280

REISS, MITCHELL B., College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA: All governments initially declare that they will not negotiate with terrorists or insurgents, only to backtrack later and selectively engage with some of them. But because this behavior occurs in the shadows, few protocols and little analysis of prior practices exist in the open literature to help guide thought or action. Consequently, governments have had to reinvent the policy wheel each time. The result has often been missed opportunities and grievous policy errors (e.g., Iran-Contra). This project examines how the British and Irish governments determined whether the IRA was willing and able to put aside violence and pursue a political path forward, and how they then pursued that goal. Drawing upon the PD's personal and professional contacts in the UK and Ireland, former officials, go-betweens and IRA members, through interviews and a small workshop, will explain their calculations, the risks they ran, the setbacks they endured, and the lessons they learned. The project will illuminate how a terrorist organization was methodically persuaded to abandon violence. Armed struggle against the state rarely ends peacefully. Northern Ireland is the exception. Understanding what the British and Irish did well and poorly in their negotiations with the IRA has important implications for helping policy-makers determine whether to engage with terrorists and insurgents in the future and, if so, how best to conduct these sensitive negotiations. Currently, there is no guide to which practitioners can turn to address these issues. This project will provide one, and ensure its wide dissemination. (USIP-191-08F) $53,626

SADAT, LEILA, Washington University, St. Louis, MO: Since the indictment and judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, there has been no specialized convention on "Crimes Against Humanity." This has left millions of atrocity victims largely outside the protection of international criminal law. Indeed, with the exception of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, there has been no focused attention on developing an international criminal law treaty for the prosecution of crimes against humanity. This initiative is intended to fill that gap. This research and conference program will analyze and produce a draft specialized convention on crimes against humanity. Building on the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court and engaging international scholars, practitioners, and representatives from courts and non-governmental organizations, the project will explore the scope of crimes against humanity and examine the need for and parameters of a specialized convention on crimes against humanity. The project will result in an edited volume, including chapters written by leading specialists, a draft specialized Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, and commentary on the treaty. The study will be disseminated among relevant UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, governments, and the international law community. (USIP-084-08F) $73,429

SAUNDERS, PAUL J., The Nixon Center, Washington, DC: The August 2008 Russian-Georgian war illustrates both the danger of enduring violent conflicts in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and their potential to escalate tensions between the United States and Russia. The project will conduct a Track II dialogue between the U.S. and Russia to discuss differences with regards to the former Soviet Unioin and existing and potential conflicts there. The dialogue will be held over the course of several meetings, in both Washington and Moscow, with approximately 15 to 20 participants, including former officials, legislators, experts, and opinion leaders. Select participants will prepare commissioned discussion papers; these papers will later be published as an edited volume together with essays and policy recommendations developed by the project staff. The project seeks to improve U.S. and Russia dialogue and to increase American and Russian mutual understanding and confidence in order to prevent existing conflicts in the former Soviet Union from becoming violent, and to prevent local conflicts from deepening U.S.-Russian tensions. (USIP-216-08F) $95,000

SCHARF, MICHAEL, Public International Law and Policy Group, Arlington, VA: The Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are nearing the conclusion of a peace process. A key element of the process is the provision of mechanisms for truth-telling and reconciliation. To date, the Ugandan government has had substantial difficulty designing effective transitional justice processes and is in need of legal assistance to facilitate the development of these mechanisms that are key to the promotion of long term peace and stability in Uganda. In an effort to provide Ugandan officials with legal assistance to establish mechanisms for truth and reconciliation, the project will prepare a series of comparative legal memoranda that reviews elements of these mechanisms, combining lessons-learned, international best practices, and case studies. The initiative will also conduct workshops and legal consultations to assist policymakers and key stakeholders with analyzing and adapting best practices and lessons learned from transitional justice programs in similarly situated countries. The project will facilitate and enhance the ability of Ugandan government officials to draft comprehensive transitional justice plans that include processes for truth-telling and reconciliation and to build their capacity to draft implementing legislation that supports the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms. The project will also enhance the Ugandan government’s ability to design a national strategy for disseminating information regarding the creation and implementation of transitional justice mechanisms. (USIP-207-08F) $51,471

SHALHOUB-KEVORKIAN, NADERA and DAPHNA GOLAN, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Israel: Although universities in Israel are among the very few places in the country where Arabs and Jews come together on a daily basis, such opportunities are rarely capitalized on, leaving Palestinian students feeling detached and alienated. As relations between Israeli Jews and Palestinians continue to deteriorate, it is imperative to assess and refine innovative ways in which the two groups can interact meaningfully on campuses to promote peace and a shared society. Undertaken by a Jewish-Palestinian research team, this study will examine and analyze 13 community engaged ("service learning") courses in universities across Israel—courses that incorporate academic learning with social activism in the community. Through interviews, in-course observation, surveys, and focus groups, the study will assess the impact of the courses on the attitudes and behaviors of participants and explore the utility of the community engaged courses as a new form of intergroup dialogue. The study aims to improve theoretical understanding of how civic engagement affects intergroup attitudes in conflict-ridden societies, design peacebuilding tools for educators in Israel and beyond, and inform and encourage higher education policies that promote peace and a shared society through civic engagement. It will result in several academic articles on service-learning as a vehicle for peacebuilding and a manual for practitioners on service learning to promote intergroup dialogue, peace, and reconciliation. (USIP-091-08F) $75,000

ZAREMBKA, DAVID, Friends Peace Teams/African Great Lakes Initiative, Kipkarren River, Kenya: The upcoming Burundian elections in 2010 will be a critical test of the state of social and political relations in Burundi. It also will determine whether the fledging peace process can be consolidated or whether progress achieved to date simply dissolves. In order for elections to help create stable governance, citizens need to be involved in observing the entire election process, from monitoring ethnic-based political appeals, to vote-counting, to media content, and to the use of police power. In an effort to contribute to the success of the upcoming Burundi election, the project will train 25 facilitators to conduct violence prevention workshops in their respective communities. A five-day conference will explore the election violence in Kenya and introduce Democracy and Peace Groups in Burundi. In addition, the project will conduct 36 basic violence prevention workshops for 720 participants and establish nine Democracy and Peace Groups from the workshop participants. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to a successful election in Burundi. More specifically, the project seeks to increase interaction and improve relations between ethnic groups; increase individuals' sense of security; decrease levels of election-related violence; and create grassroots structures to strengthen democracy and good governance. To disseminate the results more broadly, the project will produce a report that will be a practical guide to preventing election violence. (USIP-160-08F) $46,725