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Final Evaluation: Democracy and Development in Action Through Media and Empowerment (DAME), 2012-2014

Welmoed E. Koekebakker

Search for Common Ground (2015), vii, 57 pp.

"1. The DAME project has contributed to its overall objective of ‘strengthening the democratization process in Timor-Leste’ and to its specific objective of ‘enhanced engagement between NSAs, State authorities and their constituencies’ in the development process. 2. Most effective were the a ... more

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Community Information Flows to Reduce Inter-Communal Violence in Burma

Emily Speers Mears et al.

Search for Common Ground (2015), 71 pp.

"The research presented in this report aims to contribute towards a better understanding of the way in which rumors, hate speech, and manipulated information contribute to inter-communal conflict and outbreaks of inter-communal violence in Myanmar. It focuses on Muslim-Buddhist inter-communal confli ... ct in one urban and one peri-urban area: Lashio, the largest town in Shan state, and Amarapura, a former capital on the outskirts of Mandalay [...] People in Lashio and Amarapura draw upon a wide range of sources for information and news. They mainly obtain information by word of mouth from friends, colleagues, people who travel for their work, and figures of authority. They share this information by phone and online messaging services, and in markets, teashops and pagodas, as well as other places where people gather such as bus stations. Certain individuals in the community are regarded as trustworthy sources of information including religious leaders, teachers, bosses, government officials, and community leaders. Many people also have access to news applications on Facebook, and/or read journals and newspapers, listen to the radio, and watch TV in order to find out about news that affects them. People report a high level of skepticism about the news that they hear, particularly from sources like Facebook and government newspapers. They analyze not only the information itself but also the source of that information, and check whether it is accurate with people who live in the affected area, or by going to see for themselves. Family members or trusted community members are also consulted to verify or analyze news and information. Respondents also claim to try to verify information by checking different news sources. The more they can cross-reference, the more confident they are that the information is accurate. [...] The causes of inter-religious inter-communal conflict in Myanmar are not well understood. There is a long history of Muslim settlement in Myanmar, and of peaceful relations between Muslims and Buddhists. This changed with the arrival of the British, whose colonial policies brought an influx of Indians, including Muslims, to Myanmar. Specifically anti-Muslim (rather than anti-Indian) tensions first came to a head in 1938; however an inquiry into the anti-Muslim riots of that time found that while the riots had religious anti-Muslim undertones, the real causes were political, economic and social. There have been irregular outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in subsequent decades, but unfortunately few detailed investigations or analyses of their causes, due to the difficulty of conducting research under the socialist and military governments, and to the sensitivity of the issue. This difficulty persists to the present. [...] Both Muslims and Buddhists are worried about religious violence, and the impact that it might have on the economy. However, most people in Lashio are probably more immediately worried about the fighting between the Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed groups that is taking place outside of Lashio, which has negative effect on the economy, on their livelihoods, and on their feelings of security, due to the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have sought safety in Lashio. Ethnic groups in Lashio are concerned that the religious conflict will also have an impact on ethnic relations, due to the different religions amongst the ethnic groups. In Lashio, there is also a high level of anti-Chinese sentiment on the part of the Bamar and other ethnic groups. [...] The large amount of rumors about Muslims and about Muslim-Buddhist conflict that we heard in Lashio and Amarapura suggest that people are concerned about this conflict. Negative rumors contribute to the background levels of hatred and distrust of Muslims and serve to manifest tensions between the two communities. This kind of background hatred and distrust may not in itself result in violence. But it means that Buddhists and Muslims in these areas do not mix, and fosters an environment of suspicion and hostility, creating an enabling environment for violence. However, on their own, rumors are not sufficient to trigger violence. For every example of a situation where (true or false) rumors have triggered violence, there is an example where rumors have not triggered violence. Other factors – harder to identify – contribute to outbreaks of violence, and to the underlying conflict. It is essential that these factors be understood if the root causes of inter-communal conflict are to be addressed. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS With this analysis in mind, the following recommendations are provided: recognize the important role that word-of-mouth communication plays in the ways that rumors are spread; recognize and understand the nuances in each local context, in order to develop a deeper understanding of why people feel insecure, as well as to identify root causes of the conflict; mitigate the background levels of anti-Muslim hate speech, by engaging with the genuine Buddhist concerns that are expressed through hate speech; and strengthen community resilience to potential ‘trigger’ rumors – and recognize and strengthen existing efforts to combat these rumors." (Executive summary, page 3-7) more

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Empowering Interfaith Collaboration to Respect and Protect Holy Sites in Indonesia: Baseline Study Report

Jakarta: Search for Common Ground (2015), 62 pp.

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Community Information Flows to Reduce Inter-Comunal Violence in Burma

Emily Speers Mears

Search for Common Ground (2015), 71 pp.

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Emerging Practices in Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation for Education for Peacebuilding Programming: Practice Guide

Rebecca Herrington

Washington, DC: Search for Common Ground (2015), 59 pp.

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ICTs for Monitoring and Evaluation of Peacebuilding Programmes

Vanessa Corlazzoli

Search for Common Ground (2014), 43 pp.

"The paper focuses on exploring the application of the following ICTs: mobile technology, social media, big data, the digitization of surveys, and tools to better visualize data. Each section outlines a series of resources and some advantages and drawbacks to utilizing the new technology for M&E pur ... more

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A Guide for Professional Journalism in Conflict Zones

Jerusalem: Search for Common Ground (2014), 59 pp.

"This manual is an output of a two year project, funded by USAID, involving Israeli and Palestinian senior and mid-level journalists in Israeli and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Our goal is to share the learnings from the participating journalists, and the project as a whole, in the hope that ... more

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Final Evaluation Report for the Project: Countering & Preventing Radicalization in Indonesian Pesantren

Lanny Octavia, Esti Wahyuni

Search for Common Ground (2014), 75 pp.

"Overall, the evaluators found that the project’s approach was quite relevant in promoting religious freedom and preventing religious radicalization. The project targeted pesantrens affiliated to the traditional Islam Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and at the same time, it empowered the mainstream moderate ... more

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Salam from Pesantren: Santri’s Experience in Managing Media for Peace

Nor Ismah

Jakarta: Search for Common Ground (2014), 62 pp.

"The following stories come from ten pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in Indonesia that participated in Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia’s project to promote peace and tolerance in pesantren across Indonesia [...] Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia implemented this two-year pro ... more

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Salam from Pesantren: Santri's Experience in Managing Media for Peace

Nor Ismah

Search for Common Ground (2014), 62 pp.

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Practical Approaches to Theories of Change in Conflict, Security, and Justice Programmes. Part II: Using Theories of Change in Monitoring and Evaluation

Vanessa Corlazzoli, Jonathan White

London: Department for International Development (DFID); Search for Common Ground (2013), 29 pp.

"The goal of this document is to improve the effectiveness of DFID programmes and the measurement of their impacts by providing DFID Advisers with the practical skills to develop high quality theories of change, to understand the role they play in programme design and assessment. It is intended for ... more

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Community Radio, Gender & ICTs in West Africa: How Women Are Engaging with Community Radio Through Mobile Phone Technologies

Frances Fortune, Cindy Chungong, Andrew Kessinger

Washington, DC; Brussels: Search for Common Ground (2011), 38 pp.

"Women on the air are usually viewed through a traditional model - in the context of their relationship to their husbands or children – and not as individual beings with a broad range of interests and needs. As a result, radio does not currently meet the needs of women, and women do not participat ... more

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Strategic Communication for Peacebuilding: A Training Guide

Oscar Bloh

Brussels; Washington, DC: Search for Common Ground (2010), 48 pp.

"This guide is for trainers of media workers and government officials in the strategic communication of major development objectives. It is intended to improve the skills of media practitioners and policy makers by helping them create and disseminate policy information in ways which are accessible t ... o different constituents. It also highlights the importance of giving citizens space to react, comment and interact with policy decisions in real and creative ways. As such the guide is at the centre of a regional project set up by the confl ict transformation NGO Search for Common Ground (www.sfcg.org), and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Finnish Government. The project, Radio; A Platform for Peacebuilding (RAPP), which includes the web-site www.radiopeaceafrica.org, covers seven West and Central African countries. The project s overall objective is, to improve the population s access to information about policies and decisions that affect their lives [...] The RAPP project has undertaken media sector mappings in the seven countries. Media sector mapping (MSM) is a tool that identifies how information is generated and communicated to citizens and how they in turn use this information to participate in the implementation of government policies. The findings of the MSMs suggest that few governments are successfully communicating their major development policies to the citizens. They therefore run the risk that the policies will never take hold, and the essential reforms will not occur, so increasing the risk of conflict.Once citizens are able to become involved in policy decisions and programmes which affect their lives, rather than being viewed and treated as the simple (and grateful) recipients of largesse from above, these policies take on a more meaningful existence - one in which strategies are created, and decisions are made by the people who are most affected by them. In this model strategic communication becomes a key component of the development process, meaning that communication is a dialogue, from the government to the people and from the people to government (vertical communication), as well as allowing for communication across society from one community to another (horizontal communication)." (Introduction) more

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Target Audiences for Peacebuilding Radio: A Training Guide
Key Guidance

Francis Rolt

Search for Common Ground; Radio for Peacebuilding Africa (2010), 19 pp.

"This training guide explains what a target audience is, why a target audience should be defined for every radio programme, and how conflict and target audience sensitive journalism can contribute to peace building in conflict and post-conflict regions. It emphasises the need to define a target audi ... more

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La communication stratégique pour la construction de la paix un guide de formation

Oscar Bloh

Brussels; Washington, DC: Search for Common Ground (2010), 48 pp.

"Ce guide est destiné à des facilitateurs, qui enseignent la communication stratégique à des professionnels des médias et à des représentants de gouvernements pour atteindre des objectifs de développement. Il a pour but d’améliorer les compétences des professionnels des médias et des d� ... more

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Waves of Peace: Experiences of Nepali Radio

Mohan Mainali (ed.)

Kathmandu: Search for Common Ground (2010), 43 pp.

"There are many examples in Nepal of radio programs helping in peace building. A few of these examples are included in this book. The personal stories of the radio producers are as interesting and inspiring as the examples of positive impacts their radio programs had in their societies. Success stor ... more

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Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation: Training Manual
Key Guidance

Lena Slachmuijlder, Don Tshibanda

Washington, DC; Bukavu: Search for Common Ground (2009), 52 pp.

"Participatory theatre is an approach in which the actors interact with the public. Throughout the event, the public participates to adapt, change or correct a situation, an attitude or a behaviour that is developed during the show. The NGO “Search for Common Ground” combined forum theatre techn ... more

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An Assessment of the Role of Community Radio in Peacebuilding and Development: Case Studies in Liberia and Sierra Leone

Brussels; Washington, DC: Search for Common Ground (2009), 5 pp.

"This five-page report details the results of an evaluation of four community radio stations in rural Sierra Leone and Liberia. The evaluation focused on areas still struggling to achieve meaningful development in a post-conflict setting and was designed to assess the relationships between drivers o ... f development and community radio stations. The study found that community radios are significantly impacting development in their communities via relationships with local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The study included an analysis of current radio programming for its impact on local development processes, while an audience survey and focus groups were used to better understand audience perceptions and uses of local radio. Stations were also evaluated on their capacity as independent development agents with an eye towards ongoing peacebuilding functions. According to the report, the impact of community radios falls into two categories: support for programme implementation leading to improved efficacy, broader reach, accountability, and community feedback; and regular airing of education and awareness programming - yielding results in changing attitudes and behaviours. The study found that the community stations had a positive and engaged relationship with local government as well as civil society organisations. Overall, the study found that community radio plays a central role in disseminating information related to development and in improving development outcomes through partnerships at all levels. The study found that sensitisation and awareness programmes were often cited as audiences' favourites, as was interactive, public forum programming. A majority of listeners credited community radio stations with improving basic living conditions and encouraging an attitude of community responsibility and pride. Audiences also expressed a desire for expanded broadcast times. Station leadership was found to be the single overriding factor determining a station's impact and effectiveness. According to the report, the stations also positively contributed to peacebuilding in their communities. Listeners reported a high impact from programmes that address peace and nonviolent conflict resolution. Community stations in all locations were also described as active participants in diffusing potential violent crises. It was found that radio helps marginalised people without access to other means of communications and was universally cited as vital in facilitating peaceful election processes. The report concludes that community radio does play a strong role in local peacebuilding, and that radio stations' promotion of inclusive development processes has a broad impact in promoting sustainable peace. However, it also found that radio's impact is often reliant on the cooperation of government, and that community radio stations are making limited use of their power as media outlets to compel government participation in media." (https://www.comminit.com) more

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Extending the Reach of Peace-Builders: A Media Outreach Guide for Dialogue and Reconciliation Practitioners

Search for Common Ground, 2nd ed. (2008), 36 pp.

"This guide has been designed to complement Search for Common Ground’s media outreach training workshops for non-governmental organizations, civil society activists and other individuals and groups working in the fields of conflict resolution, dialogue, reconciliation and related human security in ... more

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Radio for Peace Building: Project Evaluation Report

Arpita Nepal, Samyukta Rupakheti

Washington, DC; Brussels: Search for Common Ground (2008), 35 pp.

Target Audiences for Peacebuilding Radio: A Training Guide Key Guidance

Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation: Training Manual Key Guidance

Target Audiences for Peacebuilding Radio: A Training Guide
Key Guidance

Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation: Training Manual
Key Guidance