the final project brochure - Partners for Democratic Change

ESTABLISHING CONFLICT RESILIENT
COMMUNITIES IN THE NORTH OF LEBANON
LEBANON
January 2012 — September 2014
Building local capacity to mitigate conflicts
A project by:
Project funded by the European Union in Lebanon
This publication was written by PDCI with the support of PeaceLabz, Lebanon. PDCI
would like to acknowledge the external consultants: Leyla Moubayad who wrote
the earlier assessment report and Ali Sayed-Ali who carried out the project
evaluation.
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can
under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European
Union.
© Partners for Democratic Change International (PDCI), September 2014
Establishing Conflict Resilient Communities in
Northern Lebanon
The project "Establishing Conflict resilient communities in Northern Lebanon" was
funded by the European Union under the “Instrument for Stability” program and
the Dutch Embassy in Lebanon and was designed to support conflict mitigation
committees in rural communities in northern Lebanon.
Contents
This brochure includes findings about community conflicts in Akkar and Tripoli and
presents the project activities, results and recommendations from the final lessons
learnt conference in Beirut on August 30, 2014.
1. The Partnership
2. Introduction
3. The Project
4. Six local responses to community conflicts in Northern Lebanon
5. Conclusion
6. Recommendations
1
The Partnership
Partners for Democratic Change International (PDCI), is a partnership committed to
building the capacity, cooperation and sustainability of all members. The global
network is composed of 20 independent and locally staffed, managed and
registered organizations committed to advancing civil society and a culture of
change and conflict management. By adapting and acculturating Partners' skills and
processes and developing unique specializations, the Centres meet the diverse and
specific needs of their constituencies. All rooted in respect for human rights and
dedicated to peaceful outcomes of change and conflict, they are: conflict and
change management, civil society development, democracy and human rights, and
social inclusion. PDCI envisions a global partnership that promotes a culture of
peace worldwide as well as societies in which citizen participation is ensured at all
levels.
www.pdci-network.org
PeaceLabz is a non-governmental organization, whose vision is to transform conflicts non-violently. The Team is based in Lebanon and in order to empower
Lebanese communities to address conflicts and to prevent violence, they work close
Local leaders, community based organizations and international donors.
www.peacelabz.org
2
Introduction
Civil peace in Lebanon is a very fragile concept. Although the civil war officially
ended in 1990, many internal conflicts are still prevailing and they constitute one of
the biggest challenges to development and democratic reform in Lebanon, as well
as threatening the stability of the region. There is a critical gap between the ability
of state institutions to manage conflict and the lack of effective local conflict
resolution systems. In addition, spill over effects from neighbouring countries have
added to the stress on the fragile democratic system. More recently, the conflict in
neighbouring Syria has seen tens of thousands of people seeking refuge in Lebanon,
thus creating new dynamics in host communities and society at large.
The limited capacity and coordination among local authorities and non-state actors
in working together to develop more responsive systems of conflict management
that are in line with Lebanese realities and needs, impacts citizens on a daily basis.
Although this situation is widely acknowledged, few initiatives have been made to
find solutions and no real expertise around the issue of establishing mechanisms
that could fill the gap or coordinate conflict resolution efforts has been built as of
yet.
While assessing conflict mitigation practices in northern Lebanon, it becomes clear
that the few structures that exist are working in a rather reactive way. Traditionally,
a third party intervenes to prevent a conflict from escalating further or to bring a
peaceful resolution to the conflicting issue. Depending on the type of conflict or
conflicting parties, the mediator can be any existing leadership figure e.g.
municipality president, mukhtar, religious sheikh or an influential person due to
wealth, family or work position. The mediator/negotiator engages in talks with both
parties, sometimes calling for the intervention of an expert in specific matters
related to the conflict issue (e.g. a land mapping expert when it comes to land
related conflicts), or seeking political, family or religious influence to put pressure
on the conflict parties to peacefully resolve the conflict. When mediation fails, the
conflicting parties might resort to the judicial system to seek an enforceable
resolution through the law. Meanwhile, however, resentment festers and can
divide the families and community along the conflict lines. This process is common
in rural areas of Lebanon.
Since addressing the root causes of conflict is a long-term process, this project
included measures to diagnose and assess existing conflicts along with building the
social capital necessary to create a culture of conflict prevention and peaceful
resolution in Lebanon’s North. A proactive way of working on conflictive issues was
proposed with this project. By bringing together key figures and local citizens, a
frame of preventive measures has been taken and by creating a safe space for
dialogues, conflicts can be tackled at an early stage.
The Fnaideq conflict mitigation committee
3
The Project
Establishing Conflict Resilient Communities in the North of Lebanon was
implemented over a 21-month period starting in January 2013 and ending in
September 2014. The project aimed to support and strengthen the ability of
non-state actors to resolve local conflicts peacefully, working with several
communities in the north of Lebanon including the Beddawi Refugee camp, plus
several towns in the Akkar region. Through the organization and training of Local
Conflict Conciliation committee members (LCCs) and the coordination of working
groups made up of community leaders, conflict resolution and management
training modules were delivered, resulting in several direct interventions to identify
and proactively resolve ongoing and potential conflicts.
The following activities formed the project:
 Engage local communities in a participatory conflict assessment exercise to
identify key issues, relationships and areas of possible intervention;
 Capacity building of non-state actors using suite of trainings and facilitation;
 Establishment of local dialogue mechanisms
 Promotion of dialogue mechanisms in the corresponding communities
 Local Action Plans were implemented in six communities to solve conflicts
 Facilitation of civil-state cooperation and peer exchange
 Relevant national stakeholders were engaged in order to build larger
coalitions and sustain support to communities.
3.1 Assessment of conflict triggers in Northern Lebanon
During the conflict assessment phase conducted by PDCI/PeaceLabz from January
to August 2013 in Akkar, a number of key factors contributing to conflict in the
region were identified:
a) Access to Land and Land Ownership
There has also been an historical polarization between the ‘peasants’ and the ‘land
owners’ in Akkar. To this day, 80 percent of the peasants in the Sahel do not own
the land they are farming. Since the peasants are mostly of Alawite origin and the
land owners are mainly Sunni, the tension is often perceived as sectarian.
n addition to this, when the Bedouins (Sunni) settled down in the area, they took
the land from the Alawite peasants by force. Not surprisingly, therefore, land
ownership accounts for the historical resentment between the peasants and the
landowners.
b) Economy/Lack of Livelihood Opportunities
Historically, the peripheral districts in Lebanon have been marginalized. The
economic and development policies put in place since Lebanon’s independence in
1943 have focused on Beirut as the major economic centre. Naturally, this has led
to unequal growth in the country. Akkar suffered from significant neglect by the
Lebanese state during the era of Syrian presence in Lebanon.
c) Feudal System
The feudal system remains a source of conflict in the Akkar region. It is not only
that a few rich people historically have owned most of the land in the region but
the relative late arrival of schools in Akkar has led to high illiteracy rates and a
prevailing ignorance, which has in turn, hampered political awareness and civic
empowerment resulting in a lack of real political representation.
d) Ethnic Background/Nationality
The people of Wadi Khaled (an area in Akkar) are nomadic by origin and used to live
on different sides of the Syrian/Lebanese border. When they settled down in the
area of Wadi Khaled, they made a living by crossing the border into Syria to
smuggle cheaper goods either for their own consumption or for sale in the
Lebanese market. Also, the use of land became a conflictive issue between the
Bedouins and the villagers. In addition to being marginalized because of their
Bedouin origins, the initial lack of Lebanese nationality of the Wadi Khaled residents
also meant a lack of access to public service jobs, and limited access to Lebanese
social public services such as health and education.
e) Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis
In 2011 at the early stages of the Syrian refugee crisis, people in Akkar and more
specifically the families of Wadi Khaled were very supportive of the Syrian refugees
and they hosted them in their homes. As the armed conflict in Syria drags on and the
number of refugee increases exponentially, the negative impact of these refugees on
host communities in Akkar is increasing most particularly in areas of scarce economic
resources and limited community infrastructure, such as housing, water and health
care.
f) Local Governance
Municipal Councils of some of the Berkayel communities are riddled with internal
conflicts. Conflict between council members can be due to opposing families, clans,
or political allegiances. Whatever the cause, conflict within local government
institutions is negatively affecting the development of these communities and
causing resentment among the population, who feel community issues are neglected
in favour of personal self-interests. Additionally, in some communities of the
Berkayel cluster, municipalities are perceived as inefficient, unaccountable and
working for private rather than community interests. These local governments do
not involve the youth and the various community groups in a transparent manner in
municipal affairs and community issues.
g) Poverty
Government neglect of the North regions has led to considerable increase in poverty
as well as sizeable rural migration towards the city of Tripoli. More recently, low
levels of education, a high turnover of refugees and migrants, lack of public or
private investment, war, regional political instability, and the economic crisis that the
country as a whole is experiencing, have all contributed in various degrees to
augmenting urban poverty.
h) Discrimination in allocation of humanitarian aid
This is the main factor that caused a shift in the support of the host
community for the Syrian refugees who saw aid distributed to refugees with no
consideration for their own needs. Discrimination in international aid
distribution has reinforced perceptions of economic injustice in an already
disadvantaged community and created resentment and tensions between host
communities and Syrian refugee families. Tensions between the Lebanese and
Syrians are also on the rise because of the unfair competition for jobs. Syrians are
perceived as cheap labour, so more employers are turning to them as a way of
saving money.
The above-mentioned factors create tension in almost all communities in Northern
Lebanon albeit their intensity might vary. Bearing in mind that certain conflicts are
too complex and deep-rooted to be tackled directly by a project like this, aspects
such as tension on infrastructure have been addressed during its implementation.
During the assessment phase it became apparent that several villages could be
included into the project. According to the criteria of openness of the
key-stakeholders, the understanding of peace building initiatives by local
community leaders, availability of participants, low attention by other donors and a
large diversity of residents, the following communities were selected:
Berqayel, Bebnine, Karkaf and Tal Hayet in Akkar and the Palestinian refugee camp
Bedawi in Tripoli. Fnaideq, a community in eastern Akkar was also included in the
project. During a recent United Nations Development Programme project, a conflict
mitigation committee had already been established so by including Fnaideq in
PDCI/PeaceLabz’s project, sustainability was guaranteed and peer group learning
for the new villages was made possible.
3.2. Community process
A series of 13 capacity building training modules were implemented over a
timeframe of 5 months. Every community was asked to appoint LCCs to be trained
in community development, conflict assessment, conflict resolution techniques and
project circle management. For many of the 30 participants it was their first
opportunity to attend such a workshop. Hence, interactive methods were crucial to
attract the attention of the LCCs and to give them the chance to break the content
down to their own contexts. Working on conflict examples from their own
communities, a high level of trust had to be built among the participants. In several
cases, it was the first time that different stakeholders were reflecting together on
existing problems. A "safe" space had to be created by the trainers/facilitators in
order to make this happen.
Gradually, the participants open up more and more, expressing what they require
or lack. It became apparent that particular sections on strategic management and
planning and documentation could be of added value for the committees, so
several sessions focusing on strategizing activities and on documentation were
organized. One of the participants from the Bedawi refugee camp said he was
motivated to join the project from the beginning and believes the series of trainings
led to “an improvement and change in the way we deal with conflicts.” Others also
mentioned an understanding of proactive conflict mitigation, “sometimes to solve a
conflict, you can create another one, we now recognize this and we need to get to
the roots of conflicts.”
The training was followed by an extensive row of facilitation meetings in each
community and by the creation of conflict mitigation committees. In order to
support the newly established committees, project facilitators supported individual
members by phone and visited the groups twice a month. It was crucial for the
project to create diverse committees in each community, otherwise the activities
would be seen as one sided. “Former municipal chiefs and public servants, religious
officials, and activists are all involved in the committees work and activities, we are
making efforts towards conflict prevention and mitigation, the committee itself is a
success story”, said an LCC.
The constant exchange, debates and dialogues with the project team encouraged
the LCCs to play a more prominent role in their communities. One LCC stated, “We
learned that there are tools and tactics that may enable us to play a role on the
local level to prevent and mitigate conflicts through coordination and cooperation
with other actors.” Acting in traditional and patriarchal environments, the
committees not only had to find their roles in the teams but also to test the ground
for peace building activities.
It was crucial to gain the support of local religious and political authorities since
family ties and social control is high. In certain communities the local authorities
were supportive from the beginning whereas in other cases, more efforts was
needed to persuade key figures. Installing moments of mutual learning and
exchange of best practices among the LCCs groups, new strategies were found to
address this obstacle. As one LCC put it, “the mechanisms of support and resources
(through the project) have brought more motivation to the committee members
who are excited to serve their community.”
After the training sessions, each committee was asked to present an Action Plan,
targeting a conflict in their village. Making sure that the proposed activities would
be feasible to be implemented and not exceed existing resources, the aim was to
create a positive on the spot learning moment. The development of conflict
mitigation action plans relating to conflict contributors includes direct mediation
intervention to solve a dispute. Implemented jointly by project staff and
beneficiaries, improved relationships between residents and the municipality were
affirmed. “Informally, the LCCs are now playing a role in coordination with local
religious officials and have contributed to the improvement of relationships
between members of the LCC and traditional religious leaders”, detailed an LCC.
A national-level knowledge-sharing conference was held at the end of the project
on August 30 2014, attended by the evaluation team and media outlets. The
conference was well attended and communicated lessons-learned and the
experiences of working group members, LCCs and grantees, donors and non-state
actors working towards civil peace and conflict resolution in Lebanon.
4
Six local responses to community conflicts
in Northern Lebanon
This section will discuss the various Action Plans that have been implemented in the
five communities as a local response to existing conflicts. The shift towards a
proactive approach, observing, analysing, and acting upon potential conflict
contributors was a new concept for the participants, who identified and developed
action plans accordingly. Time constraints due to security problems, the months of
Ramadan and group dynamics put pressure on the LCCs and the project team.
Having said that, the activities had to be planned in a flexible manner and needed
constant discussions on feasibility. Each community and the respective group of
LCCs followed a different path according to their resources, but all dedicated to
support a change in their societies.
4.1 Bedawi
Due to an oversight by authorities on urban development and the absence of clear
land boundaries between public and private domains, conflicts occur over the use
of land. There is no public agreement on how to divide land, or on how to build and
use the limited space that the Palestinian camp has. Shop owners, pedestrians,
house owners, the municipality and children all use the space in contrasting ways.
Clashes occur on a daily basis and the culture of ‘the fastest is the winner’ makes it
impossible to create a shared space.
The limited area in the camp does not cater for the current population, and the over
crowdedness is a general problem that our project cannot be expected to address.
However, the lack of coordination results in several dangerous consequences, and
these can be addressed. For example the electricity and water supply is at risk as
shop owners build their outlets around the infrastructure. Additionally, the limited
space for traffic is causing many accidents. The injuries, material damage and
personal conflicts can quickly transform into more serious events that can affect
community life. The community who owns the Bedawi land does not impose their
usual planning rules and laws to the camp and the absence of a respective body
inside the camp renders the land available for unregulated building.
The LCCs started with preparing a study report on conflict actors and land boundary
violations. Meetings with shop owners helped to better understand the needs of the
sellers and to create initial links. After these meetings, NGOs, community leaders and
political parties were invited for an awareness-raising workshop in order to exchange
views and to jointly discuss possible solutions. One of the LCCs stated, “We have to
connect with all kinds of stakeholders, which makes it a difficult process.” Since the
Lebanese electricity company had also just started to intervene on the subject, the
committee was acting as an arbitrator, analysing the situations and suggesting
solutions.
For the Bedawi LCCs it was a great learning moment to understand the importance of
scientific work. Preparing a well-analysed and researched study has increased the
reputation of the committee in the camp.
A training session on community facilitation.
4.2 Berqayel
Economic and social pressures are among many reasons for the ongoing traffic
jams at the junction in Berkayel This junction is particularly important since it
connects 35 communities with each other. Increased population density and lack of
parking space for taxis cause serious overcrowding, while lack of awareness and
application of road rules result in disputes (verbal disputes i.e. insults, but in some
cases it ends with the usage of arms) and traffic accidents. At the junction itself,
there is a parking lot for around 4 taxis but during rush hour an estimated number
of 130 taxis are passing by, stopping and picking up/dropping off passengers. This
negatively affects not only the relationships between taxi drivers but also the
smooth movement of passengers. Since the junction is built on community land
that belongs to Burj al Arab but the taxi drivers come from all over the region, the
conflict affects the entire region. Responsibilities are not shared, meaning that
other municipalities are turning a blind eye to the conflict, while the government of
Burj al Arab does not have the power to coordinate the business of taxi drivers
belonging to other communities. Taxi drivers that do belong to the same villages
are supporting each other and often gather together in order to support one of
theirs own in a conflict, creating issues that are then hard for the police to tackle.
Berqayel’s action plan included a study on who uses the space when and where the
taxis come from. Negotiation meetings with land owners, the surrounding
municipalities and the taxi drivers helped to raise awareness on the problem and
assisted in define responsibilities. An LCC explained, “We had to talk to all
stakeholders involved – land owners, taxi drivers, municipalities and we identified
those who have influence over the people at the intersection. We had to speak to
all beneficiaries and hope to continue working towards ending the conflicts arising
from the disorganized taxi waiting area.” The case of the taxi stand also established
stronger cooperation between the neighbouring towns of Foneidek and Berkayel
which, according to project staff, does not occur frequently due to long-standing
tensions and conflicts between the communities.
The conflict in Berqayel has many layers that first had to be discovered. A major
learning experience for the LCCs was acquiring skills on how to analyse conflicts
more deeply and to plan feasible solutions.
4.3 Tal Hayet
Land is the key to prosperity in Tal Hayet and is traditionally passed on from fathers
to sons. Often, land is also sub-rented to farmers (who frequently have tribal
origins) who then have the right to work the land, sometimes for as long as a
century. This means that different inhabitants live together: long-established
landowners, those who temporarily cultivate the land, plus tribes. Belonging to
different societal contexts, a combination of tribal rules and community law is
applied.
The main problem stemming from the sub-renting of land to tribes is a result of
tradition and tribal law: when the tribes cultivate a piece of land for many years
(sometimes many generations), they begin to consider this land as their own. As
they do not recognize and acknowledge the legal law, the tribes refuse to return the
land to the legal owners. When the tribes are requested to leave the land, they
sometimes oblige, yet often then use violence as a means of preventing others from
renting the land (there have been deaths from these conflicts). The result is
constant conflict between owners, tribes and new land renters, in addition to the
land remaining uncultivated during this time which affects the economic situation
of all the above-mentioned parties.
Land-related conflicts in the area often culminate in specific community problems:
people do not respect borders, people do not respect each other’s rules and land
remains uncultivated for many years due to unsolved disputes. No common map/
plan exists, nor are the boarders marked. The local municipality stays silent on
these issues.
Implementing a multi-stakeholder reflection on local land conflicts in order to
discuss land-related problems, the Action Plan in Tal Hayet directly tackled one of
the most sensitive conflicts. Almost 40 people attended the conference which
shows how pressing the issue is for the region. In addition, the participants greatly
trusted the facilitator, who came from Beirut and hence was not linked to any of the
conflict parties.
Recommendations from the conference were:
- Conflicts should be brought forward to the authorities in order to have assistance
in solving them
- Conflicts can be solved with the support of a mediator, who is a neutral and
impartial person who does not take sides
- We need to support youth in order to prevent future clashes: raise their
awareness on existing laws and mitigation structures such as arbitrary bodies.
The success of the awareness-raising conference put the spotlight on the
committee of LCCs, who took the opportunity and initiative to invite the conflict
parties of a particular dispute - landlords and farmers - to a meeting. According to
one LCC, this was the “first time that both parties sat together to talk about the
issue and we were able to prevent a bigger conflict between the farmer and
landlord.” The LCCs led the negotiations, which resulted in an agreement to end the
dispute, involving rental fee payments where the farmer was banned from working
the land. After mediation and discussion, the landlord agreed to allow the farmer to
continue to work while taking up legal proceedings. The process was coordinated
closely with the chief of the municipality and the municipal council.
Awareness raising conference in Karkaf, September 2014
4.4 Karkaf
The daily and repetitive accidents on the main road of the village of Karkaf are a
cause for many conflicts in the area. Disputes between drivers, pedestrians and
shop owners are seen on a daily basis. The interference of the police, who are
trying to apply the law, often fuels the conflicts even more. Underneath the clashes
are intertwining structural and cultural factors. The old road has not been repaired
and the lack of road signs, speed limit signs, instructions, marks on the road etc.
creates an atmosphere of disorder. People who wait for buses are hit by passing
cars because there are no benches and side walks. Important cultural causes are
the lack of awareness of the danger of traffic and frequent disrespect for road rules.
The prevailing culture of family revenge means that it is difficult to solve conflicts,
plus the economic burdens on the community, injuries, material damages and
personal conflicts add to the presence of intractable conflicts.
The Karkaf LCC also identified traffic management, including issues related to illegal
parking, infringements on private properties, and clashes with municipal policemen,
as a major conflict contributor in their town. One of the LCCs explained that “a list
of priorities was identified in the community and we are acting based on the
importance and urgency of the problems we are facing. We had to start with
installing road signs since car accidents were the main cause of conflict between
citizens and refugees.”
Besides the installation of road signs in cooperation with the local authorities, the
committee worked on disseminating information on traffic law and how to prevent
accidents. A brochure was put together and -in cooperation with religious leaders in
the community- handed out to people.
“We had the goal of preventing conflicts caused by car accidents and traffic. While
at first, the task seemed impossible, after developing the action plan and putting it
into place, the idea seemed more feasible”, stated an LCC. Shortly after the
implementation of the activity, residents observed a steady decrease in accidents
and conflicts arising from traffic. The LCC effectively channelled the information and
training they received into a well-planned initiative with results on the ground.
It is worth mentioning that the great support from the Mayor of Karkaf and the
positive reactions of surrounding communities have given support to the LCC. Being
the first committee that decided to include women into their group as equal LCC
members, the group is already well known among all parts of local society.
4.5 Bebnine
The use of fireworks and guns beads results in injuries in the community, which in
turn lead to disputes between involved families. Due to the lack of space for
children to play and the frequent selling of fireworks (especially during Ramadan
and other feast days), the children have no choice but to play in the streets and in
the space between the houses.
Because of the high population density and the absence of an urban planning and
construction strategy, the village streets are narrow and leave almost no room for
movement. The noise made by children (and by the guns and fireworks) causes
great disturbance to the residents of the village. In addition, the children can hurt
each other or themselves while playing with these dangerous toys in the narrow
streets. This ends in conflicts between the residents of the houses and the children,
between the children and their parents and also among various groups of children.
Since 2011, a new Lebanese law tackles this exact issue: it is forbidden to sell and
use fireworks and gun beads except professionals who are allowed to launch
fireworks. However, due to weak local government structures and existing habits
and culture, the implementation of the said law is not widely seen. Conflicts have
still been occurring on a daily basis, especially around the month of Ramadan.
The LLC started its work by lobbying for their cause and seeking the support of local
stakeholders. A meeting with religious leaders and the mayor had a positive
outcome. It was jointly decided to create a playground for children in order to
provide an alternative option for leisure. Awareness-raising activities took place
later on, targeting parents and shop owners in order to explain the existing law on
fireworks and to raise attention around the associated dangers.
One LCC stated: "Because children need to play and there are no adequate areas
for this, they are playing with fireworks. That causes many problems. In order to
tackle this we first of all went to talk with the municipality to understand the law
better. We then worked with shop owners and sheiks in order to draw their
attention to this problem in the community. But there are so many questions
coming with this: e.g. how can we stop children from playing with fireworks if we
do not stop people from carrying guns? We need much more support to tackle this
issue on a wider scale. We have been able to create a playground and release some
of the tension among children..."
4.6 Fnaideq
A conflict resolution committee in Fnaideq had already been established in 2013,
who actively take part in many of the mediation activities in the greater Akkar
region. This committee needed ongoing support from the project facilitators.
Particularly when it came to documenting interventions and reflecting on them, this
committee was grateful to have the chance to talk with our experts once a month.
The project facilitators guided the conflict resolution committee in Fnaideq through
a process of analyzing and registering existing conflicts which enhanced their
conflict resolution skills. Throughout the 21 months, solutions were jointly prepared
and community dialogues facilitated. With this project, several meetings were
facilitated but no Action Plan implemented.
Their experiences of the conflict resolution committee in Fnaideq were brought to
the newly established groups in the other five communities. Several peer group
meetings took place, which motivated the new LCCs but also helped them
understand realistically what could be done. More concrete support from the
Fnaideq LCCs was given to Karkaf, since the communities have linking roads, hence
common traffic problems.
Since the committee in Fnaideq is well-known, their presence in key conflicts is
greatly valued. For example, during the recent tragic event of the shootout in the
Qammouha region which led to the killing of a Lebanese Army soldier, the
committee immediately convened and delegated different roles and tasks. These
included addressing the media, whereby some of the committee members (i.e. an
elderly Mukhtar) presented a message on national TV, going to the key family
members of the shooter and sending a delegation to the family of the Lebanese
solider who was killed, all with the aim of preventing any violent reactions that
could arise from this tragic event.
5
Conclusion
While structural change in the way communities in specific regions deal with
conflict resolution was difficult to evaluate, there are several examples of positive
momentum. Most of the observed changes identified by beneficiaries occurred on
the personal and interpersonal level, while some successes, including increased
coordination with municipal and religious officials, can be described as structural.
Relationship and trust building have proved to be crucial for this project, where
facilitators and beneficiaries jointly worked on sensitive (at the societal and
personal level) conflicts. The flexibility shown by the project staff and responsibility
taken by members of the LCC indicate a high quality of appropriateness, given the
realities of the targeted locations. The method of activity delivery allowed for local
partners to set the pace of the project and take ownership of the conflicts and
issues they aimed to resolve.
This project was implemented during a period of heightened social, economic, and
political tension in Lebanon. As the country faces numerous challenges including an
influx of Syrian refugees, lack of adequate basic services and rising unemployment,
violent incidents mostly related to the Syrian civil war increased across the country.
Both, the project team and the local communities showed a great willingness to
perform the activities despite these difficult conditions. Challenged by the security
situation, flexible ways of communicating and the adaption of activities to the
circumstances were constantly employed.
The initial aims of the project can be linked to how society in general can achieve
sustainable peace. Progress was observed through changes in individuals,
relationships and connections with others/in the community, conflict root cause
identification, and the involvement of community/political elites. Additionally, we
discovered a change in the verbal communication; it gradually became much easier
to talk with the LCCs about conflict issues as our language became more alike and
terms such as “identification of conflict triggers” were easily understood. The
success stories and narratives outlined in the report show significant personal
development of the project participants. Perhaps most notably, a shift from
reactionary conflict management to an understanding of (and in some cases
execution of) proactive conflict management initiatives is observed. These changes
will help prevent future clashes and have prepared the ground for many more
creative conflict resolutions.
On the structural level, the project was received by local municipalities and
influential officials as well as members of the LCC. Requests to continue
programming were made during the national conference at the end of August and
in addition the project is well-positioned to expand into other communities in the
north, should new sources of funding be attained. As this was the first project of its
kind in most of the targeted communities, it was a stepping-stone to building
strong ties with communities and equipping them with the tools to mitigate and
manage conflict.
Final knowledge sharing conference in Beirut, August 30, 2014
6
Recommandations
- Our societies need to consider conflicting interests as a measure of diversity and
increase the ability of people to manage this in a peaceful way. Understanding that
conflicting opinions need to be openly addressed and working towards
constructive, mutually acceptable solutions will increase resilience to conflicts.
- In Northern Lebanon, governmental institutions are almost absent, leaving an
open space for various power mechanisms. It is crucial to improve governance and
implement legal frameworks and proper governance systems in order to prevent
violent conflicts.
- Support in the form of development aid and/or community support should have a
long-term perspective in order to ensure sustainability of peace building initiatives.
- Most conflict mitigation activities that tackle community conflicts need to be
accompanied by awareness-raising activities, in order to develop and reinforce a
culture of peaceful management of changes aiming to improve human security.
- More trained and sensitized practitioners are needed in Lebanon who can
analyse conflicts and plan adequate responses that are aware of local culture,
identity and traditions.
- To prevent conflicts, more vertical and horizontal dialogues are needed. It is
crucial to create space for communication and build trust, even in peaceful times.
- The media holds an important role in diffusing not only negative but also positive
images. This brings a change in perception but also people can learn from each
other’s initiatives.
For further information contact:
[email protected]
205 Rue Belliard, 8th Floor
1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel:+32 (0)2/230 7110 Fax:+32 (0)2/231 1108
www.pdci-network.org
www.facebook.com/PartnersForDemocraticChangeInternational
https://twitter.com/pdci_network
Second Floor Maya Center, Bassoul and
Huneineh street,
Sed Bouchrieh , Lebanon
Tel: +961 70 99 65 35
Email : [email protected]
www.peacelabz.org