ISLAMABAD PEACE EXCHANGE – ORGANISATIONS ATTENDING The Islamabad Peace Exchange aims to bring together a diverse group of civil society organisations from across Pakistan, all of whom share a strong commitment to conflict resolution and peacebuilding. We hope that each participant will bring different experiences and contexts to share, as well as common lessons from their day to day operations. The event will be jointly hosted by the British Council in Pakistan, and the British charity, Peace Direct. Below is a list of the organisations who will be attending. For more information contact John Bainbridge: [email protected] Organisation: Association for Behaviour and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT) Representative: Ms. Shad Begum, Executive Director Location: Peshawar Contact details: [email protected] ; [email protected] The Association for Behaviour & Knowledge Transformation (ABKT) is an organisation of leading social entrepreneurs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Founded in 1994, it is a nationally recognised NGO that strives to improve the lives of underdeveloped and vulnerable communities, with a special focus on women, youth and children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ABKT is currently mobilising and linking young people from across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure their effective and constructive contribution to peace in the region. ABKT has organised many peacebuilding events, such as the Peace and Development Seminar in October 2010, and the District Level Forum on Peace in 2010. Organisation: Aware Girls Representative: Ms. Gulalai Ismail, Chairperson Location: Peshawar Contact details: [email protected] Aware Girls seeks to enable young people from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and Tribal Area of Pakistan to develop the leadership and peer-education skills necessary for promoting peace and non-violence in the region. Aware Girls train young volunteers to work with the most vulnerable young people in their community – those that express extremist views and who consider violence to be an acceptable political tool. They reach young people in schools, colleges and villages from across the region. Aware Girls now wants to expand their Seeds for Peace project into the Northwest Tribal Areas that cross the border into Afghanistan. Organisation: Bargad Representative: Mr. Mian Khurram Shahzad, Programme Coordinator Location: Lahore Contact details: [email protected] [email protected] BARGAD was established in 1997 by a group of students from Lahore with the idea to enhance youth development in Pakistan. The organisation engages with young people across the country in colleges and universities, both secular and religiously affiliated. BARGAD works at the grassroots level with the support of over 800 volunteers throughout the country. The organisation has established institutionalised links with more than 35 universities and higher education institutions, as well as with the Ministry of Youth Affairs in Pakistan. Through events such as the celebration of ‘International Youth Day’, BARGAD has been a principal force in the mobilisation of young women in Gujranwala. BARGAD’s ‘peace and youth cooperation’ programme builds peace by encouraging young people to cooperate for common good in their academic institutions. Its fundamental idea is to give young people a platform of interaction where they will have occasions to cooperate. This will generate an organised form of activism within educational institutions, as opposed to youths resorting to violence. It is working on launching a “youth track” of peacebuilding in South Asia. So far, 35 universities in Pakistan, three universities in India and two in Afghanistan have collaborated with BARGAD. The programme has engaged more than 8,000 students, faculty members and citizens. Organisation: The Community Appraisal & Motivation Program (CAMP) Representative: TBC Location: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA Contact details: [email protected] The Community Appraisal & Motivation Program (CAMP) was established in 2002 to work in underprivileged communities of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). CAMP works in the following four areas: sustainable development, human rights, peace and security, and disaster management. To address the peace and security issues at all levels in Pakistan, CAMP is running a national level research and advocacy campaign on small arms and light weapons, landmines and cluster bombs. The organisation has established links with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), and Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). CAMP is the primary Landmine Monitor on Pakistan for ICBL’s Landmines Monitor Report. They have also published the first research report in Pakistan on the situation of small arms and light weapons. Under its project ‘Understanding FATA’ (www.understandingfata.org), CAMP has been conducting opinion polls in the FATA region of Pakistan. These opinion polls have for the first time depicted the viewpoints of people residing in the conflict-torn region. For example, according to the 2008 report, for the majority (57.4 per cent) of the population, the preferred type of Jihad (holy struggle) is to learn Qur’an and the knowledge of modern science. Roughly 24 per cent thought Jihad is the name of a peaceful resistance to oppression and for the rest Jihad meant armed resistance. Organisation: Chanan Development Association Representative: TBC Location: Lahore (head office) Contact details: [email protected] Chanan Development Association (CDA) is a non-profit, non-governmental, secular youth organisation in Pakistan. It was formed by a group of young professional activists in 2004 as a theatre group and registered in 2006. The mission of CDA is to “improve the status of youth, particularly young women, enabling them to equally and actively participate in all spheres of life without any biases of gender, religion, or class for the creation of a healthy, just, democratic, non-violent and peaceful society”. Chanan Development Association (CDA), has many different initiatives for promoting peace in Pakistan, including: Interfaith Dialogues for Peace, Cricket for Peace, Youth & Culture of Peace, and using Composite Heritage as an instrument of Peace. This year, CDA has also initiated a campaign named National YOUTH-PEACE (Youth Peer Education and Awareness Campaign to reduce Extremism). The mission of the Youth-PEACE campaign is to create a culture of equality, acceptability and tolerance among young people in order to help establish a just, democratic, non-violent, peaceful and harmonious society. As per strategy, CDA has reached more than 2,000 young peer educators (Peacebuilders) directly and some 10,000 young people indirectly from all the five provincial capitals: Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Gilgit. CDA also provided opportunities for these young people to interact and explore other religious and cultural values, beliefs and concepts of peace through exposure visits of their own provinces as well as inter-provincial exchange visits. Organisation: Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) Representative: Mr. M. Asif Khan, Manager Media Projects Location: Islamabad Contact details: [email protected] The Centre for Research & Security Studies (CRSS) claims to be Pakistan’s first think-tank founded by civil society activists and committed to producing quality and impartial analysis on a range of issues. CRSS works in the areas of governance, security and terrorism, and the environment. The centre has an advocacy role and hosts regular conferences, seminars and workshops to spread the findings of the research it produces. CRSS focuses on studying and understanding the regional situation because it believes that peace in South Asian countries cannot be understood in isolation. Organisation: Civil Society Network Loralai (CSNL) Representative: Mr. Atta ul Haq, Secretary Location: Loralai, Baluchistan Contact details: [email protected] ; [email protected] CSNL is a group of peace activists who work at the grassroots level to promote peace, tolerance, social harmony and interfaith harmony in the district of Loralai. It develops different programmes aimed at protecting and promoting this area’s peaceful living which is endangered by religious extremism and tribal dominance. CSNL works to counter the influence of groups whose activities demoralise people and bring them against each other under tribal, religious or social cast lines. CSNL carries out activities such as stakeholders’ meetings, peace dialogues, peace culture shows, as well as reaching out to journalists, politicians from different political parties and youth counselling representatives. It also forms district peace coordination committees and organises youth counselling groups. Organisation: Coalition on Rights and Responsibilities of Youth (CRY) Representative: Mr. Mohammad Haroon, Press Secretary Location: Peshawar Contact details: [email protected] The Coalition on the Rights and Responsibilities of Youth (CRY) is a youth-led membership organisation working in the Pakistani Province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. CRY has 500 young members who work to combat extremism and promote peace, tolerance and humanism through Peer Education and Community-Based Activities. In order to share its experience cross- regionally and to expand its influence, CRY is a member of international networks such as the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, the International Humanistic and Ethical Youth Alliance,