Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation Learnings from The WISCOMP Conflict Transformation Program 2001–2012 Meenakshi Gopinath Manjrika Sewak Women in Security, Conflict Management, and Peace Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama New Delhi, India Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation Learnings from the WISCOMP Conflict Transformation Program 2001–2012 Copyright © WISCOMP, Foundation for Universal Responsibility, New Delhi, India, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-81-923813-2-9 Published by: WISCOMP Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Upper Ground Floor, Core 4 A, India Habitat Center Lodi Road New Delhi–110003 India Support for this publication was provided by the Government of Finland. The WISCOMP team is extremely grateful to the Embassy of Finland, New Delhi, for its valuable support and guidance to the Conflict Transformation Workshops. We also acknowledge with deep gratitude the support of the Ford Foundation’s South Asia Office in New Delhi. Printed by: Darshan Kumar Bhatia, New Delhi Contents About this Publication ...................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................. 6 Introduction ................................................................................................... 7 The WISCOMP Conflict Transformation Program: A Background ...................... 10 Participant Profiles .................................................................................................. 18 Workshop Pedagogy ................................................................................................ 25 Research Methodology ............................................................................................ 30 Chapter 1 The First Encounter: Meeting the Other in a Space of Trust ........................ 33 Chapter 2 Theories of Change ............................................................................................. 39 2.1. Conflict Analysis: Sources of Otherization and Humanization ...................... 45 2.2. Sustained Dialogue and Cross-Border Strategic Relationships ...................... 50 2.3. Professional Training in Conflict Transformation .......................................... 51 2.4. Multi-Track Diplomacy: Focus on the ‘Strategic Who’.................................. 55 2.5. ‘Our Generation Will Deliver Peace...?’ ......................................................... 56 2.6. Individual-level Transformation: Personal Change and Peace Processes ...... 61 Chapter 3 Conflict Transformation and the Four Dimensions of Change .................... 65 3.1. Personal Change ............................................................................................... 68 3.1.a. ‘Finding Emancipation in the Heart of the Enemy’ .............................. 68 3.1.b. Individual Agency and Power ................................................................. 73 3.1.c. Impact on Career Trajectories ................................................................ 76 3.1.d. Identity Markers and Shifts in Participant Perceptions ........................ 80 4 Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation 3.2. Relational Change ............................................................................................. 91 3.2.a. Confronting Prejudice: A Gentle Knock on the Doors of Perception.. 92 3.2.b. Prejudice and Social Distance: Bridging the Divides ........................ 98 3.2.c. The Other Within .................................................................................. 103 3.2.d. Commonalities and Differences ........................................................... 104 3.2.e. Collaborative Explorations: Cross-Border Professional Partnerships .......................................................................................... 109 3.3. Structural Change .......................................................................................... 112 3.3.a. Impact on Media Reportage and Policy Formulations ...................... 113 3.3.b. Impact on Educational Institutions ..................................................... 115 3.4. Cultural Change ............................................................................................. 118 Chapter 4 Select Dialogue Themes ................................................................................... 121 4.1. Gender, Conflict, and Peace.................................................................... 124 4.2. Jammu and Kashmir: Building Common Ground ................................. 128 4.3. ‘The Past That Lies Before Us’: Partition Narratives............................ 140 4.4. Religion: A Resource for Peace? ............................................................ 148 4.5. Media and The Peace Process................................................................. 150 4.6. Scaling Up: In Search of a South Asian Sensibility............................... 152 Chapter 5 Challenges, Lessons Learned, and The Way Forward ..................................... 157 Concluding Reflections ......................................................................................179 Annexure 1 Appendices to Theories of Change ................................................................... 187 Annexure 2 Participant Formulations on Jammu and Kashmir ....................................... 193 Annexure 3 WISCOMP Conflict Transformation Workshop Publications ..................... 197 About WISCOMP ............................................................................................ 200 5 About this Publication This book shares the findings of a research evaluation that WISCOMP undertook of its decade-long Conflict Transformation Program (2001–2012). The Program brought together 400 youth leaders, primarily from India and Pakistan, for dialogues-cum- trainings in peacebuilding. The cornerstone of this Program was the weeklong Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop, which provided a unique space for young Indians and Pakistanis to build relationships of trust across the divisions of conflict. Some of these Workshops also included participants from other South Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Over a period of 10 years, these young women and men (in the age-group of 20–35 years) came to the WISCOMP space to meet, learn, and train together. From these dialogues emerged powerful experiences that inspired them to work in support of peace and coexistence efforts between India and Pakistan, as well as in other South Asian contexts. These experiences of reaching out to ‘the other’ and building transformative capacity, as well as the journeys that such encounters initiated, are documented in the pages that follow. The authors here share WISCOMP’s theories of change, including their own experiences of facilitating these cross-border meetings and the overall outcome, effectiveness, and relevance of the Conflict Transformation Workshops. The study concludes with a summary of the challenges and lessons learned over a decade and offers some suggestions for future peacebuilding initiatives. 6 Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation Acknowledgments The Conflict Transformation Program was made possible by a generous 10-year grant from the Government of Finland in 2001. During this period, the Program benefited from the guidance and support of Amb. Benjamin Bassin, Amb. Glen Lindholm, Amb. Asko Numminen, and Amb. Terhi Hakala. The inputs and feedback of First and Second Secretaries Anne Ahonen, Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen, Sanna Selin, and Heli Lehto were most valuable in nurturing and guiding our efforts in training for conflict transformation and coexistence in the South Asian region. We remain indebted to them for their support to this peacebuilding endeavor. WISCOMP also acknowledges with deep gratitude the support provided by the Ford Foundation, and especially the guidance of Susan Berresford (President, Ford Foundation, New York, 1996–2007), Gowher Rizvi (Ford Foundation Representative, South Asia, 1998–2002), and Bishnu Mohapatra (Governance Program Officer at the Ford Foundation's South Asia office in New Delhi, 2002–2011). We are deeply grateful to the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of HH the Dalai Lama (FUR) for its vision and unwavering support, and especially to Rajiv Mehrotra (Trustee/Secretary, FUR) for his inspirational leadership and guidance. A special word of thanks to the FUR-WISCOMP staff: Seema Kakran for designing the baseline and endline questionnaires which were an important research tool for this evaluation; Harish Chandra Bhatt and Thupten Tsewang for their administrative and managerial support to this project; and Shilpi Shabdita for help with the collation of the quantitative data. Many thanks also to Sree Kumari and Devender Kumar, for their support in organizing the Conflict Transformation Workshops. Over the last 10 years, the Conflict Transformation Program has benefited from the expertise of several scholar-practitioners from the South Asian region who have worked with us and have generously shared their expertise and time to further the goals of the Conflict