A set of inter-connected events under the themes of peacebuilding and development took place between 12th and 15th of October 2010 in Cyprus organized in the framework of ENGAGE and TRIALOG. ENGAGE: Do your Part for Peace is a UNDP funded, bi-communal project on reconciliation and peacebuilding in Cyprus implemented by the NGO Support Centre and the Management Centre, in cooperation with the bi-communal Cyprus NGO platform on International Development, CYINDEP. These events included a two-day training session, an evening reception, a multipliers’ workshop and a meeting at a local university. Around 30 participants from both communities, ranging from members of civil society including a former Member of Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus, Mrs. Kate Klerides, to interested citizens attended and found the event stimulating in respect to their effort and ongoing involvement in peacebuilding and development procedures in Cyprus. The keynote speaker and trainer together with Andra Tanase, capacity building officer of TRIALOG, was the internationally acclaimed expert on issues that deal with systemic peacebuilding, international development and humanitarian aid, Mr. Kai Brand-Jacobsen, of the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR).
The two-day open training aimed at raising awareness and informing citizens from both the Turkish-Cypriot and the Greek-Cypriot communities on peace and development issues, especially the citizens who are involved in the ongoing peacebuilding process on the island at grassroots and civil society level. This included sessions on the global realities and applicability of peacebuilding and development in Cyprus (including working groups mapping the current situation), development cooperation and peacebuilding in the New Member States of the EU, the role of civil society in peacebuilding and development and the basic conceptual and policy framework of peacebuilding and development cooperation. Moreover, the audience was presented with tools, instruments and good practices in relation to the two interrelated concepts, notable being the case study of Northern Ireland which identified the reasoning behind factors and actors of resistance towards peacebuilding and cooperation in the reconciliation processes. At the same time the speaker discussed how room for a more diplomatic and efficient engagement in dialog with these stakeholders has been facilitated, arriving at the more optimistic results of the present state.On the 13th of October an evening reception with policy decision-makers and media representatives included addresses with welcoming speeches by the Head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, Mrs Androulla Kaminara, and Senior Programme Manager of UNDP-ACT Cyprus, Mr. Jaco Cilliers. Kai Brand-Jacobsen stressed the Media’s potential role in contributing and supporting the peacebuilding processes and development around the globe. So far, he underlined, the Media’s role in conflicts, has been supportive towards the other end. That is the continuation of conflicts and the misrepresentation of all parties involved in a conflict.
The workshop held on the 15th of October was devoted to the development of certain ideas that could be used in order for the Management Team to roll out similar trainings on the island. The goal would be to boost Civil Society’s efforts in the context of the reconciliation process in Cyprus.
In concluding both the participants and consequently CYINDEP benefited from a more analytical and structural understanding in what their engagement should be in Peacebuilding and Development Cooperation from the point of view of identifying and thinking across all parameters involved in this process. The said expertise is indeed of critical importance in communicating ways of overcoming reluctant civil society actors, citizens and decision-makers towards arriving at a common understanding among all parties involved in the Cyprus question.
Information provided by Nicholas Papachrysostomou, Mehmet Harmanci and Andra Tanase
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