|
A one
Day Consultation was organized by the Interfaith Coalition and
Ecumenical Centre for Labour Concerns – NCCI on 10th April,
2010 at Die Arch Mure Memorial Hospital Compound, Nagpur.
The major concerns addressed in
this Consultation were
Peace initiatives which
are generally defined as a bottom-up and participatory process that engages the
actors concerned in reflection, inquiry, and action. Devising coherent policies
and programs for individuals' empowerment requires careful attention, because
external agencies/bodies tend to be positioned with power-over target
populations.
Secondly, common challenges in Peace empowerment
practices were discussed at length by the participants. Five general debates
were interacted in the consultation, they were addressed in greater detail and
with some variation in each sub-section:
-
The
understanding of ongoing change in the societies concerned;
-
The need to
acknowledge the diversity of individual situations;
-
The respect for
local resources and cultures;
-
The importance
of community ownership;
-
The material
limits of current practices.
The
participants in their plenary felt the need for bottom up methodology of Peace
Building Education through empowering the grass root masses and taking the
intellectual stand point of the academetia. Rev. Packiam Samuel of the
Inter-faith Coalition for Peace in his message summarized the
deliberations as there is a need of :
· Underestimating
pre-existing challenges
·
Respecting the
diversity of situations
·
The importance
of a community-based approach
·
The respect
for local resources and cultures and
·
The importance of community ownership
Around
125 participants were involved in this Peace Consultation representing M.P.
Chhatisgarh, 11 districts of Vidarbha and Western Maharashtra. The eminent
panelist were Ms. Shahina Khatib, Dr. Mrinalini Phadnavis, Bhante Mahathero,
Mr. S.J. Sibloon, Secretary, NCCI-URM and Asad Saif from Bombay. Sr. Peace
Activist Mukundji from Indore congratulated this effort of Ecumenical Centre for
Labour Concerns (ECLC) and Interfaith Coalition for Peace (ICP).
The
program was coordinated by Mr. Rajesh Jadhav, Coordinator of ECLC. Mr. Sanjay
Wankhede looked after the logistic arrangement.
 |
