Proudly African Campaign

ASC in partnerships with OSISA is organising two strategic meetings under the Proudly African Initiative: A civil Society Consultative Meeting and A donor roundtable.

To become part of the Campaign contact philani@asc.org.za.

Cultural Diversity Workshops

Two Cultural Diversity Workshops are scheduled to take place in Alexandra township-Johannesburg under the Cultural Diversity Project. The workshops will focus on Conflict Transformation and identifying strategies that can promote and strengthen appreciation of cultural diversity at grassroots level. A network of Peace Monitors will be established as part of the longer term strategy to address conflict arising out of cultural intolerance.

If you are living in Alexandra and would like to participate in these workshops please email: rindai@asc.org.za for more information.

School Cultural Awareness Campaigns

ASC is organising three strategic Cultural Awareness Campaigns with Schools in Alexandra. The forthcoming event will comprise of a Cultural Festival that is scheduled to take place during the first week of February 2012. These platforms will enable learners to reflect and share ideas on what they think constitute an integrated community.

For more information contact rindai@asc.org.za

Civic Education workshop on Human Rights and Refugee Rights (Soweto)

As a build-up to the Anti-Xenophobia Indaba which took place in Soweto last year, ASC is organising follow up workshops on Human Rights, Refugee Rights and Xenophobia in townships around Johannesburg. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Soweto.

Contact sipho@asc.org.za for more information.

2011 Women’s Seminar (Soweto)

As part of the 16 Days of Activism against violence against Women, ASC is organising a women’s seminar in Soweto. The seminar will focus on challenges facing women in the 21st century, and identifying practical solutions to the challenges. The seminar will also focus on the impact of the transition in Zimbabwe on women migrants and the communities they form part of.

Contact sipho@asc.org.za for more information

Managing Transition in Zimbabwe: Public Meeting (Botswana)

This regional public meeting will focus on assessing the progress and challenges facing the Zimbabwe Government of National Unity (GNU). Key to this meeting will be the development of a strategic way forward on socio-economic and political matters of concern to Zimbabweans and regional solidarity stakeholders. Key note speakers and delegates will be drawn from across the SADC region.

Contact sipho@asc.org.za for more information.

Somali Solidarity Campaign

As part of creating a deeper understanding of the Somali context – and building awareness and solidarity support beyond the immediate crisis ASC has launched a Somali Solidarity Campaign. Working in partnership with civil society organisations and individuals in South Africa and across the African continent the campaign will link directly to organisations in the greater Somali region. This initiative is also focused on mobilising resources for the establishment of the Wajir Peace University, an initiative of the Centre for Peace and Applied Research driven by the vision of ACTION founding member Dekha Ibrahim Abdi.

Contact pontsho@asc.org.za for more information.

Conflict Analysis Tools Development

ACTION members will travel to Yaounde, Cameroon to participate in a workshop aimed at further developing practical tools that can be used by communities working in situations of conflict and violence. This forms part of a broader collaboration with Modus Operandi, an international partner of ACTION. The workshop will include participants from across the continent. The workshop will run from the 19th November.

Contact richard@asc.org.za for more information.

Applied Conflict Transformation Course

Skills and Strategies for engaging with conflict
Lessons from Africa and Around the World
Duration:                                          24th – 28th October 2011
Location:                                           Johannesburg, South Africa
Language of facilitation:               English, with translation- Portuguese and French
Closing date for applications:      31st August 2011

ACTION for Conflict Transformation is a global network of individuals and organisations working for sustainable peace.  In Africa the ACTION Support Centre, through its Skills and Strategies for Change programme aims to be a resource for African wisdom and expertise able to respond effectively to the deep-rooted social conflicts across the continent. It connects people working for peace and development, human rights and social transformation, in Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone countries throughout Africa.

The Applied Conflict Transformation Course has been designed by a team of conflict and development specialists and aims to enhance and support the work of practitioners and policy makers affected by conflict and tension.

Specifically the course aims to:

1. Explore why and how people organise and to share strategies for building networks and coordinating the programmes of different stakeholders
2. Introduce tools and skills for analysing conflicts that can assist in identifying intervention strategies to reduce and prevent violence.
3. Identify the origins and causes of new and ongoing conflicts in Africa and their links to continental and global factors
4. Understanding the specific effects of conflict on men and women and exploring the gender aspects of conflict sensitivity
5. Support and strengthen skills for facilitating dialogue, including communication and facilitation skills, negotiation, mediation and arbitration.
6. Explore ways of providing support between practitioners and policy makers active in the field of Conflict Transformation and Development
7. Develop strategies to train other people working for development, human rights and reconciliation in methods of transforming conflict and preventing violence as well as the monitoring and evaluation of these initiatives.
8. Develop capacity within organizations for conflict sensitive planning and implementation of development, humanitarian and peace building programmes.
9. Develop a vision for Africa that reflects African values and capacities for peace

For more information contact Richard Smith on richard@asc.org.za

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Regional Capacity Building Project Phase 2

Regional delegates drawn from Soweto Concerned Residence (SCR)-South Africa, Swaziland Coalition (SCCCO)-Swaziland, Swaziland Young Women’s Network (SYWN)-Swaziland, Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe (YIDEZ)-Zimbabwe, PROPAZ-Mozambique, and Forum Mulher-Mozambique will be participating in the second phase of the Regional Capacity Building Project.  Activities will take the form of exchange visits and partners’ monitoring and evaluation workshops in Swaziland and Mozambique.

The aim of this initiative is to build capacity on common areas of need such as colaborative mobilising for socio-economic and political change, and strengthening internal and external organizational communication in the region.  It also focuses on strengthening people to people solidarity through learning, sharing skills and information with each other, particularly face to face exchange of information where possible, and making the best use of the communication mechanism that are at our disposal. Exchange visits are seen as critical in the implementation of this project.

For more information contact Philani Ndebele on philani@asc.org.za

Regional Solidarity Project

Managing Transition Seminars on Zimbabwe, delegates drawn from South African and Zimbabwean organisation in the Diapora. These Seminars will take place in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg over the next two months.

The aim of this initiative is to revive and strengthen links between the Zimbabwe Solidaity Forum, its South African partners and the Zimbabwean Civil Society organisation in the Diaspora. Continue raise awarness around people to people solidarity in communities through learning and sharing and inform people at a grassroots level on all developments  that are taking place in Zimbabwe.

For more information contact Sipho Theys on sipho@asc.org.za

Drums of Change

Drums of Change is a newsletter profiling peace work, primarily at grassroots level in Africa. It was developed by the Peace and Development Desk at the ACTION Support Center as an effort to promote and publicize grassroots peace workers’ work. The publications are trying to keep readers, even in the most remote areas, abreast with news concerning peace and development in different parts of Africa. The idea is to let other organizations see what their partners are up to in words and pictures. This is primarily for information purposes, but perhaps also to provide inspiration or offer solutions to similar challenges.

The newsletter is an attempt to communicate peace and development efforts at grassroots level to other grassroots communities and organizations working in this field primarily in Africa. This is in an effort to achieve several goals, namely;

• ~To inspire other organizations to start or continue or finish peace and development projects
• ~To encourage organizations facing similar problems to be steadfast in their work
• ~To keep the hopes of readers in conflict situations up by publishing success stories
• ~To encourage communication and collaboration between groups doing similar work
• ~To keep people informed about decisions taken by regional bodies.

Publications: June 2011, September 2011, December 2011.

For submission of stories or for further information, contact rindai@asc.org.za.

Africa’s Insider Mediators’ Platform (AIMP)

In November 2010 a workshop supported by the Peace Nexus Foundation brought together 14 key insider mediation stakeholders. The workshop explored existing support initiatives and collaboration, and used the insights into existing gaps and challenges in mediation as the starting point of a strategic discussion on focusing and enhancing efforts to support and strengthen the contribution of insider mediators on the continent.  The second meeting of the AIMP is scheduled to take place in Kenya in July 2011.

Overall Goal
To establish a support base for African mediators working on conflict systems at multiple levels that enhances internal national mediation capacity and contributes to local ownership of mediation outcomes.

Strategy objectives

• ~To forge and maintain linkages between mediators across existing networks and organisations
• ~To expand learning opportunities for sharing insights, exchanging experience, and mediation systems training, that builds a community of excellent practice
• ~To document and disseminate examples of good practice that enhances the credibility and legitimacy of the long-term contribution of African mediators to building peace and preventing violence
• ~To promote the inclusion of mediators that connect mediation efforts at different levels with senior-level mediation processes
• ~To provide a pool of skilled resource people that can accompany complex mediation initiatives and respond to requests for technical mediation support

Proudly African Campaign Consultations
In the light of the 2008 violent cultural intolerance waves and recent worrying sporadic incidents accross South African, ASC intends to kick start a Proudly African Campaign. The initial stages of this initiative will involve two strategic meetings: A civil Society Consultative Meeting and a Donors’ Roundtable Meeting. These meetings will take place in August/September 2011. 

For more information about this initiative contact Philani Ndebele on philani@asc.org.za

Swaziland Democracy Campaign

Global Week of Action (GwoA)
September 2011 will see, once more, progressive forces inside and outside Swaziland embarking on yet another Global Week of Action in Swaziland. A series of activities such as marches, border blockades and pickets will be organised in Swaziland and accross the world.

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign is made up of labour, faith, youth, women and social movements inside and outside Swaziland. It has several chapters around the world with the ACTION Support Centre as the communication Hub of the Campaign.

For more information visit www.swazidemocracy.org or www.sdcamapign.mobi

Southern Africa Social Forum 2011

The 6th edition of Southern Africa Social Forum (SASF) will take place the 13th-15th  of     October, 2011  in Lusaka, Zambia. ASC intends to mobilise resources for this event. A delegate comprising of ASC partners will be attending this crucial event.

For ideas email info@asc.org.za

Building a culture of people to people solidarity and identifying long term responses to xenophobia in South Africa

ACTION Support Centre is implementing an Anti-xenophobia programme that focuses on Schools. The participating schools are:

Eshukantambo High School; King David High School; Albert Refugee High School; Sacred Heart College Main Stream; Sacred Heart Refugee School; Mandisa Xiceka High School; Noordgesig High School; Dale View High School; Realogile Secondary School; Minerva High School; Roaden High School; Kliptown High School; Phatudi High School; Jeppe Girls High; Phumulani Secondary School; Johannesburg Muslim High

For more information contact
Philani Ndebele
011 339 6332
076 942 3565
philani@asc.org.za