|
YES
PM |
YES PM Workshop - March 14, 2002, Tantur 9.00 - 14.00 - Click Here
The British Consul General
in Jerusalem and the British Embassy in Tel Aviv have contracted IPCRI to
conduct a detailed study on how to increase and strengthen the impact of
future Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People initiative
The Oslo Peace Process was largely framed as a “top-down” strategy
for achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The strategy was
based on reaching political agreements between the Government of Israel
and the PLO. The expectation
was that political agreements between the leaders would significantly
change the realities on the ground and the peoples of both sides would
almost automatically support the process.
Almost as an afterthought the sides added to the Oslo II agreement
an annex calling for the institution of People-to-People projects as a
means of strengthening peace between the two peoples.
The international community embraced the agreements and the idea of
People-to-People projects. During the past five - seven years an estimated
$20-$25 million dollars was allocated for funding people-to-people
projects mainly through NGO’s and Civil Society Institutions in Israel
and Palestine.
In September 2000 the Palestinian Al Aqsa Intifada erupted virtually
putting an end to the People-to-People projects (with several exceptions
– IPCRI being one of them). Now many people, locally and internationally
are asking why? Why did the
people-to-people projects cease to work when they were critically needed
most? Why did the
people-to-people projects fail to produce the desired goals? Was there a
strategy for funding these projects? How could people-to-people project
have greater impact? Why are some activities continuing while others have
ceased? Could a “best practices manual” for people-to-people project
be developed? And many more questions.
The
aim of this proposal is to answer the above questions through a systematic
approach involving the proponents and antagonists of the people-to-people
concept. The project will
involve Israeli and Palestinian NGO’s and Civil Society Institutions,
academics – Israeli, Palestinian, and internationals, the donors to the
people-to-people projects, and other expert conflict resolution and
conflict prevention practioners from other parts of the world.
The
aim of this project is not to conduct an evaluation of the work of the
many NGO’s and institutions that conducted activities conducted under
the “people-to-people” heading, but rather to work together with all
of those who ran such programs in order to learn together and to propose
“best practices” for future work in this area.
IPCRI
will be organizing a number of workshops for people and organizations that
have run “people-to-people” projects over the past years. A joint Israeli-Palestinian research team will be meeting
with people and individuals in the field as well.
We will also develop an interactive web site to be used by anyone
who would like to submit observations, conclusions, suggestions, etc.
In
the end of the project (6-8 months) IPCRI will publish its findings.
We
call upon all of those individuals and organizations, NGO’s, governments
and agencies, donors and recipients to cooperate with IPCRI in this
important project. We view
this as a cooperative endeavor from which all of us can benefit.
We
would be pleased to receive your comments and input.