Centre for Common Ground (CCG)

CCG’s approach focuses on opening space for dialogue and action between parties in conflict to engage one another in cooperative problem-solving processes. To foster this goal, it develops communication processes that are designed to:

• Integrate media and community-based activities
• Provide an opportunity to turn conceptual knowledge into demonstrated skills
• Build effective links between people, communities, and different sectors of society

Specifically, CCG staff facilitates cooperative community-based activities, and reaches out to provide new skills to groups such as emerging civil society leaders, women, journalists, and youth who show leadership potential. It works to bring these diverse groups together face to face, with the goal of helping them recognise commonalities and develop effective relationships.

The project also works with local civil society partners in 8 provinces with the aim of building their capacity to design and implement community peace building projects. CCG’s civil society capacity building programme has included activities ranging from conflict resolution training sessions to street theatre, radio debates, and peace festivals. To cite one example, the civil society group with which Search for Common Ground (SFCG)-Angola works in the Cassongue community of Kwanza Sul province used face-to-face interpersonal strategies - in the form of building conflict analysis skills - to develop concrete objectives for themselves, and were also able to identify substantial sources of local funding for their projects.

Partnership between civil society and the media is a key strategy for some of these programmes. For example, according to the organisers, a radio programme produced by a joint civil society and media working group in Huambo province successfully communicated the need to repair roads to the government. Community support for this programme was so high that the government was compelled to respond and repair the road in question. To prepare for the programme, participants attended a 3-day workshop on peace journalism and the causes of conflict in their community, paying particular attention to how the post-conflict environment might be contributing to or mitigating conflict.

Conflict.

CCG’s 48 civil society capacity building activities in 2003 involved 992 participants and 205 local associations and institutions, 70% of which are now creating and executing their own peace building projects. 85% of participants reported that the techniques they learned from project have changed the way they deal with conflict.