Asia Justice and Rights
Training of Trainers
Empowering Women Survivors of Conflict through Community Documentation, Healing, and Advocacy
Bali, 27-31 August 2018
Women victims are often absent or under-represented in efforts to redress mass violations, thus sustaining a situation where women’s experiences of violence are not acknowledged. In many post conflict and transition contexts women victims are often sidelined from processes to re
build society. Entrenched trauma, silence and impunity for gender-based violence that took place during conflict has contributed to the marginalization of women in many aspects of transitional justice and peace building, and to the perpetuation of a vicious cycle of poverty and blaming the victim.
AJAR has strong experiences strengthening holistic approaches on community-based, victim-centered transitional justice in the contexts of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Myanmar. AJAR found that victims’ and survivors’ groups need spac
e and resources to develop innovative community-based methods for healing trauma and building wider networks for support and solidarity, including groups with different religious backgrounds. At the same time, women need to develop fresh participatory approaches with their networks and engage government officials to ensure delivery of service.
Recognizing that women who have endured gross human rights violations seldom have the time or a place to talk about their experiences and to heal AJAR has created safe spaces for women victims/survivors to gather and share their experiences of violence and impunity. AJAR has developed local capacity to empower survivors, working to demand accountability for past violations as part of the prevention of future abuse, including for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The rehabilitation and empowerment of survivors is both a state obligation as well as a way to ensure that the past is not repeated, where women survivors can participate actively in civic life as empowered citizens.
What is the training about?
Impunity perpetuates silence about violence; ignores past and present trauma and poverty; and refuses to demand accountability from perpetrators, both institutional and individual. Perpetrators still have social, economic, and political power. In this way, impunity maintains cycles of violence against women through cultural and religious norms. Therefore, AJAR believes that societies in transition must engage in a long-term process of “unlearning impunity”. A critical part of this long-term goal to combat impunity for past atrocities in Asia is to create processes that empower survivors, particularly in countries in transition where legacies of mass violations remain unaddressed.
To deal with these challenges, the training process will be based on a deep reflection of weaknesses in transitional justice approaches to date and will offer a process that encourages women to “unlearn” those norms and resist the many ways used to maintain impunity. The exercises and ideas behind them encourage a greater balance between individual and community experiences, attention to civil-political and economic-social rights, and reflection on women’s experiences of violence before, during, and after conflict. Through this training we also seek to balance attention given to healing, empowerment, and advocacy at both individual and community levels.
This is a Training of Trainers (TOT) that aims to facilitate the empowerment of activist and women survivors to deal with trauma by developing culturally appropriate, sustainable, community-based healing methods that recognize victims’ needs. Participants will also gain skills to support survivors and their advocates to access needed services and assistance. The training will also look at ways that women’s groups can engage policymakers and government officials in addressing their issues, and develop open and well-managed women survivors’ collectives that work with officials to strengthen access to services. The aim is to support women victims to voice their issues in their communities, and become capable to demand quality services from government agencies.
The TOT will focus more specifically on how community-based memory and healing initiatives can strengthen recognition from government and citizens and fulfill women victim’s rights. This is in line with the priority to provide support to trauma victims as a result of the effects of conflict and/or other forms of structural violence. This training will also help victims’ groups to increase their skills for self-care, trauma healing and advocacy in order to address their marginalization, identify root causes of conflict and repression, and fulfill their right to reparations, including access to social services and rehabilitation.
For whom is this Training of Trainers?
This TOT is designed to help women unlearn impunity, and provide space for women who have experienced great loss, suffering, and violence to create new responses to injustice, but “unlearning impunity” is not without challenges. This training, therefore, is developed for those who will facilitate the learning process—activists, practitioners, and popular educators who have experience working with victims’ organizations and civil society groups in the struggle to resist impunity. It is developed for those with experience in facilitating workshops, some experience with psychosocial healing (e.g., responding appropriately to a range of emotions), and for those who have some knowledge of the major instruments used to protect women’s human rights.
Training team
- Galuh Wandita
- Tati Krisnawati
- Atikah Nuraini
- Karen Campbell-Nelson
- Susanna George
Logistical information
- The course will be held from 27-31 August 2018 at Kampung Damai, Jalan Pantai Berawa, Gang Sri Kahyangan No. 1, Canggu – Kuta Utara, Bali, Indonesia
- Fee: 500 USD (includes accommodation, meals, training materials, and tuition)
- Accommodation for this Training of Trainers will be in shared rooms (two participants/room) at Kampung Damai, AJAR’s Learning Center. Participants should pay and manage their travel (to/from Denpasar) and visas.
Agenda
27 August 2018
09.00 – 09.45 Introduction, Getting to Know Each Other, Setting Objectives and Ground Rules, Flow of the Training and Agenda (Atikah Nuraini)
09.45 – 10.30 Mapping our Contexts: Understanding Violent Conflict and its Impact on Women
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.30 Transitional Justice and the Impact of Conflict on Women (Galuh Wandita)
12.30 – 13.30 Break – lunch
13.30 – 15.30 Understanding Gender Justice (Susanna George)
15.30 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.30 Introduction to PAR – Stone and Flower (Karen Campbell-
Nelson)
28 August 2018
08.30 – 10.30 Improving and Integrating Psychosocial Approach into PAR Methodology (Susanna George)
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.30 Stone and Flower (Galuh Wandita)
12.30 – 13.30 Break – lunch
13.30 – 15.30 Body Mapping (Tati Krisnawaty)
15.30 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.30 Postcards and Memory Box (Galuh Wandita)
29 August 2018
Free
30 August 2018
08.30 – 10.30 Rebuilding Victims’ Lives, Building Victims’ Movements (Galuh Wandita)
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.30 Village Mapping (Karen Campbell-Nelson)
12.30 – 13.30 Break – lunch
13.30 – 15.30 Resource Mapping (Tati Krisnawaty)
15.30 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.30 Photo Stories + Exhibition (Atikah Nuraini)
31 August 2018
08.30 – 10.30 Action and Innovation for Advocating Women’s Rights Comparative Lessons: Indonesia and Timor-Leste (Karen Campbell-Nelson)
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.30 Action and Innovation for Advocating Women’s Rights Comparative lessons: Myanmar and Sri Lanka (Galuh Wandita)
12.30 – 13.30 Break – lunch
13.30 – 15.00 Wrap up, Evaluation and Closing (Tati Krisnawaty)
For further information related to the training please contact:
Clevyra Wang (Vyra)
Mobile: 087834048666; Email: cwang@asia-ajar.org