Program Summary
The goal is to promote and study problem-solving relations in conflict zones. The
focus is on the conflict between Georgians and Abkhaz in the Southern Caucasus. The
participants are Abkhaz and Georgian academics and nongovernmental organizations.
They engage in joint research and action to overcome the obstacles to peace, prevent
resumption of military action, and contribute to theory on conflict transformation.
Outside facilitation is necessary because of their inability to travel to each other's
cities. The project has been funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
the US Institute of Peace, the Winston Foundation for World Peace, and the University
of California. Work is in the three inter-related areas described on this web site:
About the Conflict and Dialogue
Georgia is one of fifteen successor states of the Soviet Union. In 1992-1993, there
was armed conflict between the Georgians and the Abkhaz who sought independence from
Georgia. This war resulted in thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of refugees,
and ruined economies. To date a resolution has not been found. Russian forces guard
the ceasefire line between the two sides.
The purpose of this project and its multi-year series of conferences and publications since 1998 is to facilitate dialogues to help the sides reach a mutually satisfactory peaceful resolution. The conferences help keep open channels of communication between civil society activists, academics, journalists and policy makers from the two communities, and give them access to their counterparts in Russia and various international organizations. Because of the project's dedication to full transparency, the conferences also involve many more people in the dialogues through these publications and post conference meetings in each community.
Project Publications
Civil Society Development
This project facilitates a constructive dialogue and interaction between Georgian
and Abkhaz representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It promotes skills
and structures in the nongovernmental sectors, conducive to developing safe, civil
and stable society. Our assumption is that NGOs are crucial to an effective process
of reconciliation at the community level, and are far more effective in promoting
and maintaining genuine peace than reliance on coercive, police-oriented approaches.
NGOs can be mini-models of self-governance and peaceful negotiation for common interests.
Coordination of Multiple Initiatives
A few times a year this project initiates meetings with all other international and
indigenous organizations and individuals working on peace initiatives in the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict. In addition we schedule periodic virtual meetings by phone and through
the internet. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the general context of the
conflict and to explore how we can be supportive of each other's work and encourage
complementarity of our multiple efforts by establishing shared goals. At these meetings
we update each other on project developments and coordinate plans; develop ways to
combine our resources to fund indigenous peacebuilding and democracy building acitivities;
share analyses of productive and unproductive activities in the peace process; discuss
options for how to continue this kind of coordination--whether as simple information
sharing, resource sharing, joint strategy development, joint projects, or as a consortium;
generate research together on the efficacy of our coordinating actions.
Evaluation of Citizen Peacebuilding Initiatives
The goal of the evaluation research is to go beyond assumptions about the impact of
citizen peacebuilding by providing solid evidence about what does and does not work,
in order to guide more effective initiatives in conflict zones. The research activities
involve participant-observation, in-depth and focus group interviewing, and surveys.
We also use Action Evaluation methodology within the project. This method has been
crucial to our successes. It has helped us chart our goals and plans as we go along,
kept us on track, pushed us to keep our promises to each other, and signaled us to
switch gears when necessary. Action Evaluation is more than an effective process
to articulate goals and gather data systematizing what is normally done in the design
and implementation of conflict resolution processes. The methodology enables participants
to recognize the motivations, values and interests necessary to negotiate consensus
on shared goals so as to promote reflexive evaluation among key stakeholders as they
move forward.
Archives
- Project Publications
- Bulletin of Abkhaz NGOs (Sukhum(i))
- Conference, June 1-4, 2000