Promoting Sustainable Peaceful Coexistence among the Post-War Communities in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This is the report of the process that was undertaken in the implementation of the participatory project on promotion of sustainable peaceful coexistence among the post-war communities in Northern Uganda. The overall objective of the project was to achieve sustainable peaceful coexistence among the communities in Northern Uganda through building the culture of peace and non-violence and application of the principles laid down in the International Decade for Rapproachent of Cultures (2013-2022) as a means of attaining the targets in the 2030 Agenda. The Specific Objectives were to raise awareness on the International Decade for Rapproachent of Cultures (2013-2022) and the Intersectoral Programme of Action for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, promote commonly shared values and positive endogenous practices as foundation for building the culture of peace, specifically involving women and young people, build capacity of heads of Cultural, Religious and Educational Institutions as champions for peace building amongst the various communities under their jurisdiction and enhance capacity of Cultural, Religious and Educational Institutions as repositories for shared values, cultural diversity and other universal values like freedom, justice, democracy, human rights, tolerance, solidarity, national integration, coexistence of peoples and communities The activities involved identifying the various commonly shared values in the various communities as a means of fostering dialogue, organizing awareness meetings for each of the targeted communities on the International Decade for Rapproachent of Cultures (2013-2022) and application of its principles as the cornerstone for intercultural dialogue and peaceful coexistence in all faiths and secular life and ideologies, training heads of Communities and Cultural, Religious and Educational Institutions as champions for articulating the issues of shared values, cultural diversity and other universal values International Decade for Rapproachent of Cultures (2013-2022) and UNESCO's Programme of Action for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence and making policy recommendations based on feedback from the targeted institutions including instituting a memorable uniting annual event to tap the energy, creativity and critical spirit of the young women and men and the wisdom and positive experience of the elderly people to promote and foster continued intercultural dialogue for lasting peaceful co-existence. The process involved the formation of a taskforce to guide in the project implementation, The taskforce met 3 times first to acquaint themselves with their terms of reference, selection of a consultant, approval of the consultants' inception report, receive and assess the consultants' draft report for approval and finally commission it for validation and subsequent publication. During the implementation of fieldwork, UNATCOM fielded two teams of its officials to provide back up support to the consultancy team and to ensure that the project was implemented in the targeted areas as planned. The report was then disseminated to the region and the validation process conducted with the communities making a number of recommendations focusing on the capacity building of the cultural institutions in peace building, appointment of peace champions and establishing of mechanisms and platforms for lasting peace in the region.