Project Citizen: A Strategy for Peacebuilding in Conflict Zones

The Irish playwright Seán O’Casey, penned the line in one of his plays, “the whole world’s in a terrible state o’ chassis” (“chassis” meaning chaos in local Dublin dialect).

This was written in 1924 , shortly after the Irish Civil War, but I am starkly reminded of the phrase as I watch images of horror, war and man’s inhumanity to man, flash across my TV screen on a daily basis.

This “chassis” or chaos has been taken to a new and unimaginable level in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, where horrific slaughter and starvation scream out at us unceasingly.

As a citizen of Northern Ireland, who lived through a 30 year conflict, (though low key compared to Palestine), I’m full of admiration for the bravery and resilience of its’ people who have weathered continuous onslaughts of militarisation, blockades, intifadas, oppression and loss of life. Yet they soldier on, determined to uphold their dignity and sense of purpose.

As the Director of an Education programme in a peace building NGO, (Co-operation Ireland ) during the 1990’s and 2000’s, I became aware of the work of the Teacher Creativity Centre (TCC) in Ramallah, through our association with the US Centre for Civic Education (CCE) .

The common denominator was our objective of civic participation and peacebuilding through education and membership of CCE’s Civitas network.

TCC, like ourselves, adapted one of its’ flagship programmes, “Project Citizen”(PC), disseminated by CCE in the 90’s & 2000’s, as part of US federal policy, to develop democracy education internationally.

PC was a practical school based activity, focused on public policy advocacy. This involved a 5 step learning by doing model, where students as a group, identified a problem in their community, researched and proposed a policy solution, and developed an action plan and public presentation to advocate for their solution.

This involved attaining knowledge of civic principles, skills of research, team work, analysis, and advocacy; it also fostered attitudes of co-operation, respect and empathy - all key elements of democratic thinking and practice. An important objective was to enable students to think critically and act collectively.

In Northern Ireland where identities were disputed, where faceless civil servants implemented the policies of a remote British government, and where the minority Nationalist/Irish community felt discriminated against, this project offered a means of enabling young people to discover the power of participation and advocacy.

The Good Friday/Belfast peace agreement of 1999, revived local parliament with representative structures inclusive of opposing factions.

Project Citizen then became a tool which could build both a culture and a facility for active engagement. Our first cohort of participating schools in our adapted version of PC, (entitled “Civic-Link”), was launched in 2000.

The Teacher Creativity Centre had similar aims of empowering Palestinian youth to engage, and become responsible citizens, but given their political and social context, their objectives were more wide ranging.

Conflict and crises not only disrupt, but impact multiple societal domains. Palestine was at the acute end of the scale. The well documented typology of the effects of conflict in war zones, lists severe psychological distress, loss of social capital, lack of community pride & participation, a diminution of trust, co-operation, apathy, social networks etc.

In Palestine, political institutions had been undermined, livelihoods, infrastructure and economic growth disrupted, law, order and community cohesion broken down, and chaos and anarchy had erupted in both society and schools.

Project Citizen in Palestine started with the traditional model of focusing on public policy as a methodology for enabling students to relate civic principles and practice to real life issues. However it rapidly evolved into exploring how student activities could resonate and respond to the direct needs of their communities and address the ravages of conflict.

Cognisant of the fact that lasting change does not come from violence or politics, but through people and communities, TCC ‘s aim was to strategically link the student work with community endeavour and explore how PC might impact issues such as public apathy, lack of awareness, relationship breakdown, loss of respect, accountability, etc.

This resulted in TCC linking the delivery of the project not only to academic, but to social outcomes - ensuring the totality of personal, academic and psychological development and focusing student advocacy on live issues.

An early example of impact included a problem with sanitation and health services in Ramallah’s hospital’s maternity unit. By attracting the attention of the local community and government officials through local media, a group of 15-17 year old girls succeeded in improving the quality of services provided by the hospital.

TCC subsequently invested significant energy in enlisting support and partnerships at institutional and civil society level and mobilising stakeholders such as local councils, education bodies, community leaders, parents etc. with a view to fostering common purpose, and strengthening community cohesion and solidarity.

Further attention focused on a critical analysis of the values underpinning both the delivery of PC in the classroom and on policy making and practice in the community; this then progressed to investigating ethical and moral problems associated with corruption, transparency and accountability in the local delivery of existing policies.

TCC then introduced a social audit dimension to PC methodologies, where students monitored and assessed financial, administrative and planning elements of existing policies and services with the assistance of external professionals and various subject teachers.

As a result, students uncovered financial irregularities and delivery problems in 85% of the projects and with the help of media publicity, managed to get the authorities and contractors to address these issues.

In the Nablus area, for example, students stopped a contractor from building a road on people’s land and made sure it was delivered in the right place and to the correct dimensions. In the West Bank, students identified failings in the construction of a road in Qabatiya and pressed the mayor to ensure the contractor delivered what was specified and on time.

Other examples ranged from achieving improved electrical networks, better access to water, tackling building issues etc. – most relating to non-compliance with contract specifications and to elements of corruption.

In the wider arena of national issues, such as gender equality, disability, health and education, a further development was the adoption of a Human Rights based approach. This idea had been germinated by ourselves in the mid 2000’s and shared with civic educators in other conflict zones using Project Citizen.

Formulating problems as a violation of human rights under International law, strengthened advocacy responses and this methodology was subsequently incorporated into the teaching materials of TCC.

And so step by step, the programme evolved incrementally far beyond its’ original objective
of fostering a culture of youth engagement and advocacy, to actively:

• addressing the immediate concerns of local communities
• interrogating the values and practices which underpinned existing public policy decisions
• examining how democratic practices were being modelled and used in classroom teaching
• focusing the spotlight on transparency and accountability at both local, municipal and institutional level
• strengthening advocacy by framing issues within a Human Rights context.

But perhaps the greater and less quantifiable result, was the contribution of this endeavour to alleviating the impact of conflict – particularly issues mentioned previously, such as apathy, lack of awareness, cohesion, trust and accountability within the wider Palestinian community and society.

For much of the 30 year conflict in Northern Ireland, the school was often regarded and protected as a haven of peace, as a separate entity from community and its issues and from the violence and division enveloping surrounding communities; teachers avoided raising controversial issues or political differences, in order to sustain an oasis of calm.

Yet now in Palestine, and particularly in the West bank, TCC has achieved the remarkable transformation of a school based academic project into a community initiative, owned by all stakeholders, with the student and school at the centre rather than at the periphery. Students have become active agents of change and an antidote to the debilitating effects of conflict - a catalyst for awareness raising, improved community services, shifts in social values and attitudes, increased solidarity and a beacon of hope and resilience. They have also rediscovered their sense of pride and self-esteem.

The trajectory of our two states has diverged in the intervening years. We on the island of Ireland have, for now, made peace with partition and the validity of Northern Irish public institutions. Palestine however continues to be denied statehood and faces gigantic challenges, not least the incredible escalation of military violence, not only in starving Gaza, but also in the West Bank. This has now finally been acknowledged by many countries and international bodies, as genocide.

TCC has continued to work through the tsunami of terror that afflicts the region and to support and motivate participating schools. (Further details of this story are available in a corresponding document “The Road Less Travelled”)

Tribute must be paid to TCC’s director Dr. Refaat Sabbah, who had the vision, passion and determination to realise the potential of this project in a conflict afflicted region; to persevere despite difficult, if not almost impossible operational challenges.

His ability to foster ownership of the project by its’ stakeholders and beneficiaries, ensured that it would be sustained through funding gaps and the worst manifestations of occupation. The dedication of his Board of Governors and commitment of his staff and teachers, who’ve kept the show on the road, bears testament to their belief in the benefits which have rippled through their society. As one participant stated, “hope is our only sustenance”.

Project Citizen continues in the West Bank, with over 300 schools participating in PC in spite of growing unrest and killings, triggered by escalating militarisation and the incursion of Israeli settlements.

Tragically, the current annihilation of Gaza, has forced TCC to suspend PC in that region and focus its activities on providing psycho-social support for traumatised children, eking out an existence among the bomb blasted rubble.

In spite of the horrendous retribution being visited upon Palestinian society, TCC continues to hope that the embodiment of the values and principles of citizenship imbued within their students, will demonstrate what is possible, even in the midst of an intractable conflict. Through Project Citizen, and other educational initiatives, TCC has created a cohort of socially responsible and actively engaged young people, who have pioneered a new pathway of positive rather than negative proactivity.

Inspired by the words of South African bishop, Desmond Tutu,“Hope is being able to see that there is light, despite all of the darkness.’’, TCC’s aspiration has been, that a new generation of informed and able citizens will be strategically positioned to lead and build a peaceful, democratic and sustainable nation, one granted freedom, dignity and justice .

There’s an old Greek proverb which states: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in”.