This programme supports leadership and community based organizations to work towards sustainable peace and deeper reconciliation. The projects of this programme are:
 

Leadership Peace Forums:

comprising of influential traditional, political and religious leaders Sinani believes that one of the most effective ways to work towards peace in areas affected by violence, is to support the leadership of such areas. Sinani brings together leadership from different sides of the conflict to participate in joint forums to work on practical issues relating to peace and deeper reconciliation processes. Initially this involves extensive consultation with the leaders separately, followed by an agreement on the number of representatives to join the forum. The leadership decide on topics that are of primary interest, such as agreeing on rules about election campaigning. Once the forums are well established the leaders work on joint projects such as traditional cleansing ceremonies. The leadership forums of Sinani currently operate in the following areas:

• Richmond: 5 representatives from each of the 4 political parties work together in this forum. They have managed to stop political violence in the area and are working on issues around campaigning and tolerance.
• Umbumbulu: About 40 traditional leadership and councilors sit on this forum and have worked actively on bringing peace amongst the nine villages represented in this area.
• Escourt: This newer forum was initiated by religious leaders in Escourt, who managed to draw in the political leadership of the area. The peace in Escourt is fragile and the leaders are working hard to ensure that it deepens.

Community Peace Processes:

such as traditional cleansing ceremonies

The leadership in Richmond and Umbumbulu have facilitated indigenous approaches to peace-building. These ceremonies, called “Ihlambo” in isiZulu are public reconciliation processes where people formally ask forgiveness from one another and the people who passed away during the violence.

Appealing to religious / spiritual aspects as well as providing an important social and psychological reconciliation function, the ceremonies have been found to have an enormous impact on peace-building. In one area, people reported that the day after the ceremony the taxi routes changes so that public transport was possible through all the former no-go areas. Children were able to attend schools in areas formerly inaccessible to them.

Reconciliation and Healing Processes:

group based residential trauma workshops, individual counseling and training in victim empowerment work. Sinani facilitates intensive residential workshops which make use of small group support to offer a space for people to reflect on their lives. The workshops cover: 

• A sharing of an overview of one’s life
• Discussing particularly painful past experiences
• Dealing with anger
• Dealing with loss
• Personal reconciliation
• Making decisions and goal setting for the future

A detailed workshop programme is available. Research was also conducted on the impact of the workshops and this report is available. (include some comments from the report)

Respect Campaign:

promoting respectful ways of interacting amongst different people in the community Sinani recently launched a campaign called “Hlonipha” (respect). Sinani believes that one of the key factors in these areas is that the social fabric of communities was affected by violence and Apartheid oppression.

In particular, there is a lack of dignity and respect. This affects relationships within the family, between older and younger people, power relationships between men and women and the way children are treated. The topic of respect (hlonipha) is one which generates a lot of interest amongst many sectors of such communities. Leadership desire respect. Men, women and youth speak about the need for respect. Respect is a common element which may be raised to restore dignity and address relationship problems. It is a culturally appropriate manner to address even sensitive topics such as domestic violence and safe sex practices. Together with leadership, men, women and youth, Sinani has developed a creative campaign which uses messages of respect to address sensitive topics around:

• HIV prevention
• Care of people affected by HIV and Aids
• Gender equality
• Gender based violence

The value of the campaign is that it involves community representatives addressing their own communities. The messages were carefully developed to be locally appropriate. They tackle difficult matters that were seen as priorities, but in a sensitive manner. 
A series of posters was developed for this campaign. Click here to see these posters...
 

Gender Based Violence:

awareness-raising and community dialogue around cultural and social aspects of violence towards women

One of the most serious effects of post conflict dynamics happen within families affected by violence. There is often an increase of domestic violence, sexual violence and abuse following large scale community violence. Sinani aims to reduce gender based violence by empowering both men and women, and opening discussions around gender dynamics specific to each community.