Search for Common Ground, Spring 2005 Newsletter:

Dear Friend,

AWARDS. On March 17th at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, we presented the 2005 Common Ground Awards to pay tribute to outstanding achievement in conflict transformation. It was an extraordinary evening. Muhammad Ali accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, which had gone previously to Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu. Muhammad was hailed as both a peacemaker and as a man of courage in the face of serious illness. The crowd was especially moved by his interaction with two gang leaders from Prince George's County, Maryland, Hank Johnson and Dominic Taylor. "It was an unlikely meeting in an unlikely place, made possible by the most improbable of circumstances," reported the Washington Post. At great personal risk, Hank and Dominic had made peace between their rival crews, and for this they received our Community Peacebuilding Award. Muhammad had long been their idol, so they were thrilled, not only to be honored with him, but to present him with his Award. Indeed, they illustrate one of our main themes: namely that all the awardees - whether the Champ or gang chiefs or Cabinet members - are common grounders who work in different ways toward the same goal of bringing people together. Here is a list of the other winners:

- Film: John Boorman - for In My Country
A movie about the South African Truth and Reconciliation process, starring Juliette Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson
- Bipartisan Cooperation: Henry Cisneros & Jack Kemp
Former US Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development- for their shared vision of a national policy to promote home ownership in the United States
- International Peacekeeping: Ambassador John McDonald
For an inspiring, 40 year career as a Track I and Track II diplomat
- International Understanding: Seth Green of Americans for Informed Democracy & Nikki Stern of Families of September 11
For their collaboration on the Hope not Hate series of town meetings and satellite TV dialogues to build understanding between the United States and the Islamic world
Education: Adina Shapiro & Ghassan Abdullah
Co-directors of the Middle East Children's Association (MECA) - for their joint work to achieve tolerance and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians

ELECTIONS. As an organization, we practice societal conflict transformation. To this end, we are constantly looking for new ways to have an impact across entire countries. Until recent years, we had never been involved in election monitoring. Then in 2002, we created the Independent Radio Network in Sierra Leone, linking four local radio stations and using scores of young people as reporters and monitors. Many were ex-child soldiers. We re-armed them - with pads and cell phones - and sent them out to report results and to provide unprecedented transparency. Next, in the 2004 Sierra Leone local elections, we expanded this Network to nine radio stations and 178 monitors.

BURUNDI. In February, we drew on the lessons learned in Sierra Leone and expanded our monitoring to Burundi, where national elections were being held for the first time in 12 years. We formed a consortium, called Media Synergy, which included five radio stations, the national press agency, and our Studio Ijambo. We provided training to 65 multi-ethnic reporters who covered the elections on motorcycles and in rented cars. Altogether, they produced 16 half-hour news shows that were simulcast by the five stations and webcast to the Burundian diaspora around the world. (USAID provided funding for this radio election monitoring in both Burundi and Sierra Leone.)

MACEDONIA. In 1997, Eran Fraenkel, then our country director in Macedonia, proposed that we produce a children's TV series to promote ethnic understanding. I was not enthusiastic. I wanted to concentrate on adults. Eran, to his credit, persisted. He had a dream that TV drama could shift the consciousness of Macedonian kids. Funding was difficult to find, but finally we pieced together a consortium of the Dutch, Swedish, Swiss, UK, and US governments and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur and C.S. Mott Foundations. Working in partnership with Sesame Workshop for the first year and then doing it ourselves for the next four, we produced a huge hit that 91% of Macedonian children watched. It was named Nashe Maalo (Our Neighborhood).

EVALUATION. Last year, we stopped producing new episodes and commissioned independent evaluators to interview more than 1,200 Macedonian children about the series. Here is what they found:

- Nashe Maalo
has been accepted by members of all ethnic communities and has become part of children's everyday life, while being watched collectively within the family.
- Nashe Maalo was very important as a model for society generally, beyond the mere audience of children.
- Viewers understand the "Nashe Maalo logic" a more open attitude of inclusivity (embracing diversity), pioneered by the show. They see it as positive and as a possible model for thinking about and dealing with conflicts in daily life.

NASHE MAALO LIVES. Obviously, a single TV series, however popular, cannot overcome centuries of ethnic mistrust and hostility. Still, we did something that had never been done before: We created a national model of ethnic tolerance that most Macedonians now recognize as the ideal, even when they do not live up to it. And Nashe Maalo still resonates widely across the country. 20 TV stations are re-running it. The theme song, a former number-one music video, continues to get much play. There is a Nashe Maalo children's theater and a Nashe Maalo puppet theater. Every primary school in the country is receiving videotapes of the series and a Parent-Teacher Guide.

ANGOLA. In 1995, we opened our first radio production studio in Burundi. Subsequently, we launched similar studios in Liberia and Sierra Leone to produce shows that stress tolerance and reconciliation. This January in Angola, we opened our fourth studio, with UK and US funding. It is called Studio N'jango - an N'jango being a traditional place for dialogue. The first production is a magazine series for youth to be aired on both governmental and private radio. The studio also trains local journalists and civil society workers in producing responsible, non-inflammatory programs.

EVALUATION. As in Macedonia, our Angola activities recently went through an independent evaluation. Here are quotes from the key findings:
- In the words of one interviewee, SFCG is contributing to the "de-mining of people's minds," something critically important in the current situation in Angola.
- People who participate in SFCG activities not only change their perspective, they change their attitude and their behavior. This is due to SFCG's excellent methodology and its high staff quality.
- Response from stakeholder interviews shows two great areas of success. The first is SFCG's capacity to bring to the same table participants from all sectors of civil society, government, authorities, political parties, and traditional authorities, national and non-governmental organizations, within a constructive dialogue. The second is the increasing demand for the kind of training and dissemination activities that SFCG provides.

MIDDLE EAST: MEDIA. In recent years, we have carried out a wide range of media activities in the Middle East, including the following:
- We publish the Common Ground News Service in Arabic, Hebrew, and English (with funds from the Dutch, UK, and US governments and Rational Games, Inc.).
- We have just finished producing a multi-part TV documentary series for Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite networks that shows on the human level that peace is possible (funded by the European Commission and the Canadian, Dutch, Finnish, German, and Swedish governments, along with the Sagner Family Fund, Gordon McCormick, and Ravinder Singh).
- With MEND, a Palestinian NGO, we co-produced 52 radio soap opera episodes - and will produce 26 more - with themes of non-violence and conflict resolution (funded by the UK and US governments).
- With the Ma'an Network of Independent Palestinian Stations, we are co-producing a 33-part dramatic TV series (also with UK and US funding).
- With the Ma'an Network, we are co-producing a bi-weekly TV magazine series on human-interest subjects for broadcast across the Palestinian territories (funded by the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative).

MEDIA WORKING GROUP. Since 1994, we have convened Arab, Israeli, Iranian, and Turkish journalists to explore how regional media can help reduce violence. In December, the working group held its seventh meeting in The Hague (with funding from the Dutch government).

I am optimistic now. Something big has changed. We have to make peace the way porcupines make love: very slowly and very carefully. - Israeli TV newsman

We are journalists, not peacemakers, but I believe we can do something to achieve peace by how we do our journalism. - Head of Palestinian TV network

CONCRETE STEPS. The Working Group made the following recommendations, which are being implemented with support from our Jerusalem and Amman offices:

To convene regular meetings both in Jerusalem and internationally
To encourage print and electronic media to produce stories that humanize the conflict
To establish a fund for TV documentary production that promotes humanization
To publish through the Common Ground News Service a series of articles on Enlarging the Window of Opportunity and to commission future series on subjects such as The Costs of Violence and Mutual Cultural and Historical Understanding.

AL JAZEERA TRAINING. Al Jazeera is arguably the most influential broadcaster in the Arab world, so we were pleased to be able to sponsor a five-day training on common ground approaches to media at Al Jazeera headquarters in Qatar. The emphasis was on talk show production, and funding came from the US State Department. Participants were Al Jazeera's top news anchors, directors, and producers. "This is a new and exciting methodology and we hope it is taught to all of Al Jazeera's show hosts and producers," said one participant.

SIERRA LEONE: AWARD. In December, Marie Claire Magazine gave a Women of the World award to Emilia Taylor of our Talking Drum radio studio in Sierra Leone. When Emilia was nine, she was forced to become a child soldier. "They take you, they rape you and treat you like a slave," says Emilia. "But if you try to leave, they kill you." After five years, she could stand no more, and she fled with her son. In the last few years, she has returned to school and also become a reporter for our Golden Kids News. This thrice-weekly radio show discusses war, homelessness, and other issues affecting young people. "We create a forum for African children," she says, "to discuss their hopes and fears and to show other children that they can have a future."

THANK YOU. My colleagues and I feel privileged to be able to carry out our work. We are immensely grateful for the support we receive that makes this possible.

With best wishes,
John Marks
President

Search for Common Ground
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.: (1-202) 265-4300
Fax: (1-202) 232-6718
E-mail: search@scfg.org
Web: www.sfcg.org

Search for Common Ground
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Tel.: (32-2) 736-7262
Fax: (32-2) 732-3033
E-mail: brussels@sfcg.be
Web: www.sfcg.org