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Visit of Muhammed Suleman of the Coalition for Peace and Unity, Afghanistan

The visit of Muhammed Suleman in early February provided an opportunity for senior decision makers in the UK to hear a voice from the grass roots, from an organisation that has been involved in peacebuilding in very challenging circumstances since 1996. Officials at the FCO and DfID emphasised the importance to UK government of working with groups like CPAU, and made positive suggestions as to how CPAU could build closer links with UK institutions operating in Afghanistan.

Background


In October 1996 a small but growing number of committed Afghan development and aid workers began seeking ways to help foster peace in Afghanistan. Eventually they established Co-Operation for Peace and Unity with the aim of:
* enhancing development and peacebuilding work through strengthening the role of the aid community and
*equipping community members and institutions with the necessary knowledge and skills to analyse problems systematically, develop practical strategies to pursue positive change and disseminate a culture of peace at all levels in Afghan society. CPAU’s approach to peacebuilding is basically geared towards developing local capacities for peace, helping people and communities to establish mechanisms for constructive transformation of conflicts and reduction of violence of any nature. During 2002, CPAU made a strategic choice to work in different geographical locations in Afghanistan with different communities and ethnic groups. In each location, CPAU facilitated the creation of Peace Councils at the district based level, with Peace and Development Committees in village clusters to specifically bring together groups such as women, teachers, youth, ex-combatants etc. This was with the overall aim of strengthening the role of community institutions, and through them, encouraging active and wider participation of larger numbers of people in the process of peacebuilding and development. The latest initiative, which Peace Direct is supporting, brings together representatives of Peace Committees from across the country to build trust between different ethnic groups and enhance their skills in peacebuilding. Here is a story which illustrates the power of CPAU's approach. In 2002 CPAU held a one week training event for a peace building community. They had expected 35 participants but more than 90 had turned up, taking their own time and money to attend from surrounding areas. On the first day the participants were very wary of the trainers and wanted to know who they were, where their support came from and so forth. By the end of the workshop they had agreed to set aside a space for a Peace Committee to meet once a week. Three or four of the participants were local Commanders who have anything from 3,000 to 4,000 armed men under their command. By the end of the week the Commanders were discussing how they could disarm men and use them to support community development, peace and environmental improvements. CPAU have returned at interval to coach and support this community.