Finding. Funding.Promoting.

To the north of the capital the paved Salang road links Kabul to the Northern provinces, and the district of Farza is situated about 30 minutes drive from Kabul, towards Parwan province. The land is mostly flat, rising to foothills of between 2000 and 2500 metres. Farza sits in the hills of the north-western part of Shomali plain, and its population is between 12,000 and 18,000, spread between about 18 villages. In January 1991 Farza was separated as an independent district from Mirbachakoot but this structure was not recognised by the Taliban. During the war, and particularly after 1996, fighting virtually destroyed the entire district, forcing the population from their homes and lands.

Farza is situated on fertile land, and the area is historically abundant with fruit orchards, cherries, vines, mulberries, grapes, plums, apples, willow and wheat. However, drought has severely affected the area over the last few years, and together with the wholesale destruction of the Kareze irrigation systems, has greatly affected the ability of the local population to support itself.

CPAU has been operating in Farza for several years and alongside supporting the Peace Councils CPAU also delivers peace education in 20 schools in the district. Some 5,000 students have received peace education in 2008, of which 40% were female. In addition CPAU holds Peace Conferences in Farza, the last of which was in October 2007 was attended by 120 people. The conferences are used to promote understanding between government bodies, religious leaders and local communities regarding non-violent conflict resolution. The Peace Council members have reported to CPAU that they see links between the peace promotion activities in the Peace Councils, Peace Education and the Peace Conferences.

Farza Peace Council
Farza has a population of 15,139 and the central Peace Council was formed on 25th August 2004 and consisted of 24 members and is composed of;
2 Mullahs, 4 Maliks, 2 Teachers, 1 student and 15 farmers.
The central Peace Council supports 6 zonal shuras, one of which is exclusively female. There are on average of 25 people in each zonal council. The councils dealt with at least 17 conflicts between 2005-7 and Farza was awarded the most peaceful district in Afghanistan by the Afghan government and UN in 2007. Conflicts over land and water are by far the most frequently addressed by the peace council. Local conflicts seen by the council are almost always low-intensity and non-fatal, and also include disputes over marriages, debt and, very infrequently, cases concerning blood feuds.

Along with carry out its normal conflict resolution duties, including meeting regularly, encouraging peaceful resolution of conflicts and mediating where appropriate and holding local conferences for people to hear about conflict resolution the council has been running a number of other projects. This includes a micro hydro power project, costing $7,000 which is supplying electricity to 450 families, and establishing a company for local people called “Karkaari”. The company hires out cutlery and dishes used for catering for a large number of people during the festival and Eid seasons. The council helped to establish the company with a small grant to buy the basic materials, and is helping to finalise the administrative and financial systems of the company.
During the most recent monitoring mission to Farza in August 2008 members of the council were interested in expanding their activities in a number of areas;

1. They want a peace centre where they could hold their Shura meeting and discuss the district issues. Ideally this should be a two-room facility so that it can be used by both men and women.
2. They want to introduce peace education into their existing madrasas.
3. The female council members particularly would like to have literacy courses
4. Building on their experience with ‘Karkaari’ they would be interested in learning more about fruit packaging and processing to see if it could be expanded in their areas.
5. The council is also interested in supporting the rebuilding of a local madrasa.
6. prepare the community for the upcoming election

These additional activities could take place over a number of years in discussion with the council, CPAU and Peace Direct.

Stopping the personal becoming political

As anyone who watches the news will know, the situation in Afghanistan is worsening day by day. Over the past 4 years CPAU has been working with peace councils across the country to understand the root causes of conflict. In a country torn apart by decades of war where traditional systems are strained and politicians play on tribal divisions, a personal dispute between families can quickly escalate into violent conflicts across whole districts. CPAU’s research offers a step towards constructive solutions. This update focuses on Farza, and shows how CPAU’s understanding of the triggers of conflict has enabled them to act proactively to try to prevent conflict before it arises.

Farza

The situation in Farza is unique from the rest of the country. Neighbouring Kabul normally bears the brunt of armed attacks, and the relatively good irrigation in the district means livelihood disputes are less common. The most common source of conflict stems from marriage issues between families, but tension between families can quickly blow up to involve entire villages.

Farza, like the rest of Afghanistan has suffered from an increase in violence in relation to the recent elections. For the six months preceding the elections CPAU ran a programme of awareness raising and training amongst the local population to resist efforts by politicians to manipulate conflicts for their own gain. CPAU has set up peace councils across the district and trained them in awareness raising so they could support the organisation of the elections in the Farza district. CPAU also ran workshops in peacebuilding for government officials, the police chief and the district chief, to give them the tools to resolve conflict during the election period.

The workshops were an opportunity for spokespeople to raise the issues affecting their communities. As a result the Peace Council have resolved to address the increasing number of family and social conflicts in the area, and to start literacy course in Madrasa using the Koran to reduce illiteracy and poverty.

Building peace in such a volatile country is not an easy task, but as they develop a thorough understanding of the causes of violence, CPAU is making inroads into conflict resolution.

The Coalition for Peace and Unity in Afghanistan (CPAU) supports the Farza Peace Council to deal with the day to day disputes of local conflict and to stop them escalating into violence in this volatile country.  Whilst these disputes may appear small in comparison to what is reported in the news from Afghanistan, the absence of such high levels of violence is partly due to the council not allowing smaller disputes to escalate to blood feuds. This stability is important to resist the encroachment of armed militias into areas nearer Kabul.

Examples of the achievements the Farza Peace Council have made in recent months include:

1. Funding and development
   Previously funding had been shared between the 5 peace committees in Farza for electricity generation, funding bakeries and gas sellers. The Peace Council has advocated pooling the remainder and so far land has been bought for the construction of a school.
2. Resolving marital dispute:
   A conflict arose over an engagement as the bride had originally been betrothed to another individual who had been killed in an unrelated incident in the village of Khak Shaheedan. The families involved approached the Peace Council to mediate and a local mullah was invited from amongst the religious leaders in the neighbourhood to officiate the mediation. The Peace Council was able to mediate a resolution to the marriage without further violent conflict and the engagement between the individuals was allowed to proceed with the acceptance of the family who had opposed it. The dispute over the death has now been referred for resolution in the formal justice system and the local district governor is addressing it.
3.  Resolving neighbourhood dispute:
   In the village of Hassan Dara there had been bad relations between two people for over twenty years which had had a negative impact of livelihoods in the village. Recently the conflict flared up again around the school and the local Peace Committee was asked to intervene and invited the elders of the protagonists village to attend.  The elders took the individuals to task over their continued disputes, particularly that it threatened Farza’s growing reputation for being a peaceful district. The protagonists were encouraged to address each other’s concerns and forgive each other publicly. 

Asha Hagi Elmi has told the Euopen Voice that the situation in Somaila “is very alarming. If the international community does not respond positively, the situation will get even more out of hand” .

Read more here. http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/decision-looms-on-support-for-security-force-in-somalia/65435.aspx

“Peace Direct is continuing its support of CPAU in Afghanistan by providing core funding for the Farza Peace Council. Farza is a district outside of Kabul and in 2005 was declared the most peaceful district in Afghanistan. Originally, the council was supported by the Centre for Peace and Afghan Unity (CPAU) and CPAU continues to be closely involved with the councils and Peace Direct.

History of the Council
Traditionally, the council has acted as a local resource for resolving disputes, from marital problems to issues of unpaid debts. Whilst these disputes may appear small in comparison to what is reported in the news from Afghanistan, the absence of such high levels of violence is, in part, due to the council not allowing smaller disputes to escalate to blood feuds. This stability is important to resist the encroachment of armed militias into areas nearer Kabul.

Past Peace Direct Activities
In order to provide the council with a sustainable income, previous Peace Direct donations have funded the core costs of the council whilst setting-up a computer training centre which in the future is hoped to provide a steady income.

Current Activities
The main activities for this year will be continuing to send the council £8,000 to support core costs and preparing local communities for the elections to be held in August. The council will be taking on additional duties of preparing people to engage in the elections peacefully, avoid violence and support fair representation. With the support of CPAU trainers, 6 training workshops will be conducted for the peace council and civil society actors, including madrassa students. The workshops will be in conflict resolution, basic advocacy training and advocacy for participation in good governance.

Future Activities with Peace Direct and CPAU
Currently, Peace Direct is supporting CPAU to conduct research for DfID to investigate why young men are joining armed groups and what kind of support they receive from their communities. The findings of this study, expected in the coming months, will provide CPAU, DfID and Peace Direct with a greater understanding of the situation in Afghanistan and shed more light on the role of the peace councils.

Tom Gillhespy,
Head of International Programmes
Peace Direct”