As part of Responding to Conflict's work to "assist people to achieve social and political change", they have produced five videos as part of a project to assist peacebuilding practitioners in their work. The video project aims to achieve the following:

• To illustrate the work of African peacebuilding initiatives.
• To create a resource of accessible information on peacebuilding that will enable practitioners to learn from each other and improve the effectiveness of their work.
• To raise awareness within international agencies and governments of existing initiatives and to influence their policies in favour of peacebuilding and conflict-handling work.
• To create a body of documentation that will assist practitioners to assess the impact of their own work and invent new strategies for action.

Following are the five films that have been produced:

• "The Wajir Story" documents an initiative which began with a group of women in north-eastern Kenya and spread to all sectors of the community, including government, drawing on both traditional and modern methods.
• “Gulu, The Struggle for Peace” examines the work done by practitioners and community groups in the midst of violent conflict in Northern Uganda. It describes actions to rehabilitate child soldiers and ease the trauma of women affected by violence, as well as efforts to address the conflict directly.
• “Pulling together - Community Policing in the New South Africa” looks at the challenge to local security and policing posed by democratisation. It describes how one community painfully rebuilt relationships and forged new roles for its police officers in post-apartheid South Africa.
• “Only Through Dialogue – The Somali Way to Peace” traces the bottom-up process in Somaliland from the inside. The strength of customary processes is of vital importance, as is the creative, determined role played by elders, local NGOs and ordinary women and men.
• “Practice to Policy – Making the Connections" brings together the experience and insights of practitioners with those of policymakers in Africa, showing the need to make connections in peacebuilding so that policy-shaping and practice inform and support each other. It also highlights the vital importance of working across all levels, from local to national and international.

All of these films have accompanying notes that can be used in a training environment and provide detailed information on the context. The videos were made in cooperation with COPA (Coalition for Peace in Africa). Robert Maletta is the filmmaker and Trojan Productions was responsible for the production.

Email enquiries@respond.org to order or to enquire about this video project.