Situation Assessment, Kandhamal District, Orissa
Over five months in 2009, Meta-Culture conducted a comprehensive Situation Assessment of Kandhamal District in the northeast state of Orissa where, starting in August 2008, communal violence resulted in over forty deaths and the destruction of hundreds of homes. Under contract with a well-respected international relief and development organization, we conducted the assessment for purposes of achieving a deep understanding of the region's conflict dynamics so that we would be equipped to make recommendations for long-term Conflict Resolution and Peace Building interventions. Through the course of two field visits, we conducted over fifty in-person interviews, which were essential in helping us understand the multiple and often competing perspectives of various stakeholders: Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste people, Hindus and Christians, politicians and government bureaucrats, religious leaders and traders, among others. By analyzing the information from these interviews, and supplementing it with second source academic research, our consultants were able to draw conclusions about several aspects of the conflict: its structural and more immediate causes, potential triggers to further outbreaks of violence, the interests and identities of various stakeholder groups and sub-groups, and the nature of the relationships within and between these groups. Based on these conclusions, we have made a series of recommendations for mediation, dialogue, consensus-building, and training activities that, if implemented with consistency and commitment over the next five years, have the potential to rebuild relationships and lay strong foundations for sustainable peace in Kandhamal.
Workshops for Civil Society Organizations on the World Bank Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO)
In April 2009, Meta-Culture convened and supported the facilitation of the India Outreach Program on behalf of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability and recourse mechanism for the World Bank's private sector arms, known as the IFC and MIGA. The program included three Workshops on Avenues for Accountability around IFC and MIGA Projects for Civil Society Organizations in the Indian cities of New Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. The purpose of the program was to raise awareness about the CAO's work in India and to improve understanding amongst Indian CSOs of how communities affected by World Bank-financed private sector projects can raise their concerns and have their interests addressed through alternative dispute resolution methodologies. Each workshop was attended by representatives from over thirty CSOs, the focus areas of which ranged from relief and development, to human rights, environment, multi-sector reform, corporate social responsibility, trade, and institutional monitoring and evaluation. Meta-Culture conducted successful outreach with these organizations and consulted with the CAO to create a workshop agenda that provided space for conversation about critical issues concerning communities, companies, and international finance institutions (IFIs) in India.
The Corporate Community Engagement Program
The Corporate Community Engagement Program (CCEP) is a unique and proactive conflict prevention and peace building initiative that will create a platform for the corporate leaders to come together and become active stakeholders in building peace and stability in the neighborhoods of the city.
Instead of a typically reactive approach to sectarian discord, where action is taken after a disruptive incident, the CCEP advocates preventive action to create strong and stable communities and to minimize the possibility of future violence.
This is a city wide initiative that will be launched in Bangalore's neighborhoods in 2010. In the subsequent years this program will be scaled up to cover other Indian cities.
Capacity building for Police Officers
Following submission of a comprehensive concept paper, Meta-Culture is currently in the process of finalizing arrangements for a nine-day Capacity Building Program for thirty senior police officers. The objective is to equip police officers with the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out the highly complex and challenging police work in today's rapidly changing society. The program will include three courses: a two-day Interpersonal Communication Course, a four-day Basic Mediation Course and a three-day course on Leadership and Team Building. Participants will include senior police officers from the City of Bangalore and from other parts of Karnataka.
New Course!
“Repairing Broken Relationships—Apology and Forgiveness: Tools for Workplace Dispute Management”
There is a need for quality education of Indian executives and managers regarding why and how, firstly, relationships are vital in today’s dynamic business environment, and secondly, tools such as apology and forgiveness can do a great deal to ease tensions, resolve conflicts and/or improve suboptimal or broken relationships. We are therefore designing a corporate training course to address this need and introduce these concepts into the Indian corporate environment.
The course is designed to help Indian executives understand the “anatomy” of relationships; to educate them about the role of apology and forgiveness in healing broken relationships; and to give them the concrete skills necessary to apologize and forgive effectively. We teach our corporate clients how to use apology and forgiveness correctly and consciously in order to heal and improve workplace relationships and thereby optimize the working environment.
We improve interpersonal relations in the Indian business environment by helping change the culture of discourse regarding apology and forgiveness in resolving interpersonal conflicts in the workplace. We believe that structural and cultural change can be gradually brought about by transforming the ways individuals perceive and interact with one another. If individual executives begin to believe in and employ the tools of apology and forgiveness in their daily relationships, others may see its effectiveness and adopt the practice as well. Thus apology, forgiveness and the open, constructive handling of conflict may be introduced into the business environment.
Inter-religious Dialogue and Monitoring and Evaluation Model for Dialogue
Meta-Culture has been building bridges among polarized groups at the community level by creating an environment of understanding, tolerance and respect through a series of dialogue sessions between polarized religious communities over the last 3 years.
We are currently in the process of designing a Monitoring and Evaluation tool to measure tangible outcomes of these dialogues. The objective of the project is to define specific indicators to measure the shift in attitudes, biases and perceptions among and between different polarized groups. In particular, the Monitoring &
Evaluation model will be tested over our next series of dialogue sessions
Community Mediation Center - CMC
Meta-Culture is opening India’s first Private Community Mediation Center in Bangalore – in cooperation with Montfort College. This Center will provide the citizens and families of Bangalore with a safe and confidential place where highly trained and experienced mediators will help people in conflict address and resolve family and community disputes, be they minor or major, long standing ones. Our mediators will help spouses, families, neighbours, friends and colleagues to find solutions to disputes that put relationships at risk.
MCD's Family Mediation Program helps families that have conflicts or even just disagreements
The process offers families a confidential alternative to seeking advice from their relatives and friends who may not be truly objective or neutral. Mediation is also cheaper and quicker than going to the courts for help.
If you need any more information on the CMC or Mediation in general, please call us at +91 (80) 4152 4784 or 4117 2421
We will be happy to answer your questions!
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