Wi’am Community Empowerment & Conflict Transformation

Advancing a culture of peace and acceptance while promoting nonviolent resolutions to conflict.

As you know the situation is getting more tough and boiling. We witness more violence surrounding us and more conflict has been triggered as a result of the hopelessness and the helplessness in our community. Therefore we are sensing an urgent need to provide people with mediation services based on restorative justice, restoration of friendly relationship, collective responsibility, and transformation. Otherwise the situation will go from bad to worse and from worse to the worst and thus we will be intervening to break the cycle of violence in more complicated and sophisticated environments. We don’t want to reach such a climax that violence might become a way of life that could be fatal and detrimental to all. Violence if become normal for many, will be dangerous and not easy to overcome in the long run. There is an urgent need to equip different community members with preventive and outreach programs that include creative and innovative modules and approaches to deal with conflict in nonviolent transformational ways. We are in dire need of dialogue, better means of communication, and creative approaches of working together, active listening, empathy and more emphasis on the work for culture of acceptance where we celebrate and respect differences. We need to focus on synergy stories and successful stories from our culture, tradition and history coupled with stories from the Holy Books and inspiring stories from other cultures and civilizations. Let us talk and dwell on the story of Joseph where agape conquers enmity, restorative justice replaces punitive justice, and forgiveness omits hatredness and bitterness. The story of Joseph is a story of our life and the family of Jacob represents any ordinary family in the community where jealousy, enviness and evil thoughts if they take control of our minds and hearts can destroy our families and humanities. Rather we see in the story, reconciliation and hope reoccupies the hearts of Joseph who radiates them into the consciousness and conscience of his siblings. LOVE , FORGIVENESS and COMPASSION CONQUER ALL.

The project will utilize all necessary means to achieve peace, and transform conflicts in ways to restore healthy relationship on different levels that might help in peace building and coexistence in the whole area.

To enhance civic peace and create friendly and amicable relationship in the community. The long term impact is to create a healthy and nourishing society that promotes the arms of dialogue that replaces dialogue of arms based on nonviolence, respect of the other as he/she is, and help in the transformation of individuals and communities.

1- People are resorting to non violent conflict transformation methods. 2- People are aware of more creative and innovative means and methods in resolving conflict. 3- Improving relationship between different groups and communities. 4- Contributing more to the culture of nonviolence and peacebuilding. 5-Young people are more ready to volunteer to achieve peace in the communities.