We tried to give each morning a similar format, and break the heaviness by doing things a bit creatively or having a game, a break or some music. Each day we spent some time looking at particular aspects of the theme and a particular geographical conflict; on the latter we were able to 'do' Euskadi (Basque Country), Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Chad, and Northern Ireland; sometimes it was a general exploration, sometimes more focused on our theme. The participants in the theme group were mainly European. More general aspects of the theme which we tried to explore included stages of peace processes (a list of stages was developed specifically for this group and used for a barometer/spectrum exercise), gender, the possibility of influencing political processes, the role of NGOs, economics etc.
'Neutrality' or impartiality was an issue of importance. No one really went for the term 'neutral', and 'impartiality' did not necessarily fit in all cases, or was not appropriate to the work some people were doing. Economics was felt to be an area which was ignored by peace activists but could be more fruitfully explored. The importance of strengthening indigenous grassroots groups in conflict areas rather than assuming 'we' had to rush in to intervene was an important point. On gender, we shared the different situations of women in relation to power and grassroots groups in our varied situations.
Even ten of eleven hours is short for dealing with a topic of this nature, and many questions were left not dealt with. Concluding questions and comments included:
Report written by Rob Fairmichael 1998 WRI Triennial index page