Evaluation Report

Peace Building Programme of Sinani - KwaZulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence

South Africa

In cooperation with Weltfriedensdienst (WFD)

Supported by Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

through the German Civil Peace Service (CPS) April 2008 Presented by Daniela Körppen (Berghof Research Center/ Berghof Foundation for Peace Support Berlin) Prof. Dr. Nhlanhla Mkhize (School of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal) Dr. Stephanie Schell-Faucon (Consultant for Berghof Foundation for Peace Support Berlin)

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Table of Content

Executive Summary i-ix

1. Introduction 1

2. Methodological approach of the evaluation

2.1 Systemic considerations and African Cultural Meaning Systems 2 2.2 Preparation process 3 2.3 The joint research and learning process in KwaZulu Natal 4 2.3.1 The first workshop 4 2.3.2 Interview methodologies and field visits 6 2.3.3 The final workshop 6

3. Political and socio-economic situation of KwaZulu Natal

3.1 Poverty and HIV/AIDS in South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal 8 3.2 Political Violence in KwaZulu-Natal 9 3.2.1 The Impact of Violence and its continuation in the Post-Apartheid Era 9 3.2.2 The Land Question: The Colonial Legacy 10 3.2.3 The Communal Land Rights Act of 2004 (Act No 11 of 2004) 11 3.3 Major Actors in the Conflict System 11

4. Characteristics of Sinani’s work

4.1 Intervention model 13 4.2 Ethos and organisational culture 16 4.3 Knowledge Management and institutional learning 17 4.4 Contribution and tasks of the current WFD cooperant 18

5. Achievements and impacts of Sinani’s peace building programme

5.1 Indigenous approaches to peace building 20 5.1.1 Cleansing Ceremony (ihlambo) 20 5.1.2 Respect Campaign (hlonipha) and the idea of ubuntu 25 5.2 Leadership Forums 26 5.2.1 Richmond Forum 26 5.2.2 Mbumbulu Forum 28 5.2.3 Escourt Forum 30 5.3 Sinani's work and gender 31 5.3.1 Working with young men (Izinsizwa) 31 5.3.2 Sinani’s work with women 32 5.3.2.1 Sinani’s involvement with community based health workers 32 5.3.2.2 Women involvement in the Victim Empowerment Centre: Mbumbulu 33

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6. Special learning fields

6.1 Where are the boundaries of the Sinani system? 35 6.2 Greater leverage vs. safeguarding Sinani’s community based identity? 27 6.3 Community development - a highly fragile process intertwined with

patterns of violence 38 6.4 Indigenous methods – working with young women and men? 39 6.5 From ‚bringing leaders together on one platform’ to linking them to

different levels of society? 41 6.6 From conflict management towards safeguarding stability by strengthening

governance and civic education? 41 6.7 Sustainability of Sinani’s work or whether, when and how Sinani has

to phase out? 42

7. Overall assessment of Sinani’s Peace Building Programme

7.1 Theories of change 44 7.2 Relevance 46 7.3 Effectiveness 48 7.4 Impact 49 7.5 Sustainability 50 7.6 Efficiency 51 7.7 The role and impact of the German Civil Peace Service 53

Abbreviations 56 Bibliography 57 Annexes

Annex 1 Terms of References (ToR) of the evaluation team I Annex 2 Programme/ Schedule of the evaluation V Annex 3 Questionnaire for beneficiary workshop

and community visits and interviews VII Annex 4 Joint ground rules for the evaluation process XI

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Executive Summary This report presents the results of an evaluation of the peace building programme of the South African non-governmental organisation “Sinani – KwaZulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence”.

The peace building programme has been developed with the continuous financial and conceptual support of Weltfriedensdienst (WFD). The WFD granted its support especially through the German Civil Peace Service (CPS) Programme which is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ). Since 2001 the WFD has seconded three German cooperants to assist the peace building programme with specific skills and capacities that Sinani identified as crucial for the further development of their programme. This evaluation primarily looks at the latest funding period from 2005-2008 and the contribution of the current CPS cooperant supporting the peace programme team since then. When we speak of ‘Sinani staff’, we need to emphasise that this always includes the cooperant. The impact of the programme as described here has to be understood as a joint achievement by Sinani and WFD.

Methodology

In partnership with the Berghof Foundation for Peace Support an evaluation integrating systemic thinking and systemic methodologies was developed since systemic ideas were deemed to fit well to African cultural meaning systems and the way Sinani works. The evaluation was designed as a cyclic and organic process of action and reflection. It can be regarded as a joint learning exercise and intervention with the essential aim to increase the capacity of the organisation to understand its strengths and weaknesses and develop ideas for future direction (2.1 - 2.3).

Political and socio-economic context

South Africa, despite the transition to the new political dispensation, is still characterised by inequalities that are reminiscent of the Apartheid era. KwaZulu-Natal, the target province of Sinani’s interventions, is not only one of the populous and poorest; it has the highest HIV/Aids prevalence in the country and also a poor civil society structure. Political violence continued well beyond 2004 in the province, and there is currently new violence being sparked by inadequate access to land which poses a major source of violent confrontation in the province, as does the ambiguous relationship between the traditional leadership and elected counsellors (3.1 - 3.3).

Characteristics of Sinani’s work

The following characteristics of Sinani’s current intervention model can be summarised (4.1):

From community mob liser to a facilitator of community processes iToday Sinani targets especially community structures that will be able to sustain the achievements of the community in the long run. The basic idea is that Sinani has more leverage by working with and through key community people.

A holistic approach to people and the problem situation Sinani looks at people holistically, recognising that they are closely connected to the context they live in. Sinani further acknowledges the major problem cycles in the communities

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where poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS reinforce each other. Improvement on one of these issues can be destroyed again through insufficient progress in one of the others. Hence, Sinani intervenes in each community with its HIV/AIDS, peace building and poverty alleviation programmes. To ensure coherence and synergy one Sinani staff has the overall responsibility for Sinani’s intervention in a specific community (matrix structure).

Uniqueness of each community requires a tailor made approach While many problem cycles are relevant for all communities in KwaZulu-Natal, there are also a lot of differences. Sinani starts its work in a community by establishing a community profile describing the conflict lines and major needs of the community.

Owner and resource of the peace process and its design is the community itself Sinani has gained a reputation in the communities because of its ethical principles and the way it is working; summarised in the following implicit and explicit principles (4.2-4.3):

• Being respectful, authentic and empathetic, ensuring honesty and transparency

• Gaining credibility through thorough knowledge of the community’s history and

needs

• Working collaboratively with communities to identify needs and to plan

interventions.

• Solution oriented approach: Building on existing strengths and coping strategies

• Striving to be a ‘neutral’ broker, remaining impartial in the conflict

• Focussing on the individual, internal changes and the work on relationship

It is with these principles lived by the organisation throughout its work that Sinani has been particularly open for an exchange and learning with and from all the WFD cooperants (4.4).

Achievements

Out of the many achievements that could be observed by the evaluation team (5.1 – 5.3), the integration of indigenous approaches, especially the effects of the cleansing ceremony, are probably the most outstanding and a proof for Sinani’s cautious approach to the needs of the community. Sinani supported the idea of the leadership forums to use traditional cleansing ceremonies as a means of bringing about psychosocial healing and reintegration of former combatants, families and communities in societies afflicted by tribal and political violence. The cleansing ceremonies in Richmond (2006) and Mbumbulu (2007), arguably the hardest hit areas in the violence of KwaZulu-Natal, were attended by many dignitaries and attracted thousands of people, some of whom had never been in contact since the end of hostilities in the province. The ceremonies also received good coverage in the print media and national television. The results of the evaluation indicate that the cleansing ceremonies were effective as a symbolic gesture of community reconciliation, allowing parties formerly at war to publicly denounce their former behaviour and also to establish spiritual reconnection with their ancestors, who are the custodians of peace and prosperity. Over and above the re-establishment of connection with the ancestors and pacification of the deceased (spiritual level), reconciliation at the individual, relational/interpersonal, and community levels and - as a consequence - the vanishing of ‘no go areas’ and changes in taxi transportation were reported (5.1).

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Special learning fields

In the course of the intervention process seven major learning fields were identified and questions put forward for further reflection and discussion within Sinani.

1. Where are the boundaries of the Sinani system?

It became apparent that the ideas and vision on which level Sinani should concentrate its efforts vary quite a bit among the staff. Also, different interventions of Sinani request other target groups and more or less extended boundaries. Relevant questions in these areas are: What are the current boundaries of the organisation and how do they relate to your desired impacts on the personal level, community level and local government level? Where does Sinani want to reduce, keep or expand your boundaries?

2. Greater leverage vs. safeguarding S nani’s community based identity? i

Characteristics of Sinani’s identity often mentioned by partners and beneficiaries are ‘being deeply rooted in the community’ and ‘functioning as role model, walking the talk’. Looking at the huge and complex needs of the communities a continuous search to increase leverage is needed. One option could be the collaboration with the local and provincial government. How can Sinani remain deeply connected to the community but also serve more communities? What could be risks for Sinani and its identity when engaging more with state authorities and government?

3. Community development - a highly fragile process intertwined with patterns of violence

Examples indicated how patterns of gender based and domestic violence as well as the so called ‘criminal’ violence are sometimes deeply rooted and nurtured by experiences of political violence and historical structural injustice. Therefore community development has to be seen as highly fragile process. Factors such as increased employment opportunities contribute to the empowerment of a community. But various other still existing patterns of violence can also undermine the stability in a community. The planning of a peace building strategy must be well aware of these interactions and their time delays. Efforts are needed beyond the seeming end of political violence.

4. Indigenous methods – working with young women and men

While Sinani has been successful in mobilising young men using a combination of traditional and modern intervention methods, the same could not be said of their work with young women. It was discussed that Sinani should continue to engage with all stakeholders and community-based organisations that are concerned with the well-being of young women. Sinani should act like a think tank and innovative catalyst to debate on the pros and of various indigenous methods and how they can be used for young women while avoiding the possibility of infringing upon their dignity and human rights.

5. From ‚bringing leaders on one platform’ to linking them to different levels of society?

Each leadership forum has been able to bridge major divides among their group members and manage to work constructively together. While this has been a major achievement, a leadership forum is of course only of long term use if the community also feels its benefits. Community stability can also still be easily disturbed as soon as provincial or national level leadership intervene in the communities. How can the achievements at the horizontal level be further strengthened and stronger vertical linkages of the forums be supported?

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6. From con lict management towards safeguarding stability by strengthening good governance and civic education?

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Uniting the leadership has been a very crucial element in successfully reducing political violence. To prevent further conflict it has become quite common to avoid or prohibit discussions on party politics. In order to secure stability in the long run, it will be important that people learn to better understand the purpose and legitimacy of party politics. The politicians need to abide to fair campaigning and other major rules of good governance. To what extent can the respect campaign be used for civic education of such a kind? What else could a shift of Sinani's work towards good governance and civic/ political education imply?

7. Sustainab lity of Sinani’s work or whether when and how Sinani has to phase out its work in a community?

In the course of our intervention process off and on questions around the sustainability of Sinani’s work, the implications for Sinani’s engagement with communities emerged. Sinani staff queried whether, when and how Sinani could or would have to phase out of communities. It became evident that the ideas of what Sinani’s role should be once a stable situation is reached vary to a large extent.

Overall Assessment

We can altogether underscore that Sinani’s approach and strategies in the past years have been highly relevant and effective for the reduction of violence as well as the nurturing of trust building processes in the communities (7.2-7.3). While further efforts in terms of ensuring sustainable stability and peace in KwaZulu-Natal will be needed, we come to the overall conclusion that the conflict situation of the communities addressed by Sinani has improved significantly in the past five years. Most of the changes that can be ascertained and related to Sinani’s work are on the level of behaviour and relationships (7.4). The question of sustainability is the most sensitive and challenging issue for Sinani’s current work and requires decisions for its future approach (7.5). Overall, it appears as if the greatest challenge of efficiency in Sinani’s work are the many different financial and programme reporting requirements by the 10 donors providing funds (7.6.). Here, the WFD as a ‘patient but stringent’ partner should play an important role also in future. The experience with three apparently quite different cooperants has been judged by Sinani as a very fruitful mutual learning process for all sides. The following was highlighted:

• Longer term funding grants of up to 3 years promise sustainable impact • Expertise of the cooperants has assisted the organisational development of Sinani • International networks and contacts of the cooperant were useful and international

peace building experience permitted greater learning and new approaches • Cooperant was a quiet observer providing constructive feedback on the blind spots

It was emphasised that WFD played an extremely constructive role in supporting Sinani and in acting as an intermediary in terms of the BMZ/CPS approach. Strategic programme advice, experience and cultural sensitivity of their international and Southern African programme staff, the organisational culture and values of WFD and the support towards institutional strengthening of Sinani have been highly commended (7.7).

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Bericht präsentiert die Ergebnisse der Evaluierung des Programmes zur Friedensförderung der südafrikanischen NGO “Sinani – Kwa Zulu-Natal Programme for the Survivors of violence”. Dieses Programm zur Friedensförderung wurde durch die kontinuierliche finanzielle und konzeptionelle Unterstützung des Weltfriedensdienstes (WFD) auf- und ausgebaut. Der WFD stellte seine finanzielle Unterstützung über das vom Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) finanzierte Programm des Zivilen Friedensdienstes (ZFD) zur Verfügung. Seit 2001 hat der WFD drei Deutsche Fachkräfte entsandt, die das Friedensprogramm von Sinani mit ihren spezifischen Fähigkeiten unterstützen und laut Sinani einen wesentlichen Bestandteil zur Weiterentwicklung des Programms beigetragen haben. Diese Evaluierung konzentriert sich überwiegend auf die letzte Finanzierungsperiode von 2005 bis 2008 sowie auf den Beitrag der aktuellen ZFD Kraft zum Friedensförderungsprogramm von Sinani. Wenn im folgenden von Sinani Mitarbeitern und Mitarbeiterinnen gesprochen wird, so impliziert dies stets auch immer die Kooperantin des ZFD. Die im Bericht beschriebenen Wirkungen des Friedensförderungsprogramms von Sinani sind demzufolge als eine gemeinsame Leistung von Sinani und WFD zu verstehen.

Zur Methode

In Kooperation mit der Berghof Foundation for Peace Support wurde eine Methode für die Evaluierung entwickelt, die auf systemischem Denken und systemischen Konzepten basiert, da diese gut mit Grundkomponenten afrikanischer Kultur harmonieren und zudem auch einen wesentlichen Bestandteil des konzeptionellen Ansatzes von Sinani darstellen. Die Evaluierung versteht sich als ein zyklischer und organischer Prozess von Aktion und Reflektion, in dem gemeinsames Lernen im Vordergrund steht. Ein Hauptziel dieser Methode ist es, die Kapazität von Sinani zu fördern, selbst die eigenen Stärken und Schwächen zu identifizieren und zu verstehen und Ideen für die weitere Entwicklung zu generieren. (2.1.-2.3.)

Politischer und sozio-ökonomischer Kontext

Trotz positiver, politischer Entwicklungen ist Südafrika nach wie vor durch Ungleichheiten gekennzeichnet, die an die Zeiten der Apartheid erinnern. Sinani arbeitet in KwaZulu-Natal, das zu den bevölkerungsreichsten und gleichzeitig ärmsten Regionen von Südafrika gehört. Diese Provinz hat zudem die höchste HIV/AIDS Rate im Land. Zivilgesellschaftliche Strukturen sind nur schwach ausgeprägt. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Regionen in Südafrika kam es dort noch nach 2004 zu politisch motivierten Gewalttaten. Mehrere Faktoren tragen auch heute noch dazu bei, dass Gewalt eskaliert. Dazu gehören bspw. Fragen der Landverteilung und das Verhältnis zwischen traditionellen und politisch gewählten Führern. (3.1 -3.3)

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Charakteristika von Sinanis Arbeit

Das Interventionsmodell ist durch folgende Aspekte charakterisiert: (4.1) Vom „community mobiliser“ zum Facilitator von Gemeindeprozessen Es ist mittlerweile ein wesentlicher Bestandteil von Sinanis Arbeit, den Aufbau von solchen Strukturen innerhalb der verschiedenen Gemeinden zu unterstützen, die nachhaltig zu einer stabilen Entwicklung beitragen. Ein zentraler Aspekt dabei ist, das Wirkungspotenzial der Aktivitäten durch ein Zusammenarbeiten mit Schlüsselpersonen in den jeweiligen Gemeinden zu erhöhen. Ein holistischer Ansatz, der auf die Menschen und ihr Umfeld fokussiert Sinani betrachtet die Menschen aus einer holistischen Perspektive, in der die Person immer auch in enger Verbindung mit ihrem jeweiligen Umfeld gesehen wird. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass Armut, Gewalt und HIV/AIDS in den Gemeinden in einer zirkulären Beziehung zueinander stehen und sich gegenseitig beeinflussen. Verbesserungen in einem dieser Bereiche können durch unzureichenden Fortschritt in einem anderen Gebiet zunichte gemacht werden. Aus diesem Grund setzt sich Sinanis Interventionsmodell in jeder Gemeinde aus den drei Programmbereichen Friedensförderung, Armutsreduktion und HIV/AIDS zusammen. Um Kohärenz und Synergien zu garantieren, hat jeweils ein Sinani Mitarbeiter die Verantwortung für die Koordination der Intervention in einer bestimmten Gemeinde (Matrixstruktur). Die Besonderheiten jeder Gemeinde verlangen einen maß geschneiderten Ansatz Auch wenn viele Probleme übergreifend für alle Gemeinden relevant sind, so unterscheiden sich die Gemeinden in KwaZulu-Natal doch auch in Bezug auf einige Aspekte. Aus diesem Grund beginnt Sinani eine Intervention damit, ein Profil der jeweiligen Gemeinde zu erstellen um die zentralen Konfliktdynamiken zu erfassen. Die Gemeinde selbst bestimmt die Ausrichtung und Ausgestaltung des Friedensprozesses Die ethischen Prinzipien von Sinani haben der Organisation zu einem guten Ruf und hohem Ansehen in den einzelnen Gemeinden verholfen. Im folgenden werden wesentliche Aspekte dieser Grundprinzipien zusammengefasst:

• Respektvolles, authentisches und empathisches Handeln, durch das Aufrichtigkeit und Transparenz garantiert wird

• Glaubwürdigkeit soll durch fundiertes Wissen und tiefe Einsichten über die Geschichte der jeweiligen Gemeinde und ihren spezifischen Bedürfnissen erreicht werden

• Die Interventionsstrategien werden in enger Zusammenarbeit mit den Gemeinden entworfen

• Durch ein lösungsorientiertes Vorgehen werden existierende Kapazitäten und Ansätze zur Problemlösung in den Gemeinden unterstützt

• Das Einnehmen einer ‚neutralen’ Position sowie ein überparteiliches Verhalten in Konfliktsituationen sind wesentlich

• Sowohl der interne Wandel von Verhaltensstrukturen einzelner Personen als auch die Veränderung von Beziehungen der Menschen untereinander zählen zu den inhaltlichen Schwerpunkten der Interventionen von Sinani

Diese Grundprinzipien haben dazu beigetragen, dass die Organisation sehr offen für einen Austausch und einen gemeinsamen Lernprozess mit allen WFD-Kooperanten war. (4.4)

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Erreichte Ziele

Von den vielen Erfolgen von Sinanis Arbeit, die von dem Evaluations-Team beobachtet werden konnten (5.1 -5.3), gehört die Integration indigener Ansätze zur Friedensförderung, insbesondere die Auswirkungen der „cleansing ceremony“, zu den weitreichensten. Sie können zudem als Indikator für den behutsamen auf die Bedürfnisse der Gemeinde ausgerichteten Ansatz der Organisation gesehen werden. Sinani unterstützte die Idee der Leadership Foren traditionelle „cleansing ceremonies“ als Mittel zu nutzen, psychosoziale Heilung, Aussöhnung und Reintegration von Ex-Kombattanten, Familien und von Gemeinden zu erreichen. Die „cleansing ceremonies“ in Richmond (2006) und Mbumbulu (2007), die beide zu den von Gewalt am meisten betroffenen Gemeinden gehörten, wurden von Tausenden von Menschen besucht. Unter ihnen waren auch Führungspersönlichkeiten aus dem offiziellen und traditionalen Bereich. Für viele kam so der erste Kontakt überhaupt seit Beendigung der Feindseligkeiten zu stande. Über diese Zeremonien wurde breit in Print- und Fernsehmedien berichtet. Die Ergebnisse der Evaluierung zeigen, dass die symbolische Geste dieser Veranstaltungen sehr effektiv für die Versöhnungsprozesse innerhalb der Gemeinde waren. Sie haben dazu beigetragen, den ehemaligen Konfliktparteien öffentlich die Möglichkeit zu geben sich untereinander auszusöhnen und in Verbindung mit ihren Vorfahren zu treten. Wie in Kapitel 5.1 aufgezeigt wird, ist vor allem die spirituelle Komponente dieser Zeremonien von großer Bedeutung für Versöhnungsprozesse in KwaZulu-Natal. Durch das herstellen einer Verbindung mit den Vorfahren werden die durch den Gewaltkonflikt Verstorbenen beschwichtigt. Zudem haben die „cleansing ceremonies“ auch zur Versöhnung auf indivdueller, zwischenmenschlicher und auf Gemeindeebene beigetragen. Es wird bspw. von einem Verschwinden der „no go areas“ und von Veränderungen der Taxirouten berichtet. (5.1) Spezifische Lernfelder von Sinani

Im Rahmen der Evaluierung wurden sieben Lernfelder für die Organisation identifiziert. Für jedes einzelne wurden von dem Evaluatoren-Team Fragen entwickelt, die Sinani zu Diskussion und Reflektion anregen sollten.

1. Wo sind die Grenzen des Sinani-Systems?

Im Prozess der Evaluierung stellte sich heraus, dass die Ansichten darüber, auf welcher Ebene die Organisation einen Fokus in ihren Aktivitäten setzen soll, innerhalb des Sinani-Teams variieren. Zudem hängen die Grenzziehungen mit der jeweiligen Zielsetzung der Intervention in der entsprechenden Gemeinde zusammen. Relevante Fragen für diesen Bereich sind: Wo liegen die aktuellen Grenzen der Organisation und wie hängen sie mit der gewünschten Wirkungsweise auf der persönlichen Ebene, auf der Gemeindeebene und auf der Ebene der lokalen Regierung zusammen? In welchem Bereich sollen Veränderungen der Grenzziehungen vorgenommen werden?

2. Ist eine Ausdehnung des Wirkungskreises der Organisation mit der in den Gemeinden verwurzelten Identität von Sinani vereinbar?

Als ein zentrales Charakteristikum von Sinani wird von Partnern meist das „verwurzelt sein in den Gemeinden“ sowie ein funktionieren als Vorbild, das seine eigenen Grundsätze lebt und umsetzt, genannt. In Anbetracht der umfangreichen und komplexen Bedürfnisse der Gemeinden braucht es jedoch eine kontinuierliche Suche danach, wie die Wirkungsweisen der Strategien ausgeweitet werden können. Als eine Option kann hierbei die Zusammenarbeit mit der lokalen Regierung gesehen werden. Wie kann Sinani tief in einer Gemeinde verwurzelt bleiben und gleichzeitig die Wirkungen auf weitere Ebenen und

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Gemeinden ausweiten? Welche Risiken entstehen für Sinanis Identität, wenn eine engere Verbindung zu staatlichen Strukturen hergestellt wird?

3. Die Entw cklung der Gemeinden ist ein fragiler Prozess, der durch die Interaktion verschiedener Formen von Gewalt beeinflusst wird

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Beispiele zeigten wie Muster von Gewalt gegen Frauen, Gewalt in Familien und auch die so genannte kriminelle Gewalt in enger Verbindung mit politischer Gewalt und historisch geprägter struktureller Gewalt stehen können. Die Entwicklung von stabilen Strukturen in den Gemeinden muss von daher als ein fragiler Prozess gesehen werden. Trägt bspw. die Verringerung der Arbeitslosigkeit zur Stabilisierung der Situation in der Gemeinde bei, so können die dazu parallel existierenden Formen von Gewalt diese Situation unterminieren. Das planen einer Interventionsstrategie muss diese aus verschiedenen Rückkopplungsschleifen bestehende, komplexe Situation berücksichtigen.

4. Indigene Methoden – die Arbeit mit jungen Frauen und Männern

Durch eine Kombination von modernen und traditionellen Interventionsmethoden ist es Sinani gelungen, junge Männer zu mobilisieren. Ähnliche Aktivitäten mit jungen Frauen stehen allerdings noch aus. Es wurde diskutiert, dass Sinani auch weiterhin mit all denjenigen in Kontakt treten sollte, die sich mit der Situation junger Frauen in KwaZulu-Natal beschäftigen. Sinani sollte als Think-Tank agieren um Debatten über Pro und Contra von verschiedenen indigen Methoden und ihrer Nützlichkeit für junge Frauen anregen.

5. Von vertikaler Vernetzung von Führungspersönlichkeiten zu horizontaler Vernetzung auf den verschiedenen Ebenen in der Gesellschaft?

Jedes der von Sinani geförderten Leadership Foren war in der Lage, Spannungen und Entzweiungen zwischen den Gruppenmitgliedern zu überbrücken und konstruktiv miteinander zu arbeiten. Kann dies zwar als eine wichtige Errungenschaft gesehen werden, so ist ein Leadership Forum doch nur dann von nachhaltigem Nutzen, wenn die Gemeinde auch von seiner Existenz profitiert. Die Stabilität innerhalb der Gemeinden kann bspw. leicht dadurch gestört werden, dass Führungspersönlichkeiten der regionalen oder nationalen Ebene in die Gemeinde intervenieren. Eine zu diskutierende Frage wäre: Wie können die Errungenschaften auf der horizontalen Ebene gestärkt und engere vertikale Verbindungen der Foren unterstützt werden?

6. Vom Konfliktmanagement zur Wahrung der Stabilität durch Stärkung von guter Regierungsführung und politischer Bildung (civic educa ion) der Bevölkerung?

Die Zusammenführung der Leaderships war ein zentraler Bestandteil in der erfolgreichen Reduzierung politischer Gewalt. Um weiteren Konflikten vorzubeugen ist es in KwaZulu-Natal üblich, Diskussionen über Politik und Parteien zu vermeiden. Für eine langfristige, stabile Situation in der Provinz ist es notwendig, dass die Menschen lernen, Sinn und Zweck von Parteipolitik besser zu verstehen. Politiker müssen faire Wahlkampagnen führen und sich an weitere Grundregeln von guter Regierungsführung halten. Inwiefern kann die Respect Campaign hilfreich sein, die genannte Form von politischer Bildung der Bürger zu unterstützen? Was würde eine Integration von politischer Bildung in die Arbeit von Sinani zudem implizieren?

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7. Zur Nachhaltigkeit von Sinanis Arbeit – ob, wann und wie Sinani Aktivitäten in einer Gemeinde beenden sollte

Während der Evaluierung tauchten immer wieder Fragen in Bezug auf die Nachhaltigkeit von Sinanis Arbeit auf. Wann ist der richtige Zeitpunkt gekommen, sich über die so genannten „exit strategies“ Gedanken zu machen? Es wurde deutlich, dass die Meinungen hierzu stark divergieren. (6.7) Einschätzung und Bewertung

Zusammenfassend ist hervorzuheben, dass Sinanis Ansatz und Interventionen in den vergangenen Jahren von höchster Relevanz und Effektivität für die Reduktion von Gewalt in KwaZulu-Natal waren. Sinani hat erheblich dazu beigetragen, Versöhnungsprozesse in den Gemeinden anzustoßen und dafür zu sorgen, dass Vertrauen zwischen den Menschen wieder hergestellt werden konnte. (7.2-7.3) Obwohl sich durch Sinanis Interventionen in den vergangenen fünf Jahren die Konfliktsituation in den einzelnen Gemeinden deutlich verbessert hat, bedarf es weiterer umfassender Maßnahmen um in KwaZulu-Natal nachhaltig für Frieden und Stabilität zu sorgen. Wie in Kapitel 7.4 aufgezeigt wird, sind vor allem Veränderungen auf der Verhaltens- und Beziehungsebene der einzelnen Menschen auf die Intervention von Sinani zurückzuführen. Die Frage der Nachhaltigkeit ist ein zentrales Thema im Rahmen von Sinanis aktueller Arbeit und muss intensiv weiter diskutiert werden. Es hat den Anschein, als ob die größte Herausforderung in Bezug auf die Effizienz von Sinanis Arbeit darin besteht, die unterschiedlichen Ansprüche der zehn Geldgeberorganisationen in Bezug auf die Berichterstattung zu erfüllen. (7.6) In diesem Zusammenhang sollte der WFD als ein „geduldiger und verbindlicher“ Partner auch in Zukunft eine wesentliche Rolle spielen. Die Erfahrung mit den drei sehr unterschiedlichen Kooperanten wurde von Sinani als ein sehr fruchtbarer, beidseitiger Lernprozess angesehen. Unter anderem wurden in diesem Zusammenhang folgenden Aspekte unterstrichen:

• Längere Finanzierungsperioden bis zu drei Jahren sind wesentlich für eine nachhaltige Auswirkung der Arbeit

• Die Expertise der Fachkräfte hat maßgeblich zur organisationalen Entwicklung von Sinani beigetragen

• Die Einbindung in internationale Netzwerke der Kooperanten sowie ihre Kontakte waren hilfreich und unterstützen Sinani dabei, sich an internationale Diskurse im Bereich der Friedensförderung anzuschließen und damit auch für die Entwicklung und Profilierung des eigenen Ansatzes zu sorgen

• Die Kooperanten verhalfen Sinani blinden Stellen innerhalb der Organisation zu identifizieren

Zudem wurde betont, dass der WFD eine sehr konstruktive Rolle in der Unterstützung von Sinani auf allen Ebenen gespielt hat und eine hilfreiche Vermittlerrolle in Bezug auf den BMZ / ZFD Ansatz übernommen hat. Sehr gelobt wurden die strategische Beratung, die institutionelle Unterstützung sowie die langjährigen Erfahrungen des WFD im Bereich der Friedensförderung. Die kulturelle Sensibilität der internationalen und südafrikanischen Mitarbeiter des WFD sowie die Organsisationskultur und –werte wurden sehr geschätzt. (7.7)

Sinani Evaluation ix

1. Introduction This report presents the results of an evaluation of the peace building programme of the South African non-governmental organisation “Sinani – KwaZulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence”.

Sinani is working since the 1990’s with communities in KwaZulu-Natal which have been particularly affected by protracted conflict and political violence for several decades. Since 2001 the WFD has seconded three German cooperants to assist the peace building programme with specific skills and capacities that Sinani identified as crucial for the further development of the programme. This evaluation primarily looks at the latest funding period from 2005-2008 and the contribution of the current CPS cooperant supporting the peace programme team since then. When we speak of ‘Sinani staff’ in the following chapters, we need to emphasise that this always includes the cooperant. The organisation undertakes self-assessments of its work on a regular basis, following in general an annual project cycle. In response to some of its donors and because of a high interest to learn and adjust its programmes, Sinani has also been undergoing external evaluations using participatory action research methodologies to get a better idea of the impacts of its activities. The last external evaluation was initiated together with Medico International beginning of 2003 (Remmert-Fontes/Mkhize 2003). Since then Sinani has changed its programme significantly and progress in various directions has been made. When the request by WFD for renewed external evaluation came up, WFD and Sinani together were on the search for an appropriate and perhaps innovative form of evaluation. This is how the Berghof Foundation for Peace Support with its work on systemic conflict transformation (Wils et al. 2006) came into the picture. Systemic ideas were deemed to fit very well to African cultural meaning systems and the way Sinani thinks and works. This is how the idea of an evaluation that integrates systemic thinking and systemic methodologies was born and a partnership with the Berghof Foundation for Peace Support was established. Members of the evaluation team and authors of this report are Prof. Dr. Nhlanhla Mkhize (School of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal), Dr. Stephanie Schell-Faucon (Consultant for Berghof Foundation for Peace Support Berlin) and Daniela Körppen (Researcher from Berghof Research Center/ Berghof Foundation for Peace Support Berlin), who was funded as an additional resource person by the Berghof Research Centre. The evaluation work across the globe and the challenge of continuously reflecting on our methodology while also responding to the pragmatic needs of evaluations and rather classical terms of reference (see Annex 1) has been quite demanding but also very inspiring and fruitful for the whole team. We would like to take the opportunity to warmly thank all WFD and Sinani staff as well as the many community partners for their cooperation and arduous support during the short and intensive time of the evaluation process. The analysis and recommendations presented here are results of critical reflection processes by all those who have been involved. Without the openness of our interview partners and workshop participants and their eagerness to learn from each other, this report would not have been possible as such. In addition to this we would like to thank Claus-Dieter Wild and Barbara Unger from the Berghof Center for further comments and support.

Last but not least, we commend Sinani for their plans to feed back the results of this report into the respective communities. This is a crucial part of any successful evaluation process. At the same time it proves again how much Sinani resonates with the community.

Sinani Evaluation 1

2. Methodological approach of the evaluation

2.1 Systemic considerations and African Cultural Meaning Systems

The combination of African Cultural Meaning Systems and systemic concepts is a crucial characteristic of Sinani’s intervention approach. It is one of the basic principles of several African cultures to believe that webs of relationships exist between organisms and objects. These objects are seen as dependent of each other; they interact and influence each other. Additionally, even personhood is defined through relationships. One of the well known concepts in this regard is the idea of ubuntu ‘I am because we are and we are because I am’ (see also 5.1 and 5.4). Whereas ‘western’ psychological concepts regard the self as an autonomous entity, African psychology sees the personality as context based. It is defined in terms of its relationships with the family, community or status or position within a group. (Mkhize 2004, p. 27).

Sinani combines these assumptions with components of systemic approaches to peace building, since these concepts share basic principles with African Cultural Meaning systems, e.g. the thinking in relationships and network structures and considering social interactions as circular processes. (Sinani Handbook Draft 2008)

These considerations of Sinani have to be taken into account when trying to understand and evaluate the work of the organisation in the African communities of KwaZulu-Natal. Therefore, it was agreed to include systemic thinking and methodologies in the evaluation process. During the preparation time the evaluation team and Sinani staff exchanged and outlined the following understanding of systemic thinking in their work:

Sinani Evaluation Team • small amount of energy to trigger

lasting change • relationships matter • people know what is best for them • prevention is central in all our work • go with energy of the community

• joint learning process • people’s minds & hearts are core resource of

evaluation • social systems are complex (no linear cause-

effects) • evaluation is an intervention • mindful of changes‚ disturbances’ they trigger

Following systemic principles, the evaluation was designed as a cyclic and organic process of action and reflection in which the evaluation team and the “client system” mutually influenced each other and learned from each other. The evaluation process can be regarded as a circular joint learning exercise and intervention with the essential aim to increase the capacity of the organisation to understand its strengths and weaknesses and develop ideas for future direction. Reflection phases and feedback loops were integrated at different points of the evaluation to discuss with the Sinani team how the presence of the evaluation team influenced the system and how it changed or disturbed the system through the intervention.

Sinani Evaluation 2

The non-linear behaviour of social systems has some further methodological implications for an evaluation:

a) by a joint mapping of feedback mechanisms of the system and its context the dynamics of the system to be evaluated can be visualized (see 6.1 and 6.3)

b) by mapping the positive and negative feedback loops, which constitute particular situations, it can be shown how certain issues within the conflict system interact and influence each other (see 6.3)

c) to broaden a binary view on a conflict situation and to illustrate that A and B are not always connected by linear relationships, systemic methodologies from the field of family therapy are useful, e.g. the tetralemma (see box below and 6.7)

In addition to this, the methodological approach was based on the assumption that a change within the “Sinani system” can only to a limited extent be facilitated from the outside and that the system itself has all the necessary ingredients and resources for change. What will be learned is in the end determined by the organisation itself.

2.2 Preparation process (19.12.2007 – 19.02.2008)

The preparation of the evaluation was already considered as an important first step of the intervention and had to be designed as participatory as possible. The basic idea was to develop a common understanding of the evaluation process between all entities involved, especially the WFD, the three members of the evaluation team and the Sinani staff and - to a limited extent - also between Sinani and its partners and beneficiaries who were to be involved in this process. Rather classical terms of reference (see Annex 1) had to be clarified and reconciled with the high expectation of an evaluation recurring on systemic thinking in an extremely short time frame of only 9 days with the project itself in KwaZulu-Natal. The preparation consisted of the following steps and elements:

• Meeting of the German consultants with WFD representative Siegfried Schröder and the civil peace service cooperant of Sinani, Usche Merk in Berlin to get a first briefing of Sinani’s work, clarify the terms of reference and develop initial ideas of a possible methodological design and next steps.

• Review of project documents (including proposals, annual and bi-annual project reports, training manuals, evaluation reports, interviews, articles, community reports etc.)

• Various exchanges and discussions among the evaluation team as well as among and with the Sinani staff on each party’s understanding of systemic thinking, their particular expectations and ideas of the evaluation process, its main focus and methodological design.

As a result, the following guiding questions were identified with Sinani as crucial issues for the whole process:

1. How does change come about/ what brings peace: What are Sinani’s theoretical assumptions and what are the implicit theories of change?

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2. The relationship between traditional leaders/structures and municipal structures/ elected political leaders: What angle works best in terms of Sinani’s approach and what is the impact of this relationship on the community?

3. Importance of gender based structures – particularly around roles of women and men: Why is there non-participation of women in leadership structures?

4. Question of sustainability of the work of Sinani in the communities: When is the right moment for terminating an intervention and how to phase out?

5. Is the community development programme contributing to peace?

Considering the short time the evaluation team spent together in South Africa, it was agreed to opt as much as possible on more depth than breath and to choose crucial areas and projects within the Sinani peace building programme for the evaluation to focus on. The following were identified as the most relevant parts of the peace building programme:

• Leadership Forum (traditional leaders, elected leaders, religious leaders) • Indigenous approaches to peace building (cleansing ceremony/ respect campaign) • The young men programme/ masculinity campaign • Psychosocial approach / victim empowerment workshops

It was agreed to focus on the following regions as the key areas for the evaluation: Mbumbulu, Richmond and Estcourt. It was furthermore decided that the team should meet with a broad variety of partners and beneficiaries of Sinani. This included traditional leaders, religious leaders, political leaders (e.g. the mayor of Richmond), police officers, CBO workers, young men and a trauma worker (see Annexes 2 and 3).

2.3. The joint research and learning process in KwaZulu Natal (20.-29.02.2008)

A crucial component of the evaluation methodology was the use of discussion rounds and workshops to collect information and to feed this information back into the system at the same time. In addition to this, we used systemic methods to generate new insights on familiar knowledge and to enhance information exchange within the various subsystems.

It was only through interaction with the various “Sinani systems” that we developed issues to be focussed on during the workshops and questions to be asked during our field visits.

We organised two workshops and many discussion rounds during our stay in South Africa. The first major meeting was scheduled right at the beginning of the “field phase” and included relevant staff members of the Sinani peace building programme. It assisted the evaluation team to better understand Sinani’s peace building work, to clarify expectations and anxieties on both sides and to agree on joint ground rules for the process (Annex 4). The schedules for the three field visits were concretized and the concept of the first workshop with Sinani partners and beneficiaries was discussed and agreed to.

2.3.1 The first workshop The aim of the first workshop was twofold: Firstly, it was meant to allow Sinani and the evaluation team to learn more about the perception of Sinani’s work and the changes people felt have been achieved or not yet achieved within their communities. Secondly, by bringing together representatives of different communities who rarely ever met, we wished to facilitate deeper reflection and learning from each other. The basic idea was that the

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workshop itself is an intervention with opportunities for learning and further change processes to be triggered. People from the following programme areas participated:

• 7 Sinani staff (peace programme team, management), 3 Sinani interns (representing the three different communities)

• 4 -5 Respect campaign reps • 4 -5 Young men’s programme reps • 18 members of 3 leadership forum (Mbumbulu, Richmond, Estcourt, 6 from each

area)

The participants were invited as “experts” that can share their local knowledge of the current situation and their experiences with the Sinani peace building programme and its impacts in the community over the years.

The workshop was organized as a “Café Conversation” to guarantee information exchange and to encourage everyone’s contribution to the discussion. It is one of the basic ideas of this methodology to have a flexible and open format, to bring people from different angles of the system together and to generate new perspectives on familiar situations and discussions. The participants of the workshop were first asked to cluster in groups with persons they know already (see diagram below):

Young men

Mbum-bulu LF

Rich-mond

LF

Est court LF

Sinani Interns

RespectCam- paign

LF = Leadership Forum After twenty minutes two persons of each group were requested to travel from the “known” to the “unknown” and to move to a different group and to participate in their discussions. Sinani formed an extra group not participating in the rotation. The evaluation team prepared three questions to be discussed in these small groups. At the end of the workshop each group was asked to formulate recommendations for Sinani (See Annex 3).

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2.3.2 Interview methodologies and field visits During the field visits interviews and focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders were conducted. In addition to this, the evaluation team had the opportunity to participate in community activities, e.g. in Estcourt we joined a community forum meeting and the elections of a committee within the leadership forum. The intention of the interviews in the field was twofold: first, they were used to gather further information on Sinani’s peace building programme. For this reason a questionnaire was developed by the evaluation team which included circular questioning to stimulate the reflective capacities of the interviewees and to create an external perspective. The basic idea of this methodology is to assist the interviewee to shift into the role of another person and to generate new information within a particular system. (Schlippe/Schweitzer 2003, 140f) Whereas direct questions (“Where do you see the challenges for Sinani’s peace building programme?”) were used to gather content related information, circular questions were helpful to assist the interviewee and the interviewer in gaining new perspectives and insights on the situation. Questions such as the following were utilized:

• Imagine you want to hold a cleansing ceremony in your community to thank Sinani for their work with you over the past years. What do you think Sinani would be pleased to see and hear?

• A person leaves your community today and comes back in a couple of years, how would this person see the fruits of your work?

Second, the field visits were used to feed back information into the several subsystems. Questions and themes raised during the workshop were cross checked with perceptions and assumptions in the communities. Results were presented to particular persons or groups to see and hear how they reflect on them. Understanding the wider system and the various interrelations within it is a crucial idea of this circular interview methodology. (Hummelbrunner 2000) It can be helpful for taking into account the complex linkages between people and groups of people. From a systemic viewpoint it can be argued that outputs, outcomes and impacts of a peace building project will often have more to do with the interrelationships between interacting interventions than the effect of individual action. (Burns 2007)

2.3.3 The final workshop At the end a final workshop was held with all of Sinani staff and the regional WFD representative. The main purpose was to bring together the different input from different parts of the system (?) and to critically review and further develop them with the team. Findings of the evaluation process and possible fields for further learning were presented by the evaluation team. Sinani staff prioritised these learning fields and developed ideas and recommendations on how Sinani could further take them up in future. The results of all workshops are an integral part of this report and its recommendations. In this last workshop, several systemic methodologies, e.g. a feedback loop mapping and the tetralemma, were used to indicate the non-linear behaviour of social systems and to address the complexity of conflict situations (see also 6.7).

Sinani Evaluation 6

Working with the tetralemma The tetralemma is a ‘tool’ which originates in traditional Indian reasoning and is frequently used today in the fields of family therapy and organisational development to stimulate “thinking out of the box”. Whereas “western” or “European” logic follows a binary view in which an “either-or” thinking dominates, it is a crucial idea of the tetralemma to indicate that there exist at least four options on each perceived problem.

Position A

Both A and B

Neither A nor B

Position B

The fifth position “none of this but also not this” is not easy to understands since it tries to indicate that there are further options and issues that are relevant for the perceived problem but which can only be discovered and worked out through a process of action and reflection. Quite often the fifth position refers to “hidden issues” which are located in the context. It shows that the binary logic, which assumes that any solution has to be found within the space of the contentious issues, needs to be overcome.

“None of this – but also not this”

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3. Political and socio-economic situation of KwaZulu-Natal

3.1 Poverty and HIV/AIDS The Republic of South Africa is a middle income country with a wealth of mineral resources. The country is divided into nine provinces, of which KwaZulu-Natal, the focus of Sinani’s peace building efforts, is the most densely populated. Of the country’s estimated 48 million inhabitants, about 21% reside in KwaZulu-Natal; this despite that the province comprises about 7% of the country’s total land area.

Despite the country’s wealth in mineral resources, and the efforts of the post-apartheid government notwithstanding, economically, South Africa remains a country of stark contrasts. The great majority of the population, namely Black African, remain poor: they are without adequate access to health facilities and higher education. Unemployment levels are also high: they have been estimated to be between 30-40% nationally, with figures approaching 75% for many communities in the former homelands1. In the rural areas, poverty is chronic: “70% of the rural people live below the poverty line, among them nearly a million farm workers andSouth Africa’s population crowded into less ‘homelands” (Hall, 2004, p. 214). Hence the signAfrican conflict, as discussed below.

In 2005, it was reported that per capita householdlower end of the expenditure distribution, leadinincrease in inequality is partly attributable to anAfrican population itself. Shinns and Lyne (20Africans were living on less that US$1 per day, wless than US$2 per day. The increase in the econpoor prompted Nobel laureate Archbishop Desituation:

At the moment, many, too many, of our peoppoverty. We are sitting on a powder keg. . . . Wincome grant is not really a viable option. Wdecrees from on high. We cannot, glibly, on who often go to bed hungry. It is cynical in thecan become very rich at the stroke of a pen.3

1 Hoogeveen, J. G. & Özler (2005). Not separate, not equal: PovWilliam Davisdon Institute Working paper Number 739. 2 Hoogeveen, J. G. & Özler (2005). Not separate, not equal: PovWilliam Davisdon Institute Working paper Number 739. 3 Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Annual Nelson Mandela Lectur

Sinani Evaluation

Demographic Statistics: KwaZulu-Natal Size: 92 100km2

Share of country: 7.6% Total farming land: 6.5mill ha Share of national population: 20.7% Population growth rate: 12% Population: rural areas: 54% Black African: 84.9% Coloured: 1.5% Indian: 8.5% White: 5.1% Economically active working age Population: 51.3% Unemployment rate: 45% Average annual household income: R64 359 Adults with no education: 12% Adults with degree or higher: 3.7% Proportion population HIV+: 18.4% Women antenatal clinics HIV+: 36.5% Residents per public sector doctor: 5 107: 1 Residents per public sector nurse: 1050: 1 Sources: 2002/2003 Survey; Statistics SA: Census 2001: Census in Brief, Mid-year estimates 2004; General Household Survey July 2003; Labour Force Survey September 2003; Department of Health.

their dependants, plus nearly a third of than 13% of the land, in the former

ificance of the land question in the South

expenditure had declined for those at the g to an increase in extreme poverty2. This increase in disparities among the Black

04) reported that about 8 million South hile a further 18 million were surviving on omic disparities between the rich and the smond Tutu to comment thus on the

le live in gruelling, demeaning, dehumanising e should discuss as a nation whether a basic

e should not be browbeaten by pontificating full stomachs, speak about handouts to those extreme to speak about handouts when people

erty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.

erty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.

e, November 23, 2004

8

This picture is compounded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with projections indicating that the number of infections may reach 5.8 million and the death toll 5.5 million by the year 2011. At 62.8 infants per thousand births, the infant mortality rate is also high, while life expectancy has been reduced from 61 years to 47 years, mainly due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A significant percentage of the poor still live in squatter camps: they are without recourse to clean water or adequate sanitation (Shinns & Lyne, 2004). KwaZulu-Natal is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, along with the Eastern and Northern Cape. According to Adato, Lund and Mhlongo (2006), KwaZulu-Natal had a poverty headcount of 26.8% in 1993, and a resurvey of the same households by 1998 found that the poverty headcount had increased to 42.5%. The unemployment rate, which was 37.4% in 1993, is currently estimated at 45.4%, with Black Africans contributing a significant proportion of the unemployed. The province also evidences a high rate of employment-related migration (Adato et al., 2006), with the majority of skilled personnel seeking employment outside the province. The province is the epicentre of the AIDS pandemic: with close to 40% of women presenting at antenatal clinics testing positive, many households are losing breadwinners, and child-headed households are on the increase. Overall, the civil society organisations in KwaZulu-Natal are not very strong. Lacking national and international support, many NGOs in South Africa had to close down their operations since the end of the 1990s. Their support in remote and rural areas is particularly weak. This is even more so for organisations addressing societal violence and peace building issues. Apart form Sinani mainly Gun Free South Africa is engaged in KwaZulu-Natal. As Gun Free South Africa emphasised their work an impact is in close connection to SInan’s work. They preferably work in areas where Sinani is already present and has made first progress in breaking some of the cycles of violence.

3.2 Political Violence in KwaZulu-Natal

3.2.1 The Impact of Violence and its continuation in the Post-Apartheid Era KwaZulu-Natal, located along the Indian Ocean on the Eastern side of the country, was arguably the worst affected province in the violence that marked the transition to the new dispensation in the 1980s and early 1990s. It is estimated that, beginning in 1984 and up to the transition to democracy in 1994, about 20 000 lives were lost in KwaZulu-Natal, while “at its height, the violence led to the displacement of half a million people with more people dying in KZN [KwaZulu-Natal] in a decade than in 20 years of fighting in Northern Island.” (Beall, Mkhize & Vawda, 2004, p. 2) The violence was accompanied by wanton destruction of property, homesteads and infrastructure: many people were forced into informal settlements surrounding the urban areas, where they continue to live in dire poverty. While the general view is that the province has “transformed itself from the epicentre of violent conflict and civic breakdown in South Africa to one where accord and coexistence prevail” (Beall et al., 2004, p. 2), it should be noted that violence continued well into the post-1994 era in KwaZulu-Natal, a situation Beall et al. (2004) and Taylor (2002) attribute to “a politics of denial” about “a war that no one wants to admit or recognize” (Taylor, 2002, p. 504). Taylor (2002) lists incidents where this was the case, such as the Shobashobane massacre in the South coast of the province (1995), the Richmond (Natal Midlands) killings which continued well into 1999-2000, and the Nongoma (Northern KwaZulu-Natal) assassinations which continued well into the new millennium. In all these incidents,

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paramilitary forces (Self Defence Units and Self-Protection Units) associated with the main protagonists in the KwaZulu-Natal conflict, namely the IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party), the ANC (African National Congress) and, to a lesser extent and particularly in Richmond, the UDM (United Democratic Movement). These paramilitary forces were operating without central command as they had been disowned by their movements and had not been integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) or the South African Police Services (SAPS). The police and former apartheid intelligence operatives were also implicated (Taylor, 2002). In many of these instances, the perpetrators were never brought to justice. Granted, wide-scale violence between political parties has abated in KwaZulu-Natal. However, incidents of assassinations and intimidations during or preceding electoral activity, continue to date. As the KZN Violence Monitor notes, the use of violence in order to achieve political objectives remains widespread and as such, absence of full-scale massacres, a la the apartheid or immediate post apartheid era, does not signify peace. For example, the Monitor reported a number of acts of violence and intimidation during local government elections in March 2006 in the Sweetwaters (Pietermaritzburg) and Maphumulo (Northern KZN) areas. Incidents of intimidation and murder of party political operatives have also been reported in Macambini (Northern KZN) (2006), Msinga (2006), and many other areas in the province. These incidents appear to be linked to local government; the contestation of municipalities between the IFP and ANC in particular. There has also been violence associated with the taxi industry, itself linked to powerful party strongmen. For example, in 2005 taxi violence in Maphumulo, Inanda and Mpumalanga townships claimed no less than 13 lives (KZN Monitor).

3.2.2 The Land Question: The Colonial Legacy In terms of apartheid policy, Blacks were forcibly removed from “white spots”; they were allocated land comprising about 13% of the total land area in the reserves or homelands. This was achieved mainly in terms of the Natives Land Act of 1913. To make amends for this situation, a restitution programme was started in 1994, whereby those Blacks who could provide proof that they were dispossessed of the land after 1913 were to be given an option of returning to their land or receive financial compensation (Hall, 2004; Lyne & Darroch, 2004). However, the process has not gone smoothly: not only has the process been complicated by the “property clause” entrenched in the new constitution, leading to some commentators opining that “colonial land theft is now preserved by constitutional sanction” (Hendricks & Ntsebenza, 2000, cited in Hall, 2004, p. 214); there are also cases of invalid claims as well as cases whereby people who were not the claimants have been the main beneficiaries (The Violence Monitor, January-April 2005). The most recent violence concerning disputed land occurred in the Dikweni area of Bergville (March 2008). This violence, involving the Mhlwazini and Magangangozi villages, led to the destruction of numerous households and the death of at least seven people. The dispute reportedly dates back to 1918: it is said to involve one of the two groups having been forcibly evicted by the government of the day from their land, which was then given to stock farmers and later sold to Natal Parks Board (The Witness, Thursday March 27, 2008). Thus, the root cause of the violence could be traced back to forced removals dating back to the apartheid era. While the situation is reportedly under control with heavy police presence, a headman of one of the parties in conflict remarked thus:

“I’m telling you, there is war taking place here. Those who say we have reached

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a peace settlement are not telling the truth. The police presence is the only thing that prevents people from attacking each other openly. People are sneaking into their enemies’ homesteads to open fire and burn down houses.” (Induna M. Zondo, cited in the Natal Witness, Thursday March 2008, p. 8)

Thus, inequitable land distribution remains one of the most potential sources of conflict in South Africa. Unless it is given urgent attention, we are likely to witness more violence similar to the Bergville incident.

3.2.3 The Communal Land Rights Act of 2004 (Act No 11 of 2004) It has been mentioned above that, during apartheid, Blacks were confined to 13% of the land in the rural reserves or homelands. People living on such land did not have land tenure: the land was administered under customary law, usually with the amakhosi responsible for allocating land to the people, using customary laws that applied only to Black people in the reserves. Generally, the land was registered in the name of the State or held in trust by the Ingonyama trust for communities. This made it impossible for people living in the reserves to enter into financial transactions (e.g. secure loans) using the land as surety, as it was not registered in their name. The purpose of the Communal Land Rights Act, therefore, is to empower people living in the rural areas or the former homeland states, to have the land registered in their name or community, thus enabling them to obtain title deeds and also to enter into financial transactions using land as surety. We will not debate the merits and demerits of the Act here; suffice to say that the Act has been perceived negatively by traditional leaders, who see it as an encroachment upon their right to allocate land according to customary laws. As discussed below, the Act is being perceived by traditional leaders as another attempt by the government to limit their powers. This is significant, given the historical alliance between the IFP and traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal.

3.3 Major Actors in the Conflict System The ANC and the IFP remain the two major actors in the conflict system in KwaZulu-Natal. Other actors, such as traditional leaders (amakhosi) and taxi associations, are somewhat aligned with one or the other of the two actors, although this is not always the case. The ANC and the IFP

Since the 1994 elections, the province has been hotly contested by the ANC and the IFP, with neither party gaining a clear majority in the elections. The IFP won a narrow majority in the provincial legislature in 1994, while in the 1999 elections a coalition government had to be formed as neither party won a clear majority, although the ANC later managed to get a majority via the floor crossing process. It was only in the 2004 elections that the ANC emerged victorious (46.98% of the vote as opposed to the IFP ‘s 36.82%) (Beall et al., 2004). The critical issue here is that, for each party to gain a majority, it must draw votes from the other party’s traditional constituency. The ANC, which has a strong following in the urban areas, needs to attract voters from the IFP’s rural stronghold. Likewise, the IFP needs to get voters beyond their traditional rural base and the hostels if it is to gain a majority in the province: it needs to encroach into the urban areas. The violence and intimidation associated with control of the municipalities (mainly in the rural areas) that is discussed above should be seen in this context. It is also in this scheme of things that the institution of ubukhosi (traditional leadership) comes into the picture: it is important for each party to

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gain the support of the amakhosi in order to establish political presence in their areas and for the ANC, this has in some instances meant ‘loosening’ the IFP’s hold over (Zulu) tradition. Traditional Leaders (abaholi bendabuko)

Traditional leaders perceive that their powers have been diminished since the transition to the new political dispensation. The main problem here has to do with the question of how one maintains two systems of governance in a democracy: one system based on indigenous government under amakhosi and applicable only to Black Africans living in the former reserves, and the other system based on democratic principles propounded by the Constitution. As Beall et al. (2004) note, traditional authorities are recognized by the Constitution of the Republic and have representation in the National House of Traditional Leaders. Also, in terms of the White Paper on Local Government (1998), traditional leaders are envisaged to play a critical role in local government and development, albeit under the guidance of the constitution. However, their responsibility appears to be limited to a facilitative and consultative role: the municipalities appear to have final decision-making and sole jurisdiction (Beall et al., 2004; Municipal Structures Act, No 117, 1998). The relationship between traditional leaders and their elected counterparts, namely the counsellors, has remained unclear and it is one of the issues that were to emerge as cause for concern for the amakhosi in the current evaluation. This, together with the Communal Land Act (2004) discussed above, is one of the major potential sources of violence in the province in future that needs to be addressed. The Taxi Associations

Taxi routes are contested from time-to-time in the province, and this often leads to fatalities and destabilization of the peace process. For example, the 2005 taxi violence in Inanda, Maphumulo, Mpumalanga and other areas led to the premier announcing that two commissions of inquiry into violence were to be set up in the province (KZN Monitor, 2005). Further, while the conflict between rival taxi organizations in Nongoma in the mid 1990s had nothing to do with ANC-IFP divisions per se, “ownership of these taxi organizations was closely interlinked with prominent political parties in the area” (Taylor, 2002, p. 493). It is thus foreseeable how taxi violence could easily spiral into political violence. In conclusion, we need to emphasise that South Africa, despite the transition to the new political dispensation, is still characterised by inequalities that are reminiscent of the apartheid era. KwaZulu-Natal, the target province of Sinani’s interventions, is not only one of the populous and poorest; it has the highest HIV/Aids prevalence in the country. Political violence continued well beyond 2004 in the province, and there is new violence that is being sparked by inadequate access to land. Inequitable access to land poses a major source of violent confrontation in the province, as does the ambiguous relationship between the elected leadership and elected counsellors (municipal structures).

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4. Characteristics of Sinani’s work The following chapter makes an attempt to summarise major features and characteristics of Sinani’s work. While the evaluation concentrates primarily on the peace building programme that has been supported by WFD through CPS cooperants and project funding, it is important to be aware of the overall framework of Sinani and how the peace building programme is an integrated part of Sinani’s community approach. Hence, the main purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of Sinani’s concept and working principles in order to better comprehend their achievements and the learning fields identified by the evaluation team together with all Sinani staff (see 5 and 6). Looking at the amount of activities Sinani has been engaged in over the past three years, this chapter is definitely not able to draw a comprehensive picture. For a more detailed understanding of Sinani’s approach we recommend to refer to the peace building handbook that Sinani is currently preparing with the support of the WFD cooperant. Some of the graphics are taken from the draft version that Sinani has availed to the evaluation team.

4.1 Intervention model In 2004 and 2005 Sinani underwent - with the support of WFD and other donors - a major revision of its intervention model and approach in order to ensure and maximise impact and sustainability of its work in the communities. The following conceptual changes and characteristics of the current intervention model can be summarised:

From community mobiliser to a broker and facilitator of community processes

As Sinani staff described it in their own words they changed from being a community mobiliser within the community (mobilising for instance different women and youth groups) to becoming a broker and facilitator of community processes. Today Sinani is focussing less on groups of individuals but targets especially community structures that will be able to sustain the achievements of the community in the long run. Therefore, Sinani intensified the already started process of working with leadership and key stakeholders of the community. It further engaged in the support of existing community based organisations (CBOs). The community structures are very diverse and may comprise anything from church groups to crèches, home based care organisations, saving clubs or other support groups.

The basic idea behind this shift was that Sinani with its limited resources has more leverage and greater outreach by working with and through key community people. The above stakeholders generally have more decision making power and higher ‘multiplier’ effects. The approach also recognises to a larger extent the strengths and resources the community already has. The following graphic – taken from the handbook draft (chapter 5) – provides an overview how Sinani’s peace building programme intervenes on different systems levels.

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Leade rsh ip

S e rv ice p rov ide rs

C B O s and com m unity g roups

C om m un ity m em bers as a w ho le

S ystem s leve ls In terven tio n le ve lsE xam p les fo r peace w ork

L eadersh ip F o rum – s tre ng then ing n ego tia tion and conflic t resolu tion sk ills ,p e rsona l traum a su pport w ork

T ra in ing loca l p olice in v ic tim em pow erm en tan d m edia tion

S u pport ex-com ba ttan t you th g roup to acce ss deve lopm en t fund ing fo r incom e genera tin g p ro jec t

R espec t cam pa ign – pos te rs and schoo law a re ness ra is ing w orkshops on respect

(in: Restoring Dignity – the Sinani model of peace building and development work, to be published 2008) A holistic approach to people and the problem situation

This characteristic of Sinani’s approach implies two main ideas.

The one is that Sinani looks at people holistically, recognising that they are in many different roles and functions in their life. To acknowledge this, Sinani staff pays special attention to not only work with the communities but also appreciate other processes occupying the community to attend for instance important community celebrations or funerals.

The other very crucial concept deriving from the holistic approach is the acknowledgement of the major problem cycles and patters in the communities where poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS seem to be reinforcing each other and improvement on one of these issues can be destroyed again through insufficient progress in one of the others. The following graphic – again drawn from the handbook draft (chapter 2) – describes the interconnectedness of violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS:

Violence

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(in: Restoring Dignity – the Sinani model of peace building and development work, to be published 2008)

Lack of: Resources + knowledge

support structures self esteem +respect

Feeling snessnd

s opportunities

of powerlesUnemployment No income Lack of infrastructure abusinesLow level of education, skills, capacities Dependency

Lack of knowledge Illness Lack of health care Loss of productivity Orphans Additional wGrief

orkload

Gen ceInsecu ties

StigmaDenial

Breakdown of families Multiple relationships

der based violenre masculini

Substance abuse

Anger, injustice Power struggles Intolerance Divisions Pain of past experiences Lack of trust Undemocratic conflict resolution

Blocke mentFe

Crime d develop

ar to go to workNo cooperation

High medical costs Loss of breadwinner

Risk taking relationships

to survive Status pressure

Poverty HIV/AIDS

Recognising these cycles of mutual reinforcement, Sinani has developed an integrated and holistic approach intervening in each community with its HIV/AIDS, peace building and poverty alleviation programmes. To ensure coherence and great synergy between the different programmes, generally one Sinani staff has the overall responsibility and lead for Sinani’s intervention in a specific community. This person will ensure that the three programmes are well coordinated and all relevant stakeholders included (matrix structure). This leads to the following overall intervention strategy. While the graphic itself is taken from draft handbook, its main contents are also taken up in all annual reports since 2005:

The Sinani intervention strategy

Expected change/ Overall goals:

There is peace and stabilityThere are attitudes of respect and collaboration at all levelsof the community

(leadership, families, within structures etc).

All families have access to income to support their needsPeople have a sense of purpose

and are advancing their education

The transmission of HIV is reducedPeople living with HIV or AIDS receive proper treatment, care and community support

To build community based support structures to address violence, poverty and HIV and AIDS in locally appropriate ways

Objectives:

Strategies:

Empowerment Linking and re-connecting Breaking problem cycles Strengthening social fabric and ubuntu

Intervention instruments general and specific:

Personal development: counselling, support groups, training, awareness raising, creative development, etc.

CBO development: capacity building, organisational development, conflict resolution skills, fundraising, training, etc.

Networking actors, CBOs and communities: joint training, community events, campaigning, etc.

Peace building: Dialogue forum with leadership

Respect campaignReconciliation ceremonies

Ex-combattants supportPositive masculinities

Poverty alleviation:Career development, skills training

Accessing bursariesCommunity economic development

Income generating projectsSubsistence farming

HIV/AIDS support:Awareness raising

Supporting community health workersWorking with vulnerable children

Working on gender relations

(in: Restoring Dignity – the Sinani model of peace building and development work, to be published 2008) Uniqueness of each community requires a tailor made approach

While the cycles described above are relevant for all communities in KwaZulu-Natal, there are also a lot of differences of the community dynamics that have to be acknowledged. This is particularly the case for the actors involved in violence. In some communities, the rivalry among traditional leadership has been more important than in others (e.g. Mbumbulu). In other communities, the main conflicts and tensions are among the political parties (e.g. Richmond). Against this background, Sinani insists that the approach to work with the communities has to be tailor made. The leadership forums are for instance not composed

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in the same way and need to develop in a different manner. In order to decide with the community on an adequate approach, Sinani starts its work in a community by establishing a community profile describing the conflict lines as well as the major needs of the community. Owner and resource of the peace process and its design is the community itself

Sinani acknowledges the ownership of the peace process by the community. Improvements regarding stability and peace in the community depend on the ideas of the community why and how violence continues and on their ideas of what needs to happen to break this cycle. As such Sinani is also always open to follow and support the ideas of the community. This is how they in fact started integrating also indigenous concepts and processes of conflict transformation and reconciliation initially suggested by certain communities for community healing. Sinani supports these approaches in following at the same time its values of inclusiveness and encouraging the community to adhere to these values in their preparation of the ceremony.

4.2 Ethos and organisational culture

Since the founding of the organization in 1991 Sinani has gained a reputation in the communities because of its ethical principles and the way, it is working. It was already highlighted in the evaluation report of 2003 and became also very clear during our intervention process: the beneficiaries of Sinani interventions share a high esteem for the work.

The organisation has very committed and personally as well as professionally well prepared staff. Sinani’s vision of contributing to the development of peaceful, empowered and dynamic communities is nurtured by the dedication of its staff but also by an overall ethos of how they should work and communicate with the communities. The work with individuals and with communities is based on ethical principles, which also reflect in the way the staff relate to each other and cooperate among each other. The special attention and value given to ethical principles and concepts also impacts on Sinani’s implicit and explicit theories of change and will be taken up in more detail in chapter 7.1.

Basic ethical principles and concepts that we heard of and could observe may be summarised as follows:

• Communicating with individuals and communities in a respectful manner This also includes respecting the culture and beliefs of people.

• Being authentic and empathetic, ensuring honesty and transparency “We know the suffering that the people have gone through, because we come from these communities or backgrounds; we know how to empathize with the people”.

• Gaining credibility through thorough knowledge of the community’s history and needs “We identify with the communities in which we work, we are in the community, at ground level; we are rooted in the communities.”

• Working collaboratively with communities to identify needs and to plan interventions. “We plan together with the community/ people.” This enhances ownership and avoids ‘paternalism’ and/ or the tendency to ‘pathologize’ people’s concerns or communities’ development.

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• Solution oriented approach: Building on existing strengths and coping strategies At the core of all community interventions is the understanding that the community has resources that need to be strengthened: “We try to identify structures within the community which can be supported.” One can summarise this as an approach that does not look so much at the problems but rather traces the solutions already in place and seeks to enhance them.

• Striving to be a ‘neutral’ broker, remaining impartial in the conflict “We want to mediate between different levels within the system / society” This is a difficult task that requires ongoing reflection of the work of every single one of the staff, especially if Sinani also feels that they are quite rooted in the community which in the end would mean that they might not be seen as a ‘neutral’ outside broker anymore at some point. So far, it needs to be stressed, however, that the workshop results of the beneficiaries confirmed strongly Sinani’s special position and credible behaviour as impartial mediator bringing the parties around one table.

• Focussing on the individual, internal changes and the work on relationship The focus on the individual is mainly done in group work, creating opportunities for people to change their beliefs about their world by facilitating the sharing of views, ideas, and providing support

It is in this environment and with these principles lived by the organisation throughout its work that Sinani has been particularly open for an exchange and learning with and from WFD cooperants (see also 4.4 and 7.7).

4.3 Knowledge management and institutional learning In 2003 many recommendations of Remmert-Fontes/ Mkhize revolved around issues of knowledge management and institutional learning. Here Sinani has made tremendous progress: a lot of processes have been introduced and regularly applied since then. Sinani has started to systematically document all its work and progress in all programmes. Furthermore, the following meetings and assessments to evaluate and strengthen the own approach and work are today standard learning tools and methods for deeper reflection and exchange within the team

• Staff meetings every 2nd week to talk about logistics • Monthly team supervision • Programme meetings once every month to reflect on what is happening; the issues

and challenges • Bi-annual reporting/mid year reviews in relation to program plans • Annual assessment and workplan meetings • Annual General Meeting with representatives of all community groups Sinani is

working with (appr. 300 people): presentation of annual narrative and financial report, highlighting successes and challenges around a specific topic

• Annual feedback day (every staff member gives individual feedback to all other staff members)

• Joint retreat of Sinani staff at the end of the year It is only consequent that Sinani currently works with the support of the WFD cooperant on a handbook describing in detail the approach Sinani has developed over the years. The

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process of writing and designing this handbook is probably another very crucial moment to further strengthen Sinani’s identity but also to institutionalise the learning of many years.

4.4 Contribution and tasks of the current WFD cooperant

Altogether, a lot of the above mentioned progress in the systems of Sinani can be directly attributed to the support of the three WFD cooperants who worked with and for Sinani. On Sinani’s request they especially contributed to their PR work, in the setting up of a sound monitoring and evaluation system and in the reflection of the lessons learnt and the documentation of the overall community approach. The progress over the years cannot be described in detail by the evaluation team but it has been very well documented by all cooperants and can be also found in the documentation of Sinani.

It became obvious throughout the evaluation that the WFD has always paid great attention to the needs and requests made from Sinani. The cooperants were selected in order to fit these requests and criteria. All of the cooperants brought in high competence and were already very experienced in peace building. Additionally, the WFD also assessed the experiences of the Sinani staff with the cooperants. The results of this evaluation provided the basis for the profile and support of the current CPS cooperant. While we will also mention a number of significant achievements in the peace building work of Sinani since the last external review of 2003 (see 5), we focussed for the evaluation of the tasks of the cooperant mainly on the period under review, i.e. 2005 – 2008. The work of the present cooperant for the project period under review has been defined by Sinani and WFD as follows:4

Overall objective: Supporting Sinani in conceptualizing and implementing peace building interventions in communities affected by violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS

Peace Programme Support

Staff Support Conceptual inputs

Documentation, material development

•Assist in strategic thinking and reflection

•Integrate 3 programmes•New intervention approaches

•Document Peace Building activities

•Write manual

4 In the German documents the tasks assigned by Sinani and WFD read as follows: 1) Mitarbeiterberatung und Fortbildung waehrend der laufenden Arbeit insbesondere zu strategischen Fragen bei der Moderation der Friedensforen sowie allgemein der Staerkung reflektierender Kapazitaeten in der Organisation; 2) Entwicklung innovativer Ansaetze durch konzeptionelle Inputs und Debatten zu friedensbildenden Massnahmen in Gemeinden mit hohen Armut und HIV/AIDS Raten, Integration von friedensbildenden Massnahmen in die anderen Sinani Programme (Armutsbekaempfung, HIV/AIDS Praevention), 3) Dokumentation der friedensbildenden Arbeit von Sinani fuer die Curriculumsentwicklung, Erarbeitung eines Sinani spezifischen Handbuchs zur gemeindeorientierten Friedens- und Entwicklungsarbeit

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Apart from these specifically agreed tasks the cooperant is always fully integrated in all of Sinani’s interventions and processes, esp. planning, evaluating and team reflections. Based on the bi-annual cooperant’s reports (see examples of 2007 in Annex 5) and discussions with Sinani it can be asserted that the current cooperant has also been able to successfully support Sinani in all three areas outlined above.

The following tasks and activities can be particularly highlighted:

• continuous staff support and peace programme team meetings during the facilitation of the cleansing ceremonies in Richmond, Umbumbulu and the establishment of the peace forum in Estcourt

• conceptual input and ongoing support for the integration of participatory research into interventions (facilitating peace forums and the cleansing ceremonies) and networking with research institutions like UKZN

• conceptual input and support (curriculum development, training) during the pilot phase of developing a programme for young men

• organizing a process of consultation and conceptualization for the documentation of Sinanis intervention model, final conceptualizing and writing of the Sinani peace building and development handbook

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5. Achievement and Impact of the Sinani Peace Building Programme This chapter highlights the achievements and impact of Sinani’s peace building programme, particularly with reference to the three main geographic regions comprising the focus of this evaluation: Richmond, Mbumbulu and Escourt. In presenting Sinani’s achievements and impact, we look at the use of traditional (indigenous) approaches to conflict transformation, incorporating their pros and cons in the areas falling under the scope of this evaluation. Seeing that Sinani’s methodological approach to conflict transformation has shifted towards a community-based, facilitative model, whereby community leaders from various structures are constituted into leadership forums which in turn work directly with the community, it is important to report on the impact and effectiveness of this approach. This report aims to achieve this by reporting on the degree of commitment to conflict transformation and peace that was evident in our interactions and interviews with members of leadership forums. In societies modelled on traditional norms in particular, peace building is effected primarily through relationships5, and it is on these grounds that we sought to observe and report not only on group dynamics within each leadership forum but also on their relationship with Sinani. The leadership forums’ respective visions for the future were also explored and will be reported on. We will further report on the aims and achievements of the Hlonipha (Respect) Campaign which is also modelled on the indigenous notion of inculcating ubuntu among the youth. Finally, we will touch on the gender dimension of Sinani’s activities, the importance of which is underscored by the many reports on the increase of violence against women.

5.1 Indigenous approaches to peace building

5.1.1 The Cleansing Ceremony (ihlambo) Traditional approaches to conflict transformation are a feature of a number of indigenous societies and are particularly common in Africa, especially in societies recovering from the trauma of war.6 Often, these approaches take the form of cleansing rituals and ceremonies, known as inhlambuluko or ihlambo in Zulu. The purpose of cleansing ceremonies is to provide an opportunity for the parties that were involved in the conflict to publicly confess their wrongdoings and also to seek forgiveness from the wronged party. Cleansing ceremonies are holistic not only because of their grassroots approach to peace building-the entire community is involved- but also because they appeal to the religious-spiritual worldview shared by the participants. The process is to bring about societal harmony and social integration thought to have been thrown out of sync as the result of war or conflict and without which the community cannot forge ahead with life. Boege (2006) notes that the strength of traditional approaches to peace building lies in their ability to “provide for

5 Boege, V. (2006). Traditional approaches to conflict transformation – Potentials and limits. Available: http://www.berghof-handbok.net; Nolte-Schamm, C. (2006). The African traditional ritual of cleansing the chest of grudges as a ritual of reconciliation. Religion and Thelogy, 13(1), 2006. Available: www.brill.nl; Stark, L. (2006). Cleansing the wounds of war: an examination of traditional healing, psychosexual health and reintegration in Sierra Leone. Intervention, 4(3), 206-218; Berghof Foundation (2006). Sudan. Conflict analysis and options for systemic conflict transformation: A Northern and a Southern view.

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comprehensive inclusion and participation“ and their “focus on the psycho-social and spiritual dimension of conflict transformation.“

Cleansing Ceremonies in Richmond and Mbumbulu

Sinani has supported the idea of the leadership fora to facilitate the use of traditional cleansing ceremonies as a means of bringing about psychosocial healing and reintegration of former combatants, families and communities in societies afflicted by tribal and political violence. Sinani facilitated cleansing ceremonies in Richmond (2006) and Mbumbulu (2007), arguably the hardest hit areas in the violence that engulfed the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The Mbumbulu cleansing ceremony, attended by many dignitaries, including his Majesty, King Zwelithini of the Zulu nation, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu King and leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Dr Zweli Mkhize, prominent African National Congress (ANC) leader and MEC for Finance and Economic Development of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, attracted an estimated 8000 people, some of whom had never been in contact since the end of hostilities in the province. For the Richmond ceremony also important politicians were present such as the Speaker of KZN Legislature Mr Willis Mchunu, the UDM national member of parliament Mrs Nonhlanhla Nkabinde, the KZN members of parliament Mr David Ntombela and Mr Mcoyi both from IFP as well as the Mayor of Richmond, Mr Ben Ngcongo. The cleansing ceremonies received good coverage in the local print media7 and national television. While evaluation of the impact of cleansing ceremonies as peace building tools in societies affected by violence was part of the mission team’s brief, Sinani has initiated its own research into the impact of these ceremonies. The two have been combined in this analysis. Generally, the results of the current evaluation indicate that that cleansing ceremonies were effective as a symbolic gesture of community reconciliation, allowing parties formerly at war to publicly denounce their former behaviour and also to establish spiritual reconnection with their ancestors, who are the custodians of peace and prosperity. Over and above the re-establishment of connection with the ancestors and pacification of the deceased (spiritual level), reconciliation at the individual, relational/interpersonal, and community levels were reported. It should be noted that the following results should be seen in relation to the participants’ explanatory models or world-view; their theories as to why violence occurs and hence how it ought to be prevented.

Spiritual reconnection with the ancestors, the custodians of peace and community prosperity

Participants felt that the violence that had taken place in their communities had destabilized the spiritual equilibrium between themselves and their ancestors, who are the custodians of peace and community well-being. Without this connection, it is believed that the community will not prosper: instead, it will be prone to periodic violence and other social ills. Therefore, participants felt that the cleansing ceremony enabled spiritual re-connection with the ancestors, allowing the community to leave the baggage of war behind as it forged a successful future. This understanding is captured in the following comments.

Extract 1: Richmond Mayor: In the first instance, you need to understand that the cleansing ceremony was directed at the spirits of those who died during the war, that they need to rest in peace and be reconciled with the living. Without this reconciliation, there cannot be lasting peace in the community: the ancestors will

7 UmAfrika, March 16-22, 2007; Ilanga, May 3-5, 2007; Echo (Supplement to the Natal Witness, November 2006).

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turn away from us [remove their protection] and the community will stagnate [i.e. not prosper] and remain prone to violence because the spirits are angry. Extract 2: Mbumbulu leadership forum member: [after a lengthy presentation on the actual process of cleansing]: The cleansing was for the amakhosi [local kings] to apologise to the ancestors, the great amakhosi who founded the tribe. The amakhosi had to apologize that they failed in their responsibility to look after the tribes/clans. Then the izinduna [local headmen] apologized to the current amakhosi for leading young men to war without the approval of the amakhosi. We [the amakhosi of the various tribes/clans involved] washed our hands in the water mixed with the bile of the sacrificial goat to symbolize the cleansing of the entire tribes from the isinyama [pollution] caused by the war. We sought forgiveness on behalf of the tribes/clans.

Evident from the above extracts is the religious/spiritual view by means of which the participants made sense of the conflict. The cleansing ceremony appealed to this world-view, especially the understanding that the community cannot move forward unless the spiritual equilibrium with the ancestors is restored.

Enabling the spirits of the departed to rest in peace

African cosmology distinguishes between acceptable death (e.g. at the ripe old age) and unacceptable death (e.g. from an abominable disease or through violence or war).8 Those who die through violence in particular need special cleansing to effect their transition to the world of the living to the next, spiritual world. If this is not effected, they will roam around, causing havoc and perpetuating violence among the living. The cleansing ceremonies reconciled those who passed away due to violence by effecting their transition from the world characterized by loneliness and suffering to the land of rest and peace (the ancestral realm).

Extract 3: From Mbumbulu leadership forum: Through ihlambo, there was reconciliation of those who passed away during the war, thus moving their spirits from the land of suffering to the land of rest and peace, unless pacified through ihlambo, they will return to cause war and further violence in their communities.

Extract 4 (Mbumbulu): This Ceremony is important because we want to make peace with those who died in the war. If we don’t do this Ceremony those people who died in the war will keep on using us to do the killing9. Extract 5 (Mbumbulu): I live near a place where many people were killed during the violence. At night I used to be bothered by the sounds of fighting and screams. The night after the Ceremony I slept peacefully and have never heard those sounds since. I believe the people are now at rest10.

8 Ngubane, H. (1977). Body and mind in Zulu medicine. UKZN-Sinani Research Team (USRT) (2008). Community members’ lived experience of reconciliation through cleansing ceremonies. Research Paper in progress. 10 Comment by participant during a Sinani workshop in Mbumbulu..

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Inner peace and family reconciliation

There was a sense that ihlambo not only brought about inner peace within individuals; they were also reconciled with their families. It should be remembered that war led to family discord as members of one and the same family were sometimes involved on different sides of the warring parties.

Extract 6: Richmond leadership forum: Ihlambo was directed first and foremost to the persons themselves, to bring about reconciliation with the self, with those who passed away of their own family as well as the surviving members of the family.

Symbolism/Meaning of the ceremony to the participants

Symbolically, ihlambo marked the end of the past and a dawn of a new era for the communities concerned, an era of hope characterized by “eating together”. It could thus be argued that, in engaging in a public ceremony to symbolize the end of hostilities, the cleansing ceremony helped members of the community to fashion new identities, independently of those developed during the war. The following extracts lend credence to this position.

Extract 7 (Mbumbulu): Just because a lot of blood was shed on the battle we need to make peace so that if people meet each other in their area they won’t think about revenge but they must be glad to meet each other (extract from the UKZN-Sinani Research Group, USRT)

Extract 8 (Mbumbulu): And then there will be an animal like goat, that meat that comes from this goat is called meat from isithebe since the family members were eating on different dishes but now because of this goat they eat on one dish (isithebe). They will eat together in each and every function because they have forgiven each other and are one big family. (USRT)

Extract 9 (Richmond): What makes us happy about this cleansing ceremony is that it led to peace and reconciliation between people of different areas. This ceremony brought love for one other, we are now able to visit one other, everything is falling into place, we are very happy. (USRT)

Evident from the above extract is the perception from the communities involved that the cleansing ceremony will lead to an end of the spiral of violence (people will not think about revenge) and the resumption of normal day-to-day activities between communities concerned (e.g. visits between community members). Having addressed the religious-spiritual significance of the cleansing ceremony, we will now turn to the impact of the cleansing at the behavioural level.

Community reconciliation: Freedom of movement and intermarriages

Participants felt that, as a result of the cleansing ceremony, community reconciliation had taken place: they reported that families could now freely visit each other and that intermarriages between communities previously at war were now possible.

Extract 10 (Richmond): I think the ceremony has been very helpful, especially to [name of place] area because it was a very terrifying place to go to, but not after the cleansing ceremony anymore. (USRT)

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Extract 11 (Richmond): I know people who never came to me before but after the ceremony, they do come. Even our relatives are coming to visit us now we sit down and have a chat; even if it is late there is no rush because the streets are safe. When we were doing the ceremony we spoke out everything that could cause us to hold grudges. I treat [name of place] people as my brothers and sisters now because a community member of [name of place] is married to a community member of [name of place]. I was scared even of my own first born brother before the ceremony because he resides in another area, even in town I would hide if I had seen him because I would never know what would happen if he had seen me first, but now we can sit around one table as a family. (USRT) Extract 12 (Richmond): The day after the cleansing ceremony the taxi routes changed. There were no longer “no-go” areas and we are able to move freely between areas11

Resumption of normal schooling

During the war, schools and community halls were used as sites for preparing the warriors for war, and this involved the use of powerful intelezi (war medicines) to strengthen the warriors, making them fearless in the face of the enemy. After the war, children remained scared of going to school, associating the school buildings with the fighting. The cleansing of the schools and other community facilities used during the war removed the fear associated with them, enabling the community, children in particular, to use them freely. This was echoed by the mayor of Richmond:

Extract 13 [Richmond]: The schools were cleansed and the children could learn freely, without fear. Particularly, they were not scarred that they would return home to no one because their family members had run away because of the war. We find that most children are returning to school. (USRT)

Cleansing ceremony in summary: Generally: There was a sense that, as a result of the cleansing ceremony, the communities involved in war had been re-connected spiritually to their ancestors, who are the custodians of peace and prosperity. The ceremony symbolized a break with the past and a sense of hope for the future. Tension between individuals, families and communities were reportedly reduced, leading to free movement and resumption of normal community activities, such as schooling and cross-community marriages. People reported that the roads, especially the main road linking Richmond to the city of Pietermaritzburg, were safer to use and that had enabled trade and small businesses to resume. There was a general sense that energy had now to be directed toward community development and fighting crime. A cautionary note needs to be sounded, however, concerning the long-term impact of the cleansing ceremonies. Like most traditional approaches to peace building, the long-term sustainability of the peace will depend on the ability of the community leadership to continue negotiating potential sources of conflict on an ongoing basis. For this to take place, symbolic renewal of the cleansing process may be necessary (see the visions from leadership forums below). Traditional approaches to peace building generally work because of their inclusive nature (Boege, 2006). In Richmond, some communities were not part of

11 Quote from a participant during Sinani’s internal evaluation of the cleansing ceremony

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the cleansing ceremony and it may be important to draw them in, for the peace to last. Finally, and this is most evident from the visions supplied by members of the leadership forums, lasting peace depends on the economic rehabilitation and social integration of the youth and other stakeholders. It is to these issues that we now turn. We will do this by exploring the commitment, group dynamics and visions of the various leadership forums, tasked with the responsibility for ensuring lasting peace.

5.1.2. The Respect (Hlonipha) Campaign and the idea of Ubuntu The Hlonipha (Respect) campaign is another intervention mechanism that draws from indigenous African concepts, the idea of ubuntu in particular. Ubuntu enjoins us to respect the humanity and historicality of the other, on the understanding that it is only in relation to the other that we come to a fuller understanding of who we are12. Without the other, therefore, there cannot be the self. This mutual interdependence between self and other requires us to treat the other in a respectful and ethical manner. Indeed, in African thought, to be a human being is to recognize this mutual interdependence (umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu). Respect is therefore a two-way, reciprocal process: it applies to the young and the old, and across the sexes. The purpose of the Hlonipha campaign, therefore, is „to tell positive stories of people, who had shown respect in one way or another“, thus spreading positive instead of negative messages. A number of posters have been developed, with role models of various ages and gender telling a positive story about an important issue. People in the community, including children, develop their own slogans and positive examples of respect. Herewith a sample from one of the posters :

“When I show respect to young people I move beyond the boundaries of my socialization. By doing this I pass a message that respect is a two way process. This has restored culture of respect in my area and amongst youth“(Delta Zilungile Sosibo, Chairperson, Women’s Water Development Project) “I lost hope when violence was ravaging our communities. As a leader I had to work through confused feelings to restore dignity and respect in people, so that we will all see life as an option rather than death.” (Mandlenkosi Peter Zwane, Community Leader)

Posters carrying similar messages have been distributed in the schools and community centres. A respect campaign calendar was also launched. Radio talk shows and school visits to talk about the importance of respect have been launched. Taking the culture of respect to the schools might prove useful, given the violence, rape and abuse currently reported in South African schools. Members of the respect campaign who were interviewed saw the respect campaign to be related to the peace building process because:

• The messages touch on gender and human rights issues • The message is politically neutral and hence the respect campaign members are

accepted by members of all political parties

12 Shutte, A. (2001). Ubuntu: an ethic for a new South Africa: Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.

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• The respect campaign provides men and women an opportunity to engage: it is one of the hotly debated issues in gender mixed groups. This dialogue between the genders is seen to be positive

• Members of the respect campaign reported that they feel personally empowered and had grown in self confidence.

Altogether, the campaign seems embedded in all Sinani activities as well as the Sinani organizational culture. Also, it is consistent with Sinani’s shift toward drawing on indigenous concepts in peace building. In terms of the main targets of the intervention, the schools, it is foreseeable that enhancing respectful relationships among the learners and between learners and their educators has a role to play in stemming the tide of school-related violence.13

5.2. Leadership Forums: Commitment, Group Dynamics and Vision As mentioned previously, Sinani peace building work is effected primarily through community-based leadership forums, which are established through a protracted consultative process with all leadership structures in the community, such as the traditional leadership (amakhosi and their structures), politically-elected leadership (counsellors), civic/community-based organizations, and the police. It is the effectiveness of these forums in facilitating the peace building effort that we now turn to. The commitment, group dynamics, vision and challenges of each forum will be discussed.

5.2.1. Richmond Leadership Forum

“Sinani united groups I never thought would ever meet and eat together or share the same space. When I saw a person from another political party, I used to see an animal, not a human being” (Quote from Forum member)

The Richmond Leadership Forum is unique in that it comprises members of all the main political parties found in the province of KwaZulu-Natal: The African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party, The Democratic Alliance and the United Democratic Movement. Police and civic/community based organisations are also represented. The dynamics observed in the group, to a certain extent, is a reflection of its robust composition.

Commitment

1) Commitment in the group is moderate to high. High commitment was evidenced by the fact that members were unanimous that there is now peace in Richmond; that the peace process needed to be stabilised by bringing development to the area. Further, group members felt free to exchange unpopular opinion during the conversation, and the resulting the strong differences of opinion that sometimes emerged were well-managed by the group itself. The differences observed were around gender (especially, between older male members of the group and younger female community based health workers) and also along political lines. Despite these disagreements, members of the forum were very passionate about peace.

13 Due to time constraints, we could not visit the schools where the campaign has been launched nor were we able to engage deeply with participants from the Respect campaign. It would therefore be premature on our part to give an opinion on the effectiveness of the campaign.

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2) Other members’ commitment or courage to carry out the decisions agreed to in the group, was at times questioned For example, there was an impression that people do not talk the same language they talk in the forum when they reach their respective constituencies, for fear that this may alienate their supporters. One member of the forum put it thus: “We need to be role models; a mirror (of peace and change) to the community. Do we talk the same language in our communities?”

Group dynamics

1) The relationship between group members could be characterised as fair-good. There is a general feeling that there is peace and no political violence in Richmond. However, there was a general impression that some group members put political survival above the peace initiative. As one group member put it: „We have a good relationship, but for some, maintaining their [party political] positions is more important than [maintaining] peace“. Again, this relates to forum members’ ability not to be swayed by party political interests when they are talking to their membership, outside the forum. However, given the degree of passion about peace that the evaluation team observed in this group, it is possible that this comment is more about some lingering mistrust between the forum members themselves, as opposed to their commitment to peace. It should be noted that forum members have a good knowledge of each other’s prior histories in the conflict situation and it is therefore possible that issues of trust/mistrust remain. The fact that is this group that called for further leadership training and team building, underscores this point.

2) Some gender dynamics were observed in this group, with a few older male members saying that addressing gender related violence was the sole responsibility of women. This was based on their belief that the responsibility for raising girls rested with women. This issue was debated in a very healthy atmosphere, with strong objections coming from the younger, female community based workers.

Vision

Each forum was asked to map out an ideal scenario for their respective community; achievements that they would like to see in the forthcoming years, when their goals have been achieved. The following emerged for the Richmond leadership group.

1) The structures that were destroyed during the violence have been re-built. This vision was echoed by the mayor, who opined as follows: „People are living in peace: I do not foresee politically related violence. What is important now is finding employment for the people, and also, [we need to] rebuild the city; those parts of it that were destroyed during violence; that is very important“

2) Crime, unemployment and under-employment have been addressed 3) There are sporting and other recreational facilities for the youth. 4) The cleansing ceremony has been extended to those communities that were left

out. 5) We engage much better as a group because we have gone through successful

leadership skills and team building exercises (mostly echoed by the women).

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Challenges for Richmond Forum

The following were enumerated by (and for) the Richmond Leadership Forum:

1) Changing mindsets: There is a need to change the mindset of the people in the Forum, so that they can think beyond party political interest; people need to put development first

2) Appreciation of the relationship between politics and development: The view that people need political rehabilitation, that people need to be educated about the relationship between politics and development, was voiced very strongly.

3) Stabilization/maintenance of the peace process: opportunities for employment a critical factor

4) An increase in criminal violence: Members of the forum saw this as related to political violence in some way. They are of the view that, in destroying the infrastructure, political violence contributed to high levels of unemployment. Also, many families are without breadwinners as a result of political violence and this is seen as a contributory factor to criminal violence.

5) Taking greater responsibility for the peace process. In the words of one Forum member, the Forum needs to “own the peace process”

6) Strengthening the working relationship between Forum members and the South African Police Services (SAPS). The Forum needs to be empowered to liaise effectively with the SAPS in the area.

7) Control over the political canvassing process: The Forum felt that outside politicians canvassing in Richmond during elections sometimes use language that could potentially damage the peace. The Forum needs to empower itself to have a greater say in the electioneering by their respective colleagues from outside the area.

8) Entrenching the Hlonipha (Respect) Campaign in all structures of society: at the family level, between men and women, etc.

5.2.2. Mbumbulu Leadership Forum

“If Sinani had started working with the Mbumbulu community prior to 1984, we would not be having so many orphans. I mean the deliberate [war] orphans. Violence could have been prevented in Mbumbulu altogether” (Quote from Member of Forum)

The Mbumbulu Leadership Forum is comprised mainly of traditional leadership (four amakhosi and their leadership structures), and to a lesser extent, civic leaders and counsellors. The high degree of cohesion in the group is to a larger extent, a function of this composition.

Commitment

1) There is a high degree of commitment in the group, possibly largely as a function of its (almost homogenous) composition. There are few counsellors (politically elected leadership) in the group, the amakhosi enjoy a high degree of respect

2) The group is extremely proud of its achievements: They see themselves as ambassadors of peace; an example to other groups who are still struggling with violence and peace building

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3) The group is ashamed that the amakhosi were unable to prevent violence, exposing themselves to ancestral anger, and their people to wanton destruction.

4) The group is unanimous that there is peace in Mbumbulu: they are eager to share their experiences with other communities. They also want their peace building activities to be documented for future generations.

Group dynamics

1) The group has a very close working relationship: participants were often seen with their heads together around the table, their inkosi included.

2) Gender issues do not seem to be a problem, although active participation of younger women in the discussion could be enhanced. Where the indlovukazi (wife to inkosi) is present, she takes the upper place together with amakhosi. A very respectful protocol is followed in addressing each other. Amakhosi mingle freely with the group.

3) As mentioned previously, the group is comprised mainly of amakhosi and their indunas, with very few elected community leadership, whose voices are not the dominant ones in the group. The tendency towards homogeneity may explain the high degree of unity in the group.

Vision

1) The group’s vision is to have a yearly commemoration of ihlambo to mark their achievement but also to serve as a reminder of the destructive potential of violence

2) To erect an ihlambo memorial stone, with an inscription along these lines: “On this day, the people of Mbumbulu under 10 amakhosi made peace”. This way, ihlambo will become a vehicle to sustain peace.

3) The victims of violence to be compensated 4) The people have returned to resettle the land vacated during violence and

agricultural land is used profitably to sustain livelihoods 5) There is strong collaboration with various government departments, especially

to promote development 6) The history of the Mbumbulu peace process has been documented; ihlambo is a

reminder to future generations to sustain the peace 7) When our vision has been achieved, there will be good roads, banks, water,

electricity and good infrastructure in Mbumbulu 8) People of Mbumbulu become peace ambassadors: locally and abroad

Challenges for Mbumbulu Forum

1) The greatest challenge is cooperation between amakhosi and elected leadership; amakhosi feel disrespected when they are not consulted. They feel that the areas of responsibility for amakhosi and elected counsellors are not clearly delineated.

2) Close cooperation between traditional and leadership in area: This will facilitate local/provincial government’s ability to fast-track development in the area (it is possible that development is being used as a vehicle for political leverage and hence the tension between political and elected leadership).

3) The Forum is dominated by the traditional leadership, with minimal representation from the elected leadership. This is an area that the forum itself wants to work on in the future.

4) Crime is on the increase; this is related to high levels of unemployment and the slow pace of development in the area.

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5) It is possible that the Forum has developed a strong dependence on Sinani. In the eyes of the Forum, Sinani should continue working in Mbumbulu indefinitely. One Forum member put it thus: “Sinani needs to nurture us, like the mother hen does her chicks”.

5.2.3. Escourt (Mtshezi) Leadership Forum It is only recently (2006) that Sinani started working in Escourt. Hence this Forum is new14. Like the other forums, its composition is unique in the sense that members of the clergy dominate. Political leadership, especially the IFP and the ANC, is represented, as are civic organizations and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Traditional leadership is also represented, although minimally. Members of the Forum are generally well-educated.

Commitment

1) The group is very committed to its work. There is a great sense of independence among members of the Forum

2) There is a sense of pride in the role played by the local leadership in bringing about peace in Escourt: Members would go at length narrating the circumstances leading to the peace process, and their role in it.

3) The role of the clergy is evident: they have a fairly good representation in the forum.

Group dynamics

1) Relationships between Forum members are respectful, cordial and carefully measured. This may have to do with the almost even power balance between the IFP and ANC in the municipality (the municipality has seesawed between the two parties in the previous elections)

2) Traditional leadership (amakhosi) has poor representation and constitutes a minor voice: seeking greater recognition

3) Women in the group are generally independent: can voice their own opinion (this may have to do with their level of education and influential positions in peace building and monitoring institutions)

Vision

The Forum looks forward to erecting a memorial stone with the names of those who died in the violence, for future generations to know and hence avoid violence.

Challenges for the Escourt group

1) The group identified lack of political tolerance as one of the greatest challenges 2) Political education of community leadership structures and community

members, so that they have a better understanding of how politics works 3) Community education about community members’ rights and responsibilities.

This includes education of the leadership (counsellors) about their responsibilities to the communities they serve

14 Incidentally, this is a group the evaluation team had the least time with, as they had other business to do on the day of the visit. Assisting the process of approving a constitution allowed us however to get a good feeling for the dynamics of the group.

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4) Poverty and unemployment are high: There is a need for economic rehabilitation and social reintegration/rehabilitation of those destabilized by war

5) There is potential conflict around land: it is not clear which land falls under the amakhosi and municipal structures respectively; counsellors accused of settling people on land under traditional leadership. Land scarcity is an issue.

6) There is an urgent need for trauma counselling and debriefing for the survivors of violence in the community. This is perhaps due to the fact that it is only recently that Sinani started working in this area.

5.3. Sinani’s work and gender Gender based violence, incorporating violence against children, is endemic in South Africa: the province of KwaZulu-Natal is no exception.15 Violence against women seems to be sustained not only by the prevalence of hegemonic masculinities, which position men and boys above women and girls, but also by the fact that, in a province where unemployment is high, men are more likely to be employed than women and hence have control over economic resources. This is particularly so in the rural areas. In this section, therefore, we report on Sinani’s attempts to incorporate this critical gender dimension in its peace building effort. This refers specifically to instances where traditional notions of masculinity, such as those equating manhood with fighting skills and bravery in war, could be easily manipulated in the conflict situation.

5.3.1 Working with young men (Izinsizwa) Sinani’s work with young men, izinsizwa as they are called in isiZulu, is based on promoting positive male identities. Under the guidance of a mentor or group facilitator, young men critically discuss various forms of masculinities, including hegemonic masculinities implicated in violence against women. Alternative masculinities, including those incorporating the caring dimension, are explored. The various ways in which men and women are positioned by the culture and society, including the media, are discussed, as are the implications of the said cultural positioning on gender relations, including implications for HIV/AIDS intervention. Inasmuch as the idea of having young men is a modernised version of the amabutho system by which a cohort of young men would be assigned a mentor to instruct them as they mature into manhood, at times the young men interviewed were critical of tradition, especially where it is used ideologically to justify oppressive gender practices. It appears that there is a generational gap between young men and their older counterparts: the young men called for discourse across generations of men, which they opined is critical for mutual understanding and positive socialization into manhood. The young men working all as facilitators and ‘multipliers’ in their communities highlighted the following as their modus operandi and achievements:

15 Langen, T. (2005). Gender power imbalances on women’s capacity to protection against HIV/AIDS in Botswana and South Africa. African Health Scientist, 5(3), 188-197; Petersen, I., Bhana, A., & McKay, M. (2005). Sexual violence and youth in South Africa: the need for community based prevention interventions. Child abuse and neglect, 29(11), 1233-1248. Varga, C. A. (2003). How gender roles influence sexual and reproductive health among South African adolescents. Studies in family planning, 34(3), 160-172; Wood, K., Maforah, F & Jewkes, R. (1998) “He forced me to love him”: putting violence on adolescent sexual health agendas. Social Science and Medicine, 47(2), 233-243.

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• Recruiting/mobilising other young men and youth in schools and churches; sharing with them ideas on how to behave responsibly and to avoid drugs, alcohol and risky sexual behaviour.

• Promoting the culture of respect (uku-hlonipha) and responsible, caring fatherhood.

• Changing the mindsets of young men; through discussion of topics such as “what does it mean to be a man” and also through dialogue on transitioning to manhood in a society characterised by unemployment, women empowerment and other uncertainties for men.

• The young men reported that they had been successful in mobilising youth in Mbumbulu and Inanda (North of Durban) to discus topics such as HIV/AIDS and violence.

Sinani’s work on young men is consistent with the current literature on the relationship between hegemonic masculinities and violence. The young men were able to articulate how the division of labour between men and women, and the devaluation of women’s labour, had entrenched gender disparities. They were also able to link what they called a “rough mentality” (a form of masculine identification characterised by recklessness, and violence) not only to lack of opportunities to participate effectively and meaningfully in institutions of public life (e.g. by finding gainful employment) but also to alienation from their own cultural traditions of positive manhood (indoda)16, hence their emphasis on respect and call for intergenerational dialogue. Sinani’s work with young men has thus been effective in blending traditional approaches to male upbringing (e.g. having a group of izinsizwa under mentorship of a senior) and the emerging modern literature on masculinities and focus on men. Linkages with research and civic organizations targeting men could strengthen Sinani’s work.

5.3.2. Sinani’s work with women

5.3.2.1 Sinani’s involvement with community based health workers Sinani has been successful in working with women with a view to enabling them to sustain themselves and their families economically (sustainable livelihoods) and also to enable them to support their communities. This is important not only because of the high levels of unemployment in the rural areas, where Sinani’s work is concentrated, it stands to reason that economic emancipation will provide women the necessary escape route from abusive relationships. The women reported that they had been empowered in their relationships. Other achievements of Sinani with this group included but were not limited to:

1) Training on how to start a committee, draw up a constitution and register an organization

2) Financial management and small business training 3) Stress and trauma debriefing: “It was difficult for us to do our work in the

communities because the problems were affecting us too. Sinani organised trauma debriefing workshops”

16 Mkhize, N. (2005). African traditions and the social, economic and moral dimensions of fatherhood. In L. Richter & R. Morrell (Eds), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 183-198). Cape Town: HSRC Press.

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4) Assertiveness: The women feel empowered to talk against gender violence/oppression

As a result, the women reported that some of their colleagues had find employment elsewhere or even started their own businesses. The successes notwithstanding, the women face a number of infrastructural and other challenges in effecting their work. The following are the highlights from a very long list of challenges raised by the women.

1) Travelling long distances on foot to deliver first aid, as rural households are not easily accessible due to poor infrastructure. This impacts on their work as the sick have to be carried for long distances before ambulances can be accessed

2) The signage system on the roads is poor: it is not easy to give directions to police and other emergency vehicles

3) Absence of street lights conducive to crime: crime has increased and ambulances would not come at night unless escorted by police

4) There is no clinic in the area and the police station is far away.

5.3.2.2 Women involvement in the Victim Empowerment Centre: Mbumbulu Sinani has also been successful in training volunteers to work with survivors of violence in the Mbumbulu area. The volunteers deal primarily with cases of gender-related and child abuse, which is on the increase. In speaking to one of the policewomen in Mbumbulu, who volunteers in the Centre, it was evident that there had been shifts in patterns of violence, with women and children being the primary targets. The policewoman attributed this to displacement resulting from the psychological scars of war. The greatest challenge to the Centre is that volunteers have to cover large areas and this is expensive as they are not remunerated for their efforts. The following needs and recommendations emerged:

1) There is a need to open more centres in the outlying areas. 2) The Centre needs to be resourced with additional equipment 3) People, women and children are not aware of their constitutional and gender

rights. In events involving intra-familial rape or abuse, they would rather withdraw cases risk then family displeasure. Education on gender, children and human rights is essential

4) Additional, advanced training on victim empowerment 5) Enlisting the assistance of the local leadership, community policing forums,

teachers, health workers in fighting violence against women and children.

In conclusion, it is evident that Sinani has been successful in empowering women economically and also in terms of enabling them to develop skills to assert themselves in abusive relationships. The extent of domestic violence targeted at women and children, however, as well as the infrastructural problems impacting on women’s work, are beyond Sinani’s resources. Local government needs to be lobbied to make resources available in the rural areas, and the local leadership (traditional and elected) needs to work in tandem to address violence against women and other infrastructural problems. Violence against

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women and children is not a women’s problem: men also need to be involved. Finally, collaboration with organizations working on women and children’s rights could be strengthened.

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6. Special learning fields

In the course of the intervention process seven major learning fields were identified and presented by the evaluation team at the final workshop. Questions related to these learning fields were put forward for further reflection and discussion. After a process of prioritisation, three learning fields – deemed the most relevant and interesting for Sinani at the moment (s. box below) – were taken up in small group discussions. The groups reflected on the issues at stake and worked out suggestions how Sinani could take them forward in future. In this chapter we recount all learning fields including the results of Sinani’s group work (6.1 - 6.7).17

Learning fields prioritised by Sinani staff 18

1. Where are the boundaries of the Sinani System? 10 2. Greater leverage vs. safeguarding Sinani’s community based identity? 06 3. Community development is a fragile process (feedback loops of violence and development) 04 4. Indigenous methods – working with young men and women 16 5. From ‚bringing leaders on one platform’ to linking them to different levels of society? 06 6. From conflict management towards safeguarding stability by strengthening good

governance and citizenship? 08 7. Sustainability of Sinani’s work or whether, when and how Sinani has to phase out not rated

The seventh important learning and reflection field on the sustainability of Sinani’s work, tackling especially the questions whether, when and how Sinani could or would have to phase out of communities was not part of the prioritisation process. This issue preoccupies Sinani staff a lot, it emerged time and again in many discussions and interviews we conducted. Hence, we gave it particular prominence during the workshop in a final plenary session for everybody to work on it (6.7).

6.1 Where are the boundaries of the Sinani system?

In the interviews with Sinani staff as well as one board member it became apparent that the ideas and visions on which groups and level Sinani should concentrate its efforts in future vary quite a bit among the staff. All interviewees were convinced that Sinani is rooted in the community and needs to keep on serving the community. The conclusions drawn from here are, however, not necessarily the same. While some feel that there is an urgent need and opportunity for greater leverage by engaging with local and provincial government, others would prefer to focus more on the direct engagement with community groups and even families, emphasising herewith the huge need for individual changes and healing still necessary.

It also transpired that the different interventions of Sinani might request other target groups and more or less extended boundaries. Obviously, the envisioned training centre would not be serving the communities only. Who to reach is however still openly discussed.

Against this background the evaluation team emphasised that the way Sinani draws boundaries of its system has impact on the future strategy development. It helps working on

17 Altogether, the discussions of the different fields indicated that some are partly overlapping. One group hence worked on the first and second learning field together. For the report we decided, however, not to merge these fields. Each field still has scope for further reflection and discussions. 18 Numbers on the right hand column indicate the popularity of the learning field among the Sinani staff.

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the added value of Sinani as an organisation. The first example indicates that the uniqueness of the Sinani model could be characterised by different interacting intervention models. The second graph shows, that it is also possible to see the need to homogenise all existing intervention approaches and to integrate them in only one single intervention strategy

or

Questions by the evaluation team • What are the current boundaries of your organisation and how do they relate to your

desired impacts on the personal level, community level and local government level? • Where do you want to reduce keep or expand your boundaries? ,

The working group decided to look at the boundaries of Sinani (6.1) as well as Sinani’s identity (6.2) and came up with the following ideas and suggestions:

Sinani’s boundaries are defined historically: • by the needs emerging from communities • by the vision and mission of the organisation – ‚to build peaceful, empowered,

dynamic societies’ • by its legal identity as a section 21 organization/company

Sinani works towards this identity with the following approach: • Bringing together people from different sides of conflict into a secure platform • Working on interpersonal relationships and communication skills to consolidate

this platform • Focus on personal development to enable meaningful participation and deeper

reconciliation

The group discussed that moving into the space between peace and development risks new conflicts and it will be a big challenge to deal with those tensions in a constructive way. One way of addressing this could be by focussing the attention of the secure platform outwards (e.g. ‚upwards’ to higher political levels and ‚downwards’ to the community and beneficiaries)

In terms of Sinani’s own development the group emphasised that Sinani is a learning organisation starting to document its work and achievements and organising training around this work. The group wondered if it is now Sinani’s role to reach out to share this learning with others in KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa and even internationally?

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The following diagram to capture the Sinani system was drawn:

International

Local, Prov. Nat. Gov.

Community

CBOs & Leadership

Com. Interns Facilitators

Sinani staff

The arrows in the diagram indicate in an exemplary manner the interaction happening between the different levels. The main question transpiring for the groups was how Sinani would have to organise itself in order to invest effectively in these levels?

In this context also the challenge of ‘exiting’ a community was discussed and the following model or guiding indicators were suggested:

• when the platform is stable

• people are able to discuss differences in a contained way

• they are engaging and challenging their leadership (e.g. higher level politicians) and addressing the needs of the community

6.2 Greater leverage vs. safeguarding Sinani’s community based identity? As emphasised in chapter 4 Sinani has a solid set of values and strengths. Characteristics of Sinani’s identity that are also often mentioned by partners and beneficiaries are ‘being deeply rooted in the community’ and ‘functioning as role model, walking the talk’. It is therefore evident that any change in the work of Sinani would have to safeguard these values and strengths forming the identity of Sinani.

At the same time Sinani receives more requests for support and cooperation than the organisation can currently cope with. Very well aware of the huge and complex needs of the communities of KwaZulu-Natal there is a continuous concern and search within Sinani for a still greater leverage on strategic level with broader outreach.

One option to increase leverage for the sake of the communities’ needs could be some sort of collaboration with local authorities, especially the local and provincial government. This idea is generally not new (see also recommendations of 2003), however, what the cooperation could concretely look like seems still rather vague. The evaluation team felt that a number of entry points and roles could be imagined – from advising crucial stakeholders e.g. at municipality level or police stations to providing workshops and even on the job training for government staff (e.g. those responsible for health service provision or security in the community). By and large it is clear that state authorities and local government can

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have great presence in the communities and could also have access to reasonable amounts of funding but overall lack the capacity to adequately use and absorb these funds. Challenges in implementing government policies and initiatives at a local level, and self-reported gaps in governance skills, make them (state authorities) also quite vulnerable to serving other political interests, blockages in delivery and increased corruption.

The evaluation team queried if one of the reasons for Sinani’s hesitation to engage with state authorities and government might be founded in the risks involved for Sinani’s community identity. Sinani seems to be confronted by an ethical dilemma and a certain anxiety to lose trust of the community by working closely with perhaps at times ambiguous or problematic stakeholders of state authorities and inefficient service providers. Hence the following questions are suggested for further reflection and discussion.

Questions by the evaluation team • How can Sinani remain deeply rooted and connected to the community but also serve

more communities? • What could be risks for Sinani and its identity when engaging more with state

authorities and government? How could these risks be minimalised?

6.3 Community development - a highly fragile process intertwined with patterns of violence

Some examples referred to by interview partners indicate very clearly how patterns of gender based and domestic violence as well as the so called ‘criminal’ violence are sometimes deeply rooted and nurtured by experiences of political violence and historical structural injustice. The different forms of violence persisting on various levels of the society are a part of the conflict system and interact with each other and also with the community development and intervention strategies by various actors. Based on information collected during the interviews and field visits the following diagram was prepared for the workshop:

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The loop on the left side indicates the interconnectedness of different patterns of violence, which all can contribute to a varying extent to undermine the development in the communities. Some forms of violence, e.g. criminal violence and political violence, might be connected only by a huge time-delay and acted out by generations that might not even remember the times of political violence. The loop on the right indicates possible positive factors which lead to stabilizing and empowering community structures. Of course, many more different loops of this kind could be drawn.

The diagram illustrates that community development and the empowerment of community structures are highly complex and are influenced by various feedback loops and cycles interacting with each other. Therefore community development has to be seen as a non-linear and highly fragile process. On the one hand factors such as increased employment opportunities and a decrease of political violence contribute to the empowerment of a community. On the other hand various other still existing patterns of violence can undermine the stability in a community.

The planning of a peace building strategy in such a fragile community environment must be well aware of these interactions and their time delays. Community development does not grow in a linear way. In order to contribute to lasting stability and development of the community peace building efforts are needed beyond the seeming end of political violence.

Questions by the evaluation team • How can Sinani best deal with the complexity of the situation in the communities? • Which other feedback loops exist? Which ones need to be considered to effective y l

tackle the interaction of violence and development?

6.4 Indigenous methods – working with young women and men While Sinani has been successful in mobilising young men using a combination of traditional and modern intervention methods, the same could not be said of their work with young women. Sinani staff and some of the groups interviewed reported that there have been calls for the establishment of groups for young women, modelled along the same lines as the groups for young men. This call makes sense, seeing that women in general have not only been subjected to various forms of exclusion; young women in particular are prime targets of various forms of oppression and violence. On the other hand, however, establishing young women’s groups modelled along indigenous concepts of respect could be easily manipulated to entrench women’s subordinate status. It is not unusual that women’s oppression has been justified with respect to tradition. Thus, while Sinani remains aware of the necessity to create platforms for young women to discourse about the challenges they face in their lives, including the social and cultural narratives underpinning the way they understand themselves, mechanisms for doing so in a manner that protects women’s constitutional rights, especially from the ideological exploitation of the custom of respect, have not been developed. Sinani should continue to critically engage on this issue, perhaps seeking advice from constitutional experts, in order to avoid the opposite, which is withholding an intervention from the most deserving group.

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Question by the evaluation team

• How can ind genous methods be used for young women while avoiding the possibility of iinfringing upon their dignity and human rights?

From the discussion group emerged the following issues that need to be taken into account in using indigenous methods to promote the well-being of young girls.

• First and foremost, there needs to be clear understanding of the indigenous methods to be employed, so as to avoid the exploitation of customs against young women. We need more knowledge on indigenous methods as they pertain to women. This may require workshops with cultural experts and the Gender Commission. These workshops should address which of these methods remain relevant in our current social and cultural context and which are detrimental to the health, wellbeing and self-esteem of the young girls.

• Where indigenous methods are employed, this should be done with the consent of the girls themselves. There should be no coercion. Social pressure and possible stigmatization for non-participation should also be taken into account (this was in reference to the practice of virginity testing).

• Research is needed into indigenous methods such as the system of grouping izintombi (young girls) under iqhikiza (senior girl who serves as mentor), with particular reference to the possibility of this system serving as a way of imparting knowledge about sexuality and HIV/Aids to the young girls. This is important in view of the fact that sexuality is not commonly discussed between parents and girls in most families.

• Discourse on the use of indigenous methods for young girls should take place in conjunction with the Departments of Health, Traditional Affairs as well as the community policing forums. It is important to have mechanisms in place to protect young virgin girls against abuse arising from myths around HIV/Aids.

• Research into and revival of indigenous methods that empowered women is necessary (e.g. the respect accorded to first born women (inkosazane) in their families, as well as the practice of ostracizing men who beat women.

• It is not Sinani’s role to start a new project at this stage. However, Sinani should continue to engage with all stakeholders and community-based organisations that are concerned with the well-being of young women. Sinani will contribute to debate on the pros and of various methods, the primary issue being how best to ensure that the young women are not excluded from potentially beneficial interventions but also safeguarding for their constitutional rights and dignity.

It could be surmised from the above, that the fact that agreement and way forward could not be reached when it comes to working with young women, is a vindication of the precarious position of women in society, from both a modern and traditional perspective. It may therefore be important for Sinani to link not only with the Gender commission, the Department of Traditional Affairs and cultural experts as it engages with this issue; also important are links with research organizations and universities that are conducting gender-related research.

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6.5 From ‚bringing leaders on one platform’ to linking them to different levels of society?

As described in chapter 5 each leadership forum is unique in its composition, history and approach. All of them have been able to bridge major divides among their group members and manage to work constructively together.

While this has been a major achievement at group level, a leadership forum is of course only of long term use if the community also feels its benefits. So far, the leadership forums have only partly been able to reach out effectively to their communities. As the discussions showed some forums actually queried whether and how they should intervene in the community and make themselves known to the community.

It also transpired in the discussions with the leadership forum and respective community members that the achievements of the forums can still rather rapidly be wiped out and community stability heavily disturbed as soon as the provincial or national level leadership intervenes or interferes in the communities. Up to now, they rarely consult the local leadership of their parties, let a lone the leadership forum. Consequently, they often interact with little sensitivity for the conflict issues still at stake in the communities. In all forums the leaders mentioned how aggressive campaigning in election periods was often pursued by the higher political leadership levels though highly adverse to the fragile stability achieved by now.

The leadership forums have a double challenge to tackle in future: On the one hand there is still substantial need for further strengthening of horizontal leadership cooperation. As mentioned above the Mbumbulu leadership forum wants and still needs to bridge the gap to the elected leadership and the Escourt forum wants and still needs to ensure full participation by all the parties involved, the traditional leadership in particular. On the other hand it is not enough if the local leaders focus on their relation among each other, the platform has to face the challenges from the leadership above as much as the demands of its main voters, the community.

Question by the evaluation team • How can the achievements at the horizontal level within the groups be strengthened

without losing sight of the power structures at play (having to respect top leadership as well as voters)?

• How will Sinani be able to support stronger vertical linkages of the forums to these different levels with their respective demands?

6.6 From conflict management towards safeguarding stability by strengthening good governance and civic education?

Uniting the leadership and offering them a safe space and platform to manage their conflicts in a constructive dialogue has been a very crucial element in successfully reducing political violence in the intervention areas of Sinani. These areas have since then experienced growing moments of stability. The situation is, however, still extremely fragile (6.3), other patterns of violence are persisting if not even increasing and the forums themselves still grapple with a number of open questions around their role (6.5).

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In order to safeguard their relational achievements leaders of the forums as well as many community members tend to at times to ‘work around’ conflicting issues rather than addressing them. As such it has become quite common – not only in KwaZulu-Natal – to insist on avoiding or even prohibiting discussions on party politics. This was also one of the ground rules demanded by participants of our first workshop. This strong demand does not really astound if one considers that constructive political debate on community level is still rare and tolerance for different (political) opinions not very high. In order to secure stability in the long run, it might be important that people learn to better understand the purpose and legitimacy of party politics. The politicians, however, need to abide to fair campaigning and other major rules of good governance. This requires substantial learning processes on all sides.

Question by the evaluation team • To what extent can the respect campa gn be used for civic education of such a kind? i• What else could a shift of Sinani's work from confl ct management in the direction of i

good governance and civ c (or political) education imply? i

The working group concluded that Sinani has to start engaging in political/ civic education with the leadership as much as with community members in the existing groups Sinani regularly works with already. It is important to work with all of them on rights, responsibilities, participation in governance as well as accountability. For this work Sinani could approach and use the support of NGOs such as the CCP and IDASA (Institute for Democracy in South Africa) which can provide content related material and inputs. It was further felt that the future training centre could play a role in these education processes which should be done with great caution and within a ‘controlled’ environment’.

It was also concluded that the respect campaign can play a significant role by continuing and broadening its work of promoting values of tolerance and respect within groups.

6.7 Sustainability of Sinani’s work or whether, when and how Sinani has to phase out its work in a community?

In the course of our intervention process off and on questions around the sustainability of Sinani’s work, the implications for Sinani’s engagement with communities emerged. Sinani staff queried whether, when and how Sinani could or would have to phase out of communities. It became evident that the ideas of what Sinani’s role should be once a stable situation is reached vary to a large extent. For this reason the evaluation team decided to stimulate more debate on this challenge by using the tetralemma as a methodology to prompt deeper reflection and discussion. The advantage of working with the tetralemma is that it allows also for hidden and less conscious issues to emerge. The following options were discussed in a final plenary session:

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Tetralemma: “Future role of Sinani in stable communities?”

Position A

Exit

Both A and B

Change of strategy, stay engaged but differently

Neither A nor B

• If we focus more on resource issues, the question of exit will not have to be raised immediately

• We should reflect how to integrate structural injustice in our strategies, how to exit is not the key issue

Position B

Stay in the community

forever/indefinitely

“

None of this – but also not this” • The terms stability and

exit mean different things to different people, maybe we needto work on a common understanding of them?

• We have different perceptions of the current situation within the communities

• exit strategies for different programmes?Do we need to

Do we need different

•

inani’s homogenize Sstrategies and approaches?

“None of this – but also not this” • The terms stability and

exit mean different things to different people, maybe we need to work on a common understanding of them?

• We have different perceptions of the current situation within the communities

• Do we need different exit strategies for different programmes?

• Do we need to homogenize Sinani’s strategies and approaches?

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7. Overall assessment of Sinani’s Peace Building Programme

While the evaluation team was asked to develop an innovative design of an evaluation including systemic thinking, we had at the same time quite ‘classic’ terms of reference requesting for the assessment of all the classic OECD evaluation criteria. Hence, in this chapter we attempt an overall assessment of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of Sinani’s peace building programme and the role of the civil peace service co operant (7.2 – 7.7). The appraisal of these criteria and issues – featuring all quite prominently in our TOR – is in fact becoming a common practice in the international field of development cooperation.

We would like to exercise and advice great caution with this assessment, however. Looking at the short time and limited scope of our intervention and its specific methodological approach, the picture we draw of Sinani’s peace building programme is inevitably bound to be a sketchy and subjective snap-shot from an external perspective. One also has to keep in mind that these kinds of assessments are quite an ambitious endeavour for any project type. This is even more so for the work in complex and highly volatile settings still largely affected by various patterns of violence.

The difficulty of assessing these general development criteria in conflict settings has also recently been acknowledged by OECD DAC. Therefore, they are currently drafting and testing specific guidelines for the evaluation of conflict prevention and peace building activities and policies. As general guidance and red threat for the assessment of each of the above criteria we will use the broad framework and key questions suggested by OECD DAC (2008a and 2008b, p. 39-44).19

Since the relevance, impact, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of peace building work needs to be reflected against the underlying theories of change, we would like to first briefly summarise some of the explicit and implicit theories and assumptions of change that seem to be driving the work of Sinani (7.1). Many of them have been referred to in the chapters above.

7.1 Theories of change

In most cases, peace building activities do not rely only on one theory of change (OECD 2008b, Lederach et al. 2007). It is therefore not surprising that a holistic intervention model like Sinani’s is based on a number of change theories relating to the actors targeted, the approaches developed and the issues at stake. It is only in this comprehensive combination of several theories that one can adequately understand the work and achievements of Sinani.

Most of the theories of change driving Sinani’s peace building programme seem to focus on ‘who’ needs to change (i.e. which individuals, groups and which relationships) and on ‘how’ this change can happen (i.e. approach and methodology). The successes of the peace building programme are closely interrelated to the effects of the development and HIV/AIDS programmes. Here, a growing focus on ‘what’ (i.e. institution, policy and social norms and justice) can be observed as well.

19 The OECD DAC (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - Development Assistance Committee) worked for this purpose in collaboration with the CDA Collaborative Learning Projects (CDA). CDA drafted the guidelines on the basis of lessons from hundreds of case studies from all over the world.

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Who

To a large extent Sinani’s work is based on the idea of individual change and the development of healthy relationships and connections. If we transform consciousness, attitudes, behaviour and skills of many individuals and additionally break down the isolation, division and polarisation among individuals and groups, a critical mass to advocate for peace and stability will emerge. Concrete examples for these theories could be:

• Leadership: By creating a platform for community leaders (traditional, elected and religious) and strengthening their relationships, Sinani can foster more responsible leadership which, in turn, contributes to non-violent management of conflicts and increasing stability in the community.

• Young men: By providing safe space for young men to critically reflect on their attitudes, behaviour and roles in society and by further encouraging them to engage with their communities, Sinani can strengthen new patterns of gender based behaviour and relationships which, in turn, will lead to safer communities and space also for women to grow.

• Survivors of violence:20 By providing psychosocial support and counselling to individuals and groups who have suffered from severe violence, Sinani assists them to restore their dignity, to re-connect with the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. This in turn, helps restoring relationships and breaking the cycles of violence in the community.

How

A crucial asset of the work and achievements always pointed out by Sinani as well as its beneficiaries is Sinani’s particular community approach. Some of these theories of change could be formulated as follows:

• Holistic and systemic: If Sinani supports communities in a holistic manner, recognising their pressing issues of daily survival such as economic deprivation and HIV/AIDS as well, Sinani will contribute to lasting stability and greater human security in the communities

• Culturally sensitive and organic: By providing space for indigenous concepts to be applied and/or ‘re-invented’, Sinani acknowledges people’s cultural and spiritual beliefs and their theories why violence takes place and continues. Following this organic flow and needs of the community, in turn, contributes to community reconciliation.

• Genuine and credible: By the manner Sinani facilitates and accompanies community processes (being open, listening instead of coming with answers, remaining impartial, caring for the community as a whole and walking its talk) Sinani is acknowledged as a genuine and credible partner which, in turn, contributes to people’s realisation and increasing certitude that things can be different and constructive conflict management, development as well as good governance are possible.

• Ownership driven: By understanding the community as main resource for change and encouraging them in their activities to improve their situation, Sinani fosters

20 While BMZ and the WFD speak in their documents of „victims of violence“, and Sinani therefore also calls its workshops “victim empowerment workshops“, we consciously decided to speak of ‘survivors of violence’. The notion of ‚victim’ as well as the process of ‘victimisation’ of people by labelling them as such is in many ways problematic, not only in complex conflict situations.

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self-esteem, restores dignity and enhances the community’s ownership of their situation and their capacity to help themselves.

What

If one assesses the changes of Sinani’s intervention over the past 10 years, one can note that Sinani – on its continuous search for the greatest leverage of change – moved slowly from mobilising individual community groups to focussing on key community players and towards engaging also with institutions on the local level. While institutional, policy and social norm changes might not be at the forefront, the following change assumptions in Sinani’s work and discourse can be observed:

• Social norms/ good governance: By encouraging the leadership forums to critically discuss governance and development issues of the community, Sinani encourages action for democratic/ equitable economic structures allowing growth of the whole community.

• Institution: If Sinani enhances the capacity of driving actors in the communities such as CBOs, they will be able to lobby for change and sustain community development.

We are fully aware that there are more and probably also slightly different theories that the evaluation team might not have captured at all or not adequately. Furthermore, it needs to be emphasised that Sinani staff members – as it is the case in most organisations – do not always attribute the same relevance to the different theories. We highlighted a few of the existing differences (see especially 6.1 and 6.7). The short intervention period, unfortunately, did not allow for a detailed appraisal and discussion of all of these theories with the Sinani staff. As we have seen in chapter 6 and will also highlight below, some of these theories might even be at a turning point - about to be extended or replaced by new or additional theories. Hence, none of the above suggested theories should be carved in stone but rather they should all be considered as a potential entry point for deeper reflection and discussion by Sinani in future.

7.2 Relevance

Guiding Questions (OECD DAC 2008) • Does the intervention relate in a meaningful way to current, key driving factors of the

(potential) conflict? • Are the assumptions or theories of change on which the activities are based logical or

sensible in this con ext at this time? t• Has the effort responded flexibly to changing circumstances over time? • Are outputs consis ent with the ob ectives of reducing or preventing conflict? t j• What is the relevance of the intervention as perceived by beneficiaries and external

observers?

Looking at the above questions we can altogether underscore that Sinani’s approach and strategies in the past years have been highly relevant for the reduction of violence as well as the nurturing of trust building processes in the three communities we have focussed our

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attention on. This has also been made very clear by the beneficiaries as well as other external stakeholders from local authorities and civil society (see 5).

Sinani has proved to be flexible and continuously searching for improvement and adjustment of its strategies. The introduction of a new intervention model that looks at communities more holistically (acknowledging the interrelation of cycles of violence with psychosocial, physical and economic deprivation) was one such crucial move to a new and sound overall strategy. We believe that the peace building programme on its own would have not had the same credibility and probably not achieved the same results. While it exceeded our mandate and scope of intervention to deeper analyse the relation of these three programmes, we suggest that Sinani is supported to do so. The relevance of Sinani’s work seems to be linked to this integrated and systemic approach.

As described especially in chapter 6 the situation in KwaZulu-Natal remains extremely volatile and fragile despite significant increase of stability. Against the background that civil society engagement in KwaZulu-Natal has decreased drastically in the past years, especially in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal (see 3.1), the engagement of Sinani has become even more relevant and definitely needs further support. At the same time it is also very evident that the needs of the communities exceed by large the actual capacities of Sinani – even if it would be able to double or triple its size. Furthermore, the nature of the peace building needs is changing. This will requires an on-going assessment by Sinani of its theories and strategies for change.

The following shift of peace building needs and strategies might have to be considered:

• The relationship of Sinani and the local state authorities and its elected government has to be further explored. Is there potential to increase leverage by advising and supporting local government and authorities? (6.2)

• The idea of building and maintaining a trainings centre - as currently discussed within Sinani - might be another valuable approach for greater leverage. Here also it is particularly interesting if the work with state authorities could get intensified – being one of the potential users of the training centre.

• While much of Sinani’s work initially was about managing conflicts among the leaders, it now might have to shift much more towards long term peace building work of safeguarding the stability and strengthening good governance as well as critical and vocal citizenship (6.6).

• While the horizontal dialogue still needs to be expanded (e.g. in Mbumbulu towards the elected leaders), the vertical dialogue with the community and among the different political levels also has to be addressed by the leaders (6.5).

For these changes Sinani will have to re-assess the driving factors of potential conflict. As foreseen in the initial proposal of the peace building programme, Sinani establishes community profiles before deciding whether and how to intervene in a community. While these continue to be a very important basis for intervention, it might also be advisable for Sinani to engage in an analysis of the key driving factors for (potential) conflict in KwaZulu-Natal province to determine the current overarching issues at stake in the region. Several community members spoke for instance of unresolved land issues that seem to be especially a threat to traditional leadership and could severely destabilise communities.

As the feedback loops in 6.3 suggest many counteracting and reinforcing developments are possible that influence community development and the potential (re-) emergence of violence. Time delays of certain reactions and the interconnectedness of new patterns of gender based and ‘criminal’ violence with the experiences of political violence need to be taken into account. Altogether, it strikes especially the outsider how little the current

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situation of KwaZulu-Natal is discussed and traced back to the historical injustices of the apartheid system. Why is this so? Does it simply not make a difference anyway? Or is it still connected to fears that emphasis on apartheid and the deep wounds could lead to revolt by the younger generation or the potential ‘looser generation’ and eventually lead to new destabilisation? What role does growing racial and ethnic tension play in the work of Sinani? Sinani might want to look at these kinds of questions more explicitly.

7.3 Effectiveness

Guiding Questions (OECD DAC 2008) • To what extent were the objectives achieved? • What ma or factors are con ributing to achievements? j t• Does the effor prompt people increasingly to resist violence and provocations to violence? t• Does it resul in an increase in people’s security and their sense of security? t• Does the effor result in real improvement in relations among groups in conflict? t

Overall, the objectives agreed in the proposal of the peace building programme have been achieved.21 As described in great detail and with many examples in chapter 5, the work of Sinani’s peace building programme definitely contributed to breaking cycles of violence and resulted in a significant improvement in relations among groups in conflict. The decision by Sinani to work with leadership in order to have direct access to those involved and interested in the gains of conflict and violence proved to be highly effective. The leadership forums might still encounter a number of challenges but they provide a platform where the leaders can be held accountable. This in combination with the important symbolic meaning that the cleansing ceremonies had for the communities (see 5) prompts not only the leaders but also the former warriors (or ex-combatants) and community at large to resist to violence and provocations of violence. One key factor for the success of these activities seems to be that the right group of people has been engaged. More importantly, however, the achievements seem to relate to Sinani’s overall facilitation approach and competence– i.e. all the theories of change summarised under ‘how’. Without this capacity to carefully accompany and nurture community processes, Sinani would not have had access to the leadership nor the credibility to support the cleansing ceremony. The ceremony in itself was also influenced by the values of Sinani when trying to make it as inclusive as possible, e.g. encouraging the integration of political leaders in Mbumbulu.

The freedom of mobility through the abolishment of ‘no-go-zones’ is one of the most evident signs that people’s security and their sense of security has increased. This said, the above chapters also show that there is still a great deal of improvement in terms of safety and security in the communities necessary. Patterns of political and so called ‘criminal’ and gender based violence keep on reinforcing each other. It is in this context a very valuable long term approach by Sinani to have started to work with young men and address issues of masculinity. In order to permanently break the interrelated cycles of various forms of

21 The objectives of the programme are summarised as follows: “The Project wants to contribute to break the circle of violence in different communities of KwaZulu-Natal. This should be reached by supporting different groups and actors at a local level, helping to enhance peace- and respectful relationships within and across communities. Various actions will be implemented to reach these objectives: a community conflict analysis will be done, peace-building forums will be established at local level, trainers will be instructed in non-violent conflict resolution and workshops will be offered accordingly. An important point is the inclusion of traditional leadership structures (amakhosi) as well as support and care for victims of violence at local level.

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political, ‘criminal’ and gender based violence, the work with men is crucial but often still undervalued.

This approach highlights at the same quite well that there is a need for Sinani to work on its long term objectives. At the moment, a lot of the work especially with the communities is related to annual goals and their assessments. For the assurance of sustainability it might be helpful to come to three year planning processes (or even five year plans – depending on the time span foreseen in the integrated development plans). The envisioning as well as the progress assessment involved might be helpful for the learning process in the communities. For the effectiveness of Sinani’s work it also seems appropriate that Sinani started to relate its work to the integrated development plans. A very explicit decision with the community which contribution Sinani will render to strengthen the achievements of these plans might also prevent that the communities overestimate the actual capacities of Sinani.

7.4 Impact

Guiding Questions (OECD DAC 2008) • How has the situa ion changed over time, and what is the con r bution of the intervention to t t i

those changes? • Which changes in attitudes, behaviours, relationships or practices (of how many people) can

be ascer ained? t• Has the intervention led to policy changes? By whom? How do these relate to the conflict? • In this field, the focus may be on impacts on the conflict: how did the intervention impact on

key conflict actors or affect on-going con lict-creating or peace-promoting factors? f

While further efforts in terms of ensuring sustainable stability and peace in KwaZulu-Natal will be needed, we come to the overall conclusion that the conflict situation of the communities addressed by Sinani has improved significantly in the past five years. Most of the changes that can be ascertained are on the level of behaviour and relationships. As mentioned above this is particularly visible in the vanishing of ‘no go zones’ and the fact that not only ordinary people but even members of the opposing political parties can move more freely into areas that before had been dominated by one of the conflict parties. The impact of this peace progress is hard to measure in numbers. It struck us, how increased security on roads around Richmond impacted also directly on people’s lives in parts of Mbumbulu because they now have much easier access again to Pietermaritzburg for their trades etc.22

This impact can be related to Sinani’s intervention as many of the quotes in chapter 5 also show. Some of these effects have been direct impacts of the interventions (e.g. the peaceful dialogue among community leaders through the leadership forum), others rather indirect (e.g. the reconciliation of communities). When speaking to partners and beneficiaries of Sinani the majority highlights the direct impact of Sinani’s intervention on individuals and groups, their attitudes, behaviour and relationships. In some groups the high enthusiasm about their personal growth and group achievements as well as great energy for further change can literally be felt.

So far, none of the interventions seem to have led directly or indirectly to policy initiatives or changes. The role of the leadership forums and its influence on local policies seems to be

22 The beneficiaries who told us about this particular ‘peace dividend’ in their daily life had related the stability achieved in Richmond to Sinani’s intervention there.

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rather weak yet. The drafting of a constitution for their forum – as done by the Escourt peace initiative might be first steps in this direction, however.

We did not come across any unintended negative impacts of Sinani’s work in our short appraisal. It is of course evident that Sinani is moving in a highly sensitive field. Sinani is well aware that its work can be misused for political aims of the conflict parties. An example of this could be political leaders using public peace initiatives to deliver party political messages. Sinani’s influence might be very limited but it is good to be very wary of this potential.

What needs to be particularly stressed regarding the assessment of intended and unintended, positive and negative impacts is the continuous wish of Sinani to learn about the effects of its work. While many of the theories of change mentioned above were initially experience based, Sinani has made a great effort to investigate and substantiate its theories and the results of its work by independent research. Many of the above described impacts have been ascertained by this research.

7.5 Sustainability

Guiding Questions (OECD DAC 2008) • Will hard-won improvements in intergroup relationships persist in the face of challenge? • Has the intervention addressed the role o “spoilers” (those who benefit from on-going f

conflict) or attempted to engage the “hard-to-reach” (combatants, extremists, men)? • Has a meaningful “handing over” or exit strategy been developed with local partners or

actors that enable these par ners to build or continue their own peace building initiatives? t• Does the effort result in the creation or reform of political institu ions or mechanisms that t

deal meaning ully with grievances or injustices? f• Does the effort con ribute to momentum for peace by encouraging participants and t

communities to develop independent initiatives?

Sinani’s model of establishing representative leadership forums and at the same time working with community based structures is a model generally well designed to eventually promote sustainability. Nevertheless, the chapters above (especially 5 and 6.7) have made it quite clear also: the question of sustainability is the most sensitive and challenging issue for Sinani’s current work and requires decisions for its future approach.

Even though recurrence of political violence might not be as much of an immediate threat anymore (with the exception of Escourt, perhaps), all leadership forums – in different ways – still seem to require support to persist in the face of challenge. This is Sinani’s own view, confirmed also by external observers. The up-coming election in April 2009 might serve as an interesting first indicator for the capacities of the leadership forums to play a constructive mediating and conflict preventive role. Strategies of phasing out of these communities are still quite controversial within Sinani; the idea also seems to frighten the communities and external observers. Constructive debate around the question is however crucial and has started already (see especially 6.7).

What might have to be observed carefully in this context is the potential for gravitation towards dependency as an unintended consequence of Sinani’s intervention. Sinani is well aware of this danger, which in a way could be a by-product of Sinani’s approach that emphasises secure, lasting trustworthy relationships. For lessons learnt beyond peace building in KwaZulu-Natal, it might be an interesting exercise to compare for instance how leadership forums evolved who have been initiated on the basis of Sinani’s advice (e.g.

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Richmond) and those who have been established by driving forces from within but asked Sinani for support (e.g. Escourt)? Does the genesis make a difference for their development? Is there a difference in their dependency on Sinani?23 It is interesting to note that it is not necessarily the most recently formed forum (Escourt) which evidences this potential for dependency on Sinani. Different level of education of the participants and professional experiences seem to factor in here as well (see 5.)

While the role of the ‘spoilers’ and those ‘hard to reach’ is being addressed in Sinani’s interventions through varying strategies (especially leadership, young men work, respect campaign), it is also obvious that there is still a long way to go for substantial impact on attitudes and behaviour in the communities and on a broad scale.

Altogether, Sinani will have to tackle the following questions in order to ensure sustainability of its work

• How can we best ‘up-scale’ our impact on individual attitudes and behaviour and its sustainability?

• What is the role of and cooperation with local authorities?

• Shall our intervention have structural impact on policies and institutions? What would this imply for our overall strategies and assumptions of change? What would be needed exactly in the different conflict settings?

7.6 Efficiency

Guiding Questions (OECD DAC 2008) • Are/ were activities cost efficient? • Is this the most efficient way to con r bute to peace? t i• Compare costs: what a war would have cost had it happened vs. the cost of this particular

approach to prevention. • How efficient is the general management of the intervention (steering, management,

organisational and governance structures and procedures)?

The meaningfulness of comparing the costs of a cleansing ceremony with the costs of ongoing violence as suggested in the guiding questions - can be seriously questioned. While the ceremony might have been expensive with 8000 people participating, it definitely proved more cost efficient than the persistence of insecurity on roads, severely infringing upon the community’s daily struggle for survival. If one further counts the contribution of significant resources from the government to the ceremony not only financially but also in terms of their engagement and willingness to “put a price” on their involvement, we could easily conclude that the work of Sinani has been highly efficient. We might however miss a number of important considerations on the right timing, preparation and short and long term results of such approaches. The first and foremost impact of a cleansing ceremony seems to be that people have found inner peace and reconciliation with deceased family and community members (see 5). The value of this achievement is hard to be measured in quantitative cost-benefit terms. Instead of digging deeper in these comparisons, we prefer

23 This said, does not mean that there are no independent initiatives by the communities. In Mbumbulu the leadership forum suggested for example that they should put up a memorial stone to remind people of the cleansing ceremony and its effects.

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looking more generally at the management of the intervention, the modes of delivery of Sinani and their cost-efficiency.

Sinani has developed a tailor made approach for each community. The facilitation of the specific community processes - requiring many formal and informal visits and meetings with stakeholders of the community – is blended with capacity building delivered through a set of ‘standard’ workshops and trainings which will be offered to the communities when and where requested or deemed appropriate (e.g. victim empowerment workshops, conflict resolution workshops, CBO development workshops). This blended approach acknowledges on the one hand that the political environment and some of the needs of the communities are quite unique. At the same time it also recognises that many common issues are at stake. Workshops with a limited number of stakeholders and ‘multipliers’ promise greater leverage and broader outreach to a larger group of people. In turn, the fact that Sinani staff can follow up on workshops and assist the community in applying the learning of the workshop to their daily situation greatly enhances the outcome of the workshop and its efficiency. The decision that one Sinani staff member oversees the follow up of all three programmes (HIV/AIDS, development and peace building) in a community further increases the efficiency of the work. It can ensure to a greater extent that the three programmes really add up to a holistic intervention and have lasting impact.

It seems ironic that this rather efficient approach collides partly with the funding mechanisms of most donors24 who tend to prefer to support specific activities or programmes only (like the funds provided by BMZ through WFD are exclusively for the peace building programme) and generally are also very reluctant to provide a significant portion of their funds to go towards human resources. The cleansing ceremony, for example, took extensive time from both management and programme staff. Without this investment such an event could have even been harmful to peace in the communities.

Looking at the very humble – if not to say uncomfortable – working conditions of the Sinani staff with 2-3 staff in very small offices and rather small and badly ventilated meeting rooms in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, none of the donor can honestly complain that too much funds go to the organisation itself. A bit more of support on that end would probably be appropriate.

Overall, it appears as if the greatest challenge of efficiency in Sinani’s work are the many different financial and programme reporting requirements by the 10 donors providing funds ranging between RAND SA 150,000 to 1,380,000. While the WFD – as one of the largest donor providing between 30-40% of the overall budget – has been perceived as both a ‘patient and stringent’ donor with a hands-on approach enabling Sinani to significantly strengthen its financial reporting systems, there are still a number of issues that could be improved. Especially the WFD/BMZ audit requirements appear not to be well harmonised with the general audit standards. Having to conduct separate audits is not only very time consuming but also very costly. It should trouble probably all donors of Sinani that Sinani’s own income of approximately RAND SA 200,000 - generated through consultancy contracts and tenders – is absorbed entirely by the costs for specific financial reporting requirements and adjustments of the system.

Altogether, it can be concluded that Sinani’s approach could be even more efficient with a greater harmonisation of reporting requirements on the donor side. From Sinani the request for more programme funding would require the development of a 3-5 year implementation framework.

24 With the term donor we are broadly refer to all agencies providing funds for Sinani’s work. This includes private foundations, NGOs and bilateral donor agencies such as PEPFAR (USAID).

Sinani Evaluation 52

7.7 The role and impact of the German civil peace service

Sinani has been a partner of WFD since 1999. In 2001 Sinani participated for the first time in the German Civil Peace Service Programme (CPS) funded by the German Ministry for development and economic cooperation (BMZ) and offered through Weltfriedensdienst (WFD). Currently, the third German civil peace service cooperant is working for Sinani. This makes Sinani a real ‘expert’ in terms of its experience with this specific German peace building and funding instrument.25

Altogether, all Sinani staff that we were able to ask about their opinion and experiences with this approach underlined that they found the combination of funding the Sinani peace building programme and sending a German expert very constructive and have largely benefited from all its advantages. The following was highlighted:26

• Longer term funding grants of up to 3 years promise sustainable impact and programme development

• Expertise of the cooperants in specifically selected areas has been very relevant and valuable to Sinani’s work

• Expertise of the cooperants has assisted the organisational development of Sinani • International networks and contacts of the cooperant have been useful • Experience of the cooperant with peace building work in other countries permitted

greater learning and new approaches • It allowed for learning from the outside perspective or – over time – getting a view of

an ‘objective insider’ • Cooperant has often been used as a quiet observer and sounding board providing

constructive feedback on the blind spots of the organization

Listening to Sinani staff and the current cooperant one could summarize that the experience with three apparently quite different cooperants has been a very fruitful mutual learning process for all sides.

It has also been emphasised that WFD played an extremely constructive role in supporting Sinani and in acting as an intermediary in terms of the BMZ/CPS approach. Strategic programme advice, experience and cultural sensitivity of their international and Southern African programme staff, the organisational culture of WFD, its values and ethos fitting so well to Sinani, and their support towards institutional strengthening of Sinani have been highly commended. This does not imply, however, that there were not also a number of controversial issues that needed to be sorted out and agreed between WFD and Sinani around this approach. One important change that Sinani insisted on at a very early stage was to be involved in the selection of the cooperant – seeing this as a critical basis for a meaningful long term exchange of all those involved. Often, the costs are the main argument of many German NGOs participating in the CPS for not actively including the partner organisation in this final selection process. As a strong and assertive organisation, Sinani was able to insist on being on a par with WFD. Since the whole objective is meant to be collaborative and participatory, it is not only in the interest of Sinani but also of WFD to have Sinani

25 This is probably also one of the reasons why the WFD encouraged Sinani in 2006 to write an article on their experiences and observations with the cooperants for he German public (see Querbrief September 2006) 26 The following information is drawn form our interviews and discussions as well as from the above mentioned article (Querbrief 2006) and a questionnaire conducted by Sinani in 2006 among their staff.

Sinani Evaluation 53

participate in the selection process. This enhances the possibility of finding a fit between Sinani and the cooperant, thus maximising positive project outcomes. Another problematic issue that needed to be dealt with was around the financial responsibilities. Most organisations benefiting from the CPS Programme are familiar with the huge dilemma that the cooperants are on the one hand supposed to be peace building experts and advisors to the organisation, on the other hand also often find themselves in the role of having to monitor the financial budget and as such being rather project managers. It was generally discussed that this can be highly problematic because it is a contradiction in the role expectations. It was appreciated that the financial management is completely handled by Sinani and not in the hands of the cooperant.

Overall Sinani insists that they have been highly satisfied with the competence and great experience of all their cooperants (having seen also less positive examples in other South African organisations). Sinani notes that the nature of the people selected has had an instrumental role in ensuring the success of such an approach. Meintjes (2006, §) comes to the conclusion that the following skills are needed for any cooperant:

• Positive and open attitude, sowing humility, genuine willingness • Making the effort to learn some basics of one of the indigenous languages of the

hosting organizations • Joining in social activities of the staff of the host organization • Following the same human resource policies of the host organization • Spending the first period of time simply learning about the ways of the host

organization, rather than being too eager the start implementing the new project • Skills not easily found on the local market (idea of exchange), otherwise it may be

more cost effective to use that budget for a local person at a local rate

Altogether, a lot of the above mentioned progress especially in the systems of Sinani and how Sinani professionalised over the years its work can be attributed to the support of the three WFD cooperants who assisted Sinani – on Sinani’s request - especially in their PR work, in the setting up of a sound monitoring and evaluation system and – currently – in the reflection of the lessons learnt and the documentation of the overall community approach.

The role of an ‘external’ person like the cooperant who bings in the expertise of comparative peace building interventions in other parts of the world has been instrumental in helping Sinani to describe its own model of intervention in a more systematic, conceptualized way. The value and uniqueness of interventions and its lessons learned can often only appreciated (evaluated) in a broader context of comparative experience and here a CPS cooperant can play a very significant role for the project partner. It is overall also our impression that the strength of the organisation enabled Sinani to meaningfully benefit from the exchange. If this really is the case it would be important to reflect what this means for the CPS Programme in future. After seven years of CPS experience one is of course tempted to ask whether Sinani really wants or needs another German cooperant for the next years? The response can of course only be given by Sinani. They generally seemed to feel that they can still highly benefit from the exchange with another cooperant as long as this person has the skills they need. From the outside perspective it is quite clear that KwaZulu-Natal still has a number of peace building needs (see 3 and 6), their changing nature might furthermore afford new skills not yet available within Sinani at the moment. The problem Sinani and other organizations of this kind and at this stage might be facing is the question how to sustain the work done so

Sinani Evaluation 54

far without further funding at all for peace building. Here, it seems reflection on ‘smooth phasing out of the CPS Programme’ might be needed in the long run in order to do no final harm to the years of constructive German engagement.

Sinani Evaluation 55

Abbreviations

ANC African National Congress

BMZ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany

CBO Community Based Organisation

CDA Collaborative Learning Projects

CPS Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst)

IDASA Institute for Democracy in South Africa

IEC Independent Electoral Commission

IFP Inkatha Freedom Party

KZN KwaZulu-Natal

LF Leadership Forum

OECD DAC Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - Development

Assistance Committee

SANDF South African National Defence Force

SAPS South African Police Services

TOR Terms of reference

UDM United Democratic Movement

UKZN University of KwaZulu-Natal

WFD Weltfriedensdienst

Sinani Evaluation 56

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Annex 1: Terms of Reference Evaluating the Peace Programme and the Peace Building Model of Sinani (KwaZulu Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence), South Africa Background The project holder Sinani, a South African NGO founded in 1995, has developed a unique model of peace building, conflict transformation and sustainable development in communities affected by violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS. It is working with an African based systemic community approach intervening on different levels (individuals, families, groups, community) while linking interventions in such a way that it creates synergy effects and achieves maximum impact. This approach requires careful identification of intervention tools and actors of change on the different levels and means constant context analyses, impact monitoring and reflection in order to mobilize change resources of target groups. The German development organisation WFD (Weltfriedensdienst) within the framework of the Civil Peace Service Programme (Ziviler Friedensdienst / BMZ) supported the development and implementation of this peace building approach through the project “Support for Peace Fora in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) / South Africa” since 2005. The overall aim of the project is “to break the cycle of violence in communities worst affected by violence and to contribute to the promotion of a sustainable peace in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.” The target group of the project consists of members of around 15 partner communities of Sinani which are located around Durban and Pietermaritzburg. These communities suffered from violence during the civil war or are affected by present forms of violence. The project addresses in particular victims and survivors of violence, local leaders (traditionally and politically elected), former combatants and youth at risk. Evaluation Objectives

• evaluating the implementation process and outcome of the peace project; • evaluating the relevance, strengths and weaknesses of the Sinani intervention

model in a South African cultural, social and economic context • looking specifically at linkages, cooperation and relationships between actors,

intervention levels and other stakeholders and role players including the Civil Peace Worker, WFD, ZFD in the broader context of the project

• draw lessons for future cooperation and other peace building programmes and develop recommendations

• implicitly, reflecting on the systemic methods used for the evaluation between WFD, Sinani and the external consultants / evaluators

Sinani Evaluation I

In particular the following questions should be addressed: 1. Effectiveness, efficiency and outcome / impact of the CPS project – lessons

learned - Has the CPS project met its objectives “to break the cycle of violence in

communities worst affected by violence and to contribute to the promotion of a sustainable peace in the KwaZulu-Natal Province”? (Specify in regard of levels involved: changes at organisational, at community and at provincial level, and even beyond. The term ‘impact’ should be specified as well, mainly indicating where project contributions could be well identified as having been key factors in certain changes or developments (outcome level) or where such contributions may have been part of more comprehensive developments in the area of peacebuilding / political stabilisation.)

- Have project funds been utilized efficient in terms of resources (funds and personnel) used in relation to (a) activities carried out and (b) results achieved?

2. Sinani approach / model – what proved to be useful?

- What tools that Sinani used contributed to success / to achieve the objectives? What do people think has helped them? What was less useful?

- What is similar in the approaches Sinani uses in different communities and what differs? And what informs that difference? What lessons can be drawn from that?

- Is it true what people say that Sinani is more trusted in (black) communities than other NGOs? If yes why is that the case? What makes it easier for Sinani?

- Could the Sinani approach be seen as a best practice model? (Why / why not)

3. Is peacebuilding in KZN / South Africa still necessary in the future? - What is the nature of conflicts in KZN / South Africa which would need future

attention in order to prevent violence? Which needs / directions for future peace work of Sinani can be identified? (restrict analysis and recommendations to conflict patterns and scenarios Sinani is dealing with; try to derive some more general reflections and recommendations for the province or for general politics, if possible)

4. Instrument of CPS funding and approach: strengths and weaknesses in the example of Sinani and South Africa?

- What is the role and outcome of the German Civil Peace Worker´s activities ? (in terms of achieving the project objectives, of strenghtening / weakening Sinani structures, of inter-cultural learning, and in relation to financial resources needed / provided for peacebuilding endeavours) - How is the cooperation between Sinani and WFD? (roles, responsibilities, limitations, constraints, advantages …)

Sinani Evaluation II

Methodology The evaluation process should be organized in a way that it creates critical reflection and learning for all role players involved:

- community stake holders and target groups (leadership, victims of violence,

youth at risk, linkage partners (government bodies, other NGOs), - the partner organization Sinani - WFD (Harare and Berlin office) and the WFD Civil Peace Worker - ZFD / BMZ (mainly by consulting paperwork)

This implies participatory approaches and methods that will evaluate interventions as well as linkages between them and the key actors. Using systemic methods and perspective will be of additional value.

Details of the methodological process will be developed by the evaluation team in consultation with Sinani and WFD. Sinani is prepared to organise meetings and workshops at various levels as considered necessary / useful / suitable for the evaluators. Preliminary findings should be presented in a workshop in Durban or Pietermaritzburg enabling key actors to participate in discussion of those findings. The final report should consider results of such a discussion.

The evaluation report should be in a format which is accessible to all stakeholders so that results have maximum impact (see below).

Evaluating Team The evaluation should be conducted by a team of evaluators from South Africa and Germany combining knowledge about peace building in general, the specific African context and systemic approaches. The team members are working as colleagues. Distribution of labour, fine-tuning of timeframe, methods to be applied and findings should be discussed and decided on jointly.

The final report – after presentation of findings to WFD Headoffice, including / considering aforementioned results of presentation workshop in South Africa – will be completed by the German consultant.

Sinani Evaluation III

The Final Report should include a German translation of the executive summary. The Report should be presented in three hard copies, electronically as word and pdf-file on CD. It should be handed over to WFD not later than 2 weeks after de-briefing at WFD Offices in Berlin.

Time Frame Desk Study / Field Visit Preparation: February 2008 (7 Days) Field visit: February / March 2008 (9 Days + 2 Travel Days for German Evaluator) Report writing: March / April 2008 (8 Days)

Sinani Evaluation IV

Annex 2: SINANI Peace Programme Evaluation – Overall Schedule TIME PROGRAMME CONTENT RESPONSIBILITY

07.01.2008 – 15.02.2008 Preparation of Evaluation

07.01 – 15.01.2008 MT clarifies its understanding of the requested systemic evaluation and presents rough schedule proposal & guiding questions for preparation to SINANI by 16.01.08

NM/DK/SSF

17.01. – 21.01.2008 SINANI discusses guiding questions and schedule and presents by 22.01.08 its preferred evaluation schedule and scheme

SINANI

23.01. – 25.01.2008 MT discusses/ comments suggestions by SINANI to allow SINANI to prepare and meetings and workshops for evaluation

NM/DK/SSF

28.02. – 15.02.2008 - SINANI conducts/ensures internal processes and discussions required for the evaluation and includes/ prepares patners/particpants - MT finalises its understanding of systemic approach to be applied, clarify and share tasks and agree on report structure

SINANI (perhaps supported/accompanied by NM) NM/DK/SSF

20.01.2008 – 01.03.2008 Core Evaluation Period (with field visits/ stakeholder/team workshops)

20.01.2008 (Wednesday) Afternoon

DK and SSF arrive Meeting of Mission Team (MT) to brief/up-date on project & work in preparation phase

NM/DK/SSF Meeting place? (SINANI)

21.01.2008 (Thursday) Meetings and briefings by all SINANI units and staff & final prepaations for workshop

SINANI organises, NM/DK/ SSF follow suggestions

22.01.2008 (Friday) Workshop with selected stakeholders & partners (selection depends on SINANI and its specific needs/visions/ expectations; e.g: this could be an open space workshop that allows for crucial themes to emerge or joint conflict analysis of a specific region (see questions)

SINANI makes suggestions re. main focus & participants, MT ensure methodology; facilitation is ideally shared by SINANI & MT

23.02.2008 (Saturday) Meeting with Peace Programme Team and perhaps field visit as suggested by SINANI

SINANI Peace Programme

24.02.2008 (Sunday) Meeting of Mission Team to share first impressions and agree on further fields of observation and reflection with SINANI team

NM/DK/SSF Meeting place? (SINANI)

25.02.2008 (Monday) Field Visits/Participation at workshop or event/ Focus group discussions/ interviews

Participants/regions/activities suggested by SINANI

26.02.2008 (Tuesday) s. above s. above 27.02.2008 (Wednesday) s. above s. above 28.02.2008 (Thursday) MT meeting day to refelect/agree on main

findings/observations & prepare interactive workshop (facilitating participants to jointly develop important recommendations)

NM/DK/SSF(for WS contents) SINANI (for WS participants; meeting place of MT on 28.2.; logistics of WS on 29.2.)

29.02.2008 (Friday) Workshop with SINANI Team and selected experts/associates/partners of SINANI (best would be between 15-25 participants)

s. above

Sinani Evaluation V

01.03.2008 (Saturday) Afternoon

MT wraps up learnings/results of workshop Departure of DK/SSF

NM/DK/SSF

02.03.2008 – 07.04.2008 Report Discussion and Finalisation 26.03.2008 First draft report to Sinani NM/DK/SSF 28.03.2008 Feedback by SINANI & submission to WFD SINANI and NM/DK/SSF 04.04.2008 Presentation and discussion of results/report

at WFD Head Office Berlin DK/SSF

13.04.2008 Final report submitted to WFD BFPS (DK/SSF)

DK = Daniela Körppen (Researcher, Berghof Foundation for Peace Support - BFPS); NM = Prof. Dr. Nhlanhla Mkhize (University of KwaZulu Natal); SSF = Dr. Stephanie Schell-Faucon (Consultant of BFPS); MT = Mission Team Programme 2nd week of evaluation in KwaZulu-Natal Mo 25.2 Tue 26.2 Wed 27.2 Thurs 28.2 Fri 29.2 11.15 leave for Richmond

7:45 leave for Estcourt

7:45 leave for Mbumbulu

8:00 Madlala (Sinani staff, resp. Richmond) Mdu?

12:00 meeting with mayor

Peace initiative meeting

8:30 meeting with - police

superintendend - trauma counselors - young men

Mbumbulu

11:00 meeting with Nicola, WFD

9:30 – 15:30 workshop

14:00 peace forum

Lunch 10:30 Peace forum meeting, lunch

Internal meeting eval. team

Also meet: Respect Campaign

15:00 Gun Free South Africa, Lihle

14:00 CBO health workers

CBO members (individual interviews)

16:00 Sinani Sound board meeting (Simanga, Bear, Ncami, Mdu, Usche)

15:30 (Durban office) Parallel meetings: Dumisane, Skumbuzo (Young men) Mzo, Nathi, Celani, 2 facilitators ?(Respect campaign)

16:00 meeting with Tim Houghton, CAE (Mac’s Café)

16.00 – 19:00 Evaluation of results by evaluation team

17:00 2 Board members

Final preparation workshop

Socializing with Nicola Busse (WFD)

Sinani Evaluation VI

Annex 3: Questionnaire for beneficiary workshop and community visits and interviews Workshop I THEMES/QUESTIONS

1. Discussion round/point

Did you observe changes since SINANI is working with you and your community? On what levels did these changes of feelings, thinking, attitudes, behaviour happen?

• On a personal level? • In terms of relationships? • In your group facilitated by Sinani? • On the community level?

Please describe one or two concrete examples. What was it like before and how is it now?

2. Discussion round/point Describe the way SINANI is working? How is it related to the changes you observe? What makes the difference in the way SINANI works with you? 3. Discussion round/point What were difficult situations? What could have been done differently looking at the conflict situation and peace building efforts in your community?

METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN

• Give question one by one • Allow 2-3 people to switch groups and share with others their discussions (10

min) before tackling the next question • 30 min in their groups afterwards shifts • 2-3 people change (together) • 10 min sharing in new groups • 20 min second question • 10 min sharing in new groups • 20 min third question

Sinani Evaluation VII

Groups and Movements:

Umbumbulu L – Escourt L Escourt L - Respect C

Respect C – CBO/interns CBO/interns – Richmond L

Richmond L – Masculinity Masculinity – Umbumbulu

Ending of session with Gallery Setting (maximum 15-20 minutes):

• Flipcharts of groups are pinned on wall, 2 people of the groups stay available next to their flipcharts for explanation, everyone else walks around, reads and asks questions?

LUNCH BREAK

THEME

What would you recommend SINANIs peace building programme in future?

DESIGN

• 3-4 different themes for recommendation will be presented • The group is offered to add another theme for recommendations • The particpants join a group of their choice • 30-40 minutes small group discussions • facilitated by Sinani staff • results/recommendations documented by another Sinani staff • one person of the group presents to plenary 1 major recommendation

Themes of the small groups could be…(to be re-checked/revised during break):

1. Sinani is working now since a long time with traditional leaders as well as

elected leaders. What recommendations do you have for Sinani to work with these groups in future?

2. What recommendations do you have for Sinani to facilitate the participation of women in leadership structures?

3. Sinani has incorporated indigenous practices in its work – such as Hlonipha and Cleansing Ceremonies. What recommendations do you have for Sinani to continue with this approach?

Sinani Evaluation VIII

General Questions for Community Visits and Interviews Conflict situation and violence in your area

1. How did violence around elections develop in the past? What do you anticipate for the up-coming elections in 2009?

2. What do you see as possible triggers for future violence? 3. Do forms of violence change? 4. In order for your community to live in peace and stability, what needs to change?

What needs to be done to prevent recurrence of violence? Community Development

1. What are the development plans of people? 2. How is Sinani’s work embedded in the broader development plans and activites

of the community? Is it connetced to a. Local/ provincial development plans by the state authorities? b. Other NGO’s and their actions? Do/ can they use needs assessments of

Sinani? Do they do their own? 3. How has Sinani’s work impacted on other structures that are not directly

involved with Sinani? 4. How effective is Sinani in instutionalising methods and mechanisms of conflict

resolutions in community and government structures? (police/the court/ independant ombudsman/woman?)

The approach, achievements and challengs of SINANI

1. Imagine you want to hold a ceremony in your community to thank Sinani for their work with you over the past years. What do you think Sinani would be pleased to see and hear? (to help further: Who do you feel should or could best organise this ceremony? Who should be invited? Who should speak?)

2. Who would ensure that the spirit of Sinani and their achievements are continuing?

3. Please describe one or two of the most significant achievements of Sinani’s work in your community.

4. What is the most important difficulty for the work of Sinani in your community? 5. How frequent is the feedback of Sinani to the community on their activities? Are

the methods appropriate and do they reach out to the whole community? Traditional leadres and elected leaders

1. Can you describe the relationship between the traditional and elected leadership in your community at the moment? Has it changed in the recent years? How can both both contribute to peace and a stable environment in your community?

2. What could be the role of Sinani in fostering their relationship?

Sinani Evaluation IX

Gender related structures and power relations 1. What is the contribution of women in peace building work in your community

(in comparison to poverty alleviation and HIV/AIDS?) What could be their role in future?

2. Do you see different roles for men and women? 3. What kind of violence are women experiencing in the community? What does it

mean to be a woman in your community? 4. Sinani hast started to work with young men, should they work with young

women? What should be the issues dealt with?

Only RICHMOND and MBUMBULU Cleansing Ceremony

1. How important was the process? For whom? 2. How important was the presence of traditional and political leaders for people,

for leaders? 3. Did the Cleansing Ceremony trickle down? Were there effects of the cleansing

ceremony on interpersonal and family level? (e.g. re-conciling between former enemies in communities and families?)

4. Was the cleansing also important for women? In what ways? Are there indigenous methods addressing women that might be helpful for peace in the community?

Respect Campaign

1. What would your community look like if there was respect? What does respect mean to you?

Sinani Evaluation X

Annex 4: Joint Ground Rules for the Evaluation Process outlined by Sinani Staff Open communication Direct feedback to the group Flexibility where necessary Evaluation as an organic process, things happen also without planning Cultural Sensitivity Invite people to question Engage ethically in a way that does not hurt the community Gender sensitivity

Sinani Evaluation XI