Il nostro metodo
Per gettare una pace duratura è necessario prendere in considerazione la dimensione umana.
I programmi dell’Ara Pacis sono incentrati sulla trasformazione delle cause profonde dei conflitti in dialogo, tolleranza, comprensione, compassione, empatia e collaborazione.
Il nostro metodo si basa sull’esperienza dei membri del Consiglio per la dignità, figure internazionali che hanno provato il perdono, la giustizia e la riconciliazione e che agiscono con le vittime dei conflitti, i sopravvissuti agli stupri e violenze di guerra, i carnefici e le fazioni in guerra.
Se non interveniamo sulle sofferenze umane del conflitto, le memorie personali e collettive della sofferenza riemergeranno, compromettendo i progressi compiuti verso la pace e gettando le comunità in nuove spirali di violenza e vendetta.
Un ostacolo per i processi di pace sono, infatti, il dolore e la sofferenza personale dei sopravvissuti al conflitto, il loro bisogno di avviare processi di guarigione e la loro definizione personale e sociale di giustizia.
La giustizia sociale e la guarigione personale e sociale devono essere affrontate insieme alla giustizia politica e legale.
Adottando un approccio dal basso verso l’alto alla riconciliazione e alla costruzione della pace, Ara Pacis Initiatives ha sviluppato metodologie volte a superare le divisioni, avviare la guarigione, costruire la fiducia e promuovere la riconciliazione, la trasformazione dei conflitti e, come fine ultimo, la costruzione della pace nelle società lacerate da violenza e dai conflitti.
The Ara Pacis Method-7-Step
We at Ara Pacis developed a training of trainers program aimed at overcoming divisions, initiating healing and fostering reconciliation and peace building in societies torn apart by sectarian violence and conflict.
Our program is centered on transforming the human precursors to, and legacies of conflict – ranging from trauma to hate, from prejudice to revenge, from fear to anger and beyond – into dialogue, forbearance, understanding, empathy and mutual collaboration for a shared future.
We understand based on our own experience that until these human factors are addressed, personal and collective memories of suffering will return, and enmities will ultimately re-emerge to destroy any progress made towards peace and development, re-engaging populations in cycles of violence and revenge.
Strengthening personal capacities and delivering social and moral support to victims of different types of violence.
This six-day workshop informs and engages participants in strengthening their ability to recognize their own capacities, resources, and risks, as they acquire skills for delivering social and moral support to victims of sexual and other forms of extreme violence.
It provides an overview of methods for intervening with victims of rights violations, with an emphasis on the importance of listening to testimonies of traumatic political experience, as a therapeutic instrument and as a means to preserve memory.
Participants learn how to contain emotions and pain as they explore concepts of trauma and mourning, complexities and ethical aspects of testimony, and the therapeutic value of catharsis.
They are also introduced to the range of ways that testimony can support public action, legal action, and the preservation of public memory.
By the end of the workshop, participants are ready to move on to the next step: learning to meet the other.
Strengthening personal capacities and delivering social and moral support to victims of different types of violence.
This six-day workshop informs and engages participants in strengthening their ability to recognize their own capacities, resources, and risks, as they acquire skills for delivering social and moral support to victims of sexual and other forms of extreme violence.
It provides an overview of methods for intervening with victims of rights violations, with an emphasis on the importance of listening to testimonies of traumatic political experience, as a therapeutic instrument and as a means to preserve memory.
Participants learn how to contain emotions and pain as they explore concepts of trauma and mourning, complexities and ethical aspects of testimony, and the therapeutic value of catharsis.
They are also introduced to the range of ways that testimony can support public action, legal action, and the preservation of public memory.
By the end of the workshop, participants are ready to move on to the next step: learning to meet the other.
Understanding the crucial role that dignity must play in conflict resolution and peace building.
Dignity is typically disregarded as a key element in the origins of and solution to conflict, particularly when it comes to conflicts involving individuals and communities that have undergone extreme experiences of suffering, injustice and humiliation.
This two-day workshop offers tools for understanding the essential elements of dignity and recognizing how we violate and can instead honor our own dignity, the dignity of others and the dignity of purpose.
Through intensive role-playing, participants develop an emotional understanding of the centrality of human dignity in the building of positive and constructive human relations.
They leave the workshop with a clear understanding of how to employ the tenets of the “dignity” model in all they do and are prepared to move on to the next step: active listening for healing and advocacy.
Using “Dignity Healing Testimony” to support survivors of torture and other forms of violence in telling their stories for healing and justice.
Large-scale documentation of the suffering caused by violent conflict is an essential component of the work to seek redress and advocate for needed political and legal reforms and yet the “collection” of narratives of pain can easily re-traumatize those who share them and leave them with the feeling of having been robbed of their story.
The Dignity Healing Testimony method enables victims and survivors to express their full life stories, not just their experiences of trauma, through a compassionate process that facilitates personal healing, the restoration of dignity and the documentation of human rights violations.
This three-day workshop teaches participants the basic assumptions of Dignity Healing Testimony and offers an overview of the contexts, main experiences and findings that informed the creation of the approach.
Participants learn to conduct dignity healing testimony interviews through role playing and observation, leaving the workshop with the skills needed for the next steps: gathering legal testimony and supporting healing and human rights advocacy in their own communities.
Learning the criteria for interfacing the Dignity Healing Testimony work with the need to gather evidence to be used for legal purposes.
This two-day training is conducted according to the ICC (international criminal court) model with reference to the protection of victims and witnesses and a particular focus on the protection of individuals against gender-based crimes.
The unique and sound system of protection as established by the ICC with respect to the participation and reparations rights of victims is a well-developed model that ensures the effective exercise of those rights in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Participants leave the workshop knowing how to conduct Dignity Healing Testimony interviews in accordance with the ICC guidelines, as a way of documenting human rights
Artistic practices for reframing testimonial narratives of suffering and creating narratives of hope.
While lengthy life history interviews offer healing and the critical legal documentation of atrocities, efforts to promote local reconciliation and peace as well as galvanize international support benefit immensely from the use of community-based storytelling and arts approaches.
This five + one day workshop uses experiential methods to engage participants in identifying which aspects of the dignity healing testimonies they’ve documented can be developed as short-form works of art and how to position testionies and stories for healing and advocacy.
Participants are guided through the process of drawing on the contents of their longer testimonies to prepare shorter, concise narratives and develop these as short digital videos.
They are offered learning tools for:
how to lead community-based Story Circles, resulting in written narratives;
how to make high-quality audio and/or video recordings of these written narratives;
how to facilitate location photo/video shoots, to collect compelling visuals to pair with written narratives;
how to produce simple digital stories, blending audio recordings with photos/videos
Participants come away with a solid grasp of how to use simple technology tools (e.g. smart phones, audio recording devices) to carry out this process, practicing by working with narratives shared in the Dignity Healing Testimony sessions. Participants also leave with an ability to tell personal stories from their own lives and support others in doing so, with an understanding of the essential role that creative practice can play in building relationships and addressing conflict.
Participants will then watch the digital stories; identify key themes, messages, and opportunities for linking them to advocacy efforts; and outline a strategy for sharing the testimonies and stories:
in local community settings, to promote healing and trust and encourage involvement of others in the story gathering process ;
in meetings with key leaders / decision-makers, in order to link stories to policy goals;
with the general public (in community screenings and online), to raise awareness, mobilize involvement in support for Syrian women and detainees.
Motivating women and civil society in working for peace and promoting rights and safety.
After completing the 7-Step Program, trainees put into practice the acquired skills and begin to:
- Initiate neighborhood-based trainings on forgiveness and reconciliation, using the 10 module ESPERE methodology to teach participants how to transform their hatred and resentment and promote concrete actions that lead to forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Conduct “Dignity Healing Testimony” interviews documenting oral history, human rights violations, and other impacts of conflict while also fostering healing and a sense of justice;
- Meet with each interviewee to share and process with them their interview recording or transcript, for healing and advocacy purposes;
- Prepare the interview recordings/transcripts for archival purposes and for use by human rights defenders/lawyers, etc., by creating a shorter, 2-3 page summary of each interview; and Develop and carry out a local plan for story- and arts-based community building activities, with a focus on processes for reconciliation and peace building.
