Let’s Build Peace, Here & Now
Episode 5: Melanie Greenberg, Colette Rausch and Nomfundo Walaza
REGISTER HERE
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApfumoqj8rG9fdOULTlxXoVgaUmWQJupF2
February 27 2023 15:00 UTC, 10:00 EST, 20:30 IST
About this Event
Trauma is an often-unspoken corollary of war, conflict, and systemic oppression. It endures after the cease-fire, after the signing of the peace-accord and the cessation of armed violence. It is passed from generation to generation and takes many forms. It festers, devastating individual lives in its wake, deepening existing divisions within and across communities. Building transformative peace, above everything else, requires addressing this trauma, making space for, and facilitating individual, communal and inter-generational healing.
In the next episode of ‘Let’s build peace: here and now’ hosted by the Foundations for Peace Network, Melanie Greenberg of Humanity United will speak with Nomfundo Walaza, co-founder of Unyoke Foundation and a clinical psychologist about her work on the empowerment and the healing of victims of torture, trauma and violence; and with Colette Rausch about her work in war-affected countries around the globe at the intersection of justice, trauma, and peacebuilding.
We invite you to join us for this 90-minute conversation which will be structured as a dialogue for deep listening, for understanding and learning from each other. It will be moderated by Barry Knight.
About Colette
Colette Rausch has over 20 years of experience working in war-affected countries around the globe to support justice and peace. She witnessed firsthand the role of chronic stress and trauma from violent conflict, their effect on people and communities, and their impact on efforts to build justice and peace. These experiences inspired her to work at the intersection of justice, trauma, and peacebuilding. Her work includes supporting individuals, organizations, and communities on trauma awareness, resilience, and resolution. She holds the position of Research Professor with the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation at George Mason University’s Carter Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and is the Director of Neuroscience, Trauma, and Peacebuilding at the Think Peace Learning and Support Hub.
Colette is Host and Senior Producer of the Think Peace Podcast: Where Peace Crosses the Mind. She is also the editor of NeuroPeace, an open source, on-line publication exploring the role of neuroscience in peacebuilding. She is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), trained on the neurobiology and resolution of trauma. Previously, she was Senior Advisor for Neuroscience and Peacebuilding at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Associate Vice President for Global Practice & Innovation.
Prior to USIP, Colette served in senior leadership roles focusing on human rights and rule of law with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo. She also served in the Nevada’s Attorney-General’s Office as a Deputy Attorney General; the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney and Program Manager for the Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training Office; the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada as an Assistant United States Attorney; and the Nevada Federal Public Defender’s Office as a Deputy Federal Public Defender representing defendants facing death penalties.
About Melanie
Melanie Greenberg is Managing Director for Peacebuilding at Humanity United, a foundation seeking to alleviate human trafficking and to end violent conflict. Before joining Humanity United she was CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Melanie researched the links between peacebuilding and transitional justice as a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and helped broaden the scope of international peacebuilding funding as director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In her academic career, Melanie served as associate director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation and deputy director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation.
Melanie has helped design and facilitate public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the Caucasus. She is a frequent writer, lecturer, and trainer in the areas of international law, international security, and peacebuilding, Melanie holds an AB from Harvard and a JD from Stanford Law School, and lives in McLean, Virginia.
About Nomfundo
Nomfundo Walaza is a clinical psychologist who has worked as an activist in the human rights field for more than three decades. She served as the CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre (DTPC) for 7 years. She also served for 11 years as the Executive Director of the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture in Cape Town. In this capacity, Nomfundo focused primarily on the empowerment and the healing of victims of torture, trauma and violence, many of whom suffered severely at the hands of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. She also served the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa in multiple roles.
Since leaving the DTPC, Nomfundo Walaza has been deeply involved in mediation, conflict transformation, dialogue facilitation, peacebuilding and assisting academic institutions with engaging in difficult conversation around issues of transformation and decolonization. Nomfundo co-founded the Unyoke Foundation with Chris Spies in 2017. She currently accompanies a group of aspirant young leaders in South Sudan and in the refugee camps in Uganda.
Nomfundo Walaza co-facilitates unyoke reflective retreats for international peace practitioners. She is dedicated to finding innovative ways to accompany and nurture young and upcoming peacebuilders within the African continent. Nomfundo has a keen interest in exploring African Indigenous Knowledge systems as they pertain to peacebuilding, mediation, and conflict transformation. She firmly believes that intergenerational accompaniment and support are the keys to addressing Africa’s intractable conflicts.
About the series
The past two years have laid bare that crisis and conflict are not just something ‘out there’. They are here and now and touch all our lives. And while the deficiencies of our existing models for creating just and peaceful societies are being revealed, so are the enduring sources of resilience in our world. It is now imperative to do things differently – to listen, share and learn from the extraordinary stories of peacebuilders working in contexts of entrenched injustices, in deeply divided societies and understand what does it take to build just and peaceful societies in an era of escalating inequalities, polarization, conflicts and injustices and of fast eroding human rights and democracies.
Through the ‘let’s build peace, here & now’ series the Foundations for Peace (FFP) network and its partners are creating a space for telling the stories of those who have been closest to the ground. Our approach is to tell our stories through deep and authentic conversations. Stories and narratives are powerful because they stick, narratives can convey complex ideas, help transcend borders and artificial divides speaking to us all as one and inspire to forge new ideas, behaviours and connections. Often in the fields of development and philanthropy stories are watered down by the need for brevity, bullet points and reporting templates. We want to change that and share our narratives freely, authentically, directly and provide an opportunity for people, who are looking for ways to #buildbackbetter, to listen deeply.
Previous Episodes
Episode 1: Martin Macwan and Stephen Pittam
Episode 2: Bassma Kodmai and Dawn Shackels
Episode 3: Kamala Chandrakirana and Gabi Kent
Episode 4: Jelena Memet, Anita Pantelić and Galina Maksimović
About FFP
Foundations for Peace (FFP) is an international network of independent local philanthropic organizations working towards peace and social justice. As local activist funders, we play a vital role in delivering and sustaining peacebuilding and social justice programs. With local knowledge and direct access to affected communities, we are the “bridge” to create relationships and work towards achieving equity and diversity.
We seek to positively influence the global agenda for change and the development aid architecture in conflict/post-conflict regions. We do this by developing and sharing learning, training and other resources to enhance local leadership, skills and potential to deliver sustainable peacebuilding work.
For more information about this event and FFP contact Rasha Sansur at infoffpn@gmail.com