 From 15th to 25th February, 2009 a group of 11 people from Cambodia went to Indonesia that they are from various religious and ethnic backgrounds, representatives from different NGOs, and the Pedagogical Research Department from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. The Aim of the exposure visit is that to foster mutual understanding, share and understand different countries context, cultural diversity and approaches to reduce inter-ethnic conflict and promote inter-ethnic peace.
In the preparatory consultations Indonesian peace builders suggested that Solo (Surakarta) and Yogyakarta would be important places to visit, while in both cities ethnic and religious issues are existing and being approached in diverse and significant peace building initiatives.
The first location, central Java, Yogyakarta and its surroundings also have been fertile ground for the intellectual development of local scholars and activists committed to positive social change. As a university town, Yogyakarta is respected as a place where scholarship and practice/activism are married productively.
The second location, Solo, has been recognized as an important location for various social movements that have influenced the island of Java and the nation of Indonesia as a whole. Many social researchers and activists have found Solo a fascinating and intriguing place for sociopolitical research, as well as a challenging base to facilitate positive social transformation.
Several key peace building NGOs have been particularly effective at promoting cooperation between diverse communities in Indonesia. ACT has established some links with various peace building organizations across Indonesia that could support the exchange visit. This resulted in two key hosts:
- Key local host in Yogyakarta
AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) Indonesia is one of the country offices of AFSC (based in Philadelphia, USA). AFSC Indonesia is working in post-conflict and conflict areas and its strategy is to focus on capacity building of local organizations that already exist in the local community. The ultimate goal is peace building to which AFSC hopes to contribute by providing dialogue, advocacy and communication in both vertical and horizontal conflicts. AFSC Indonesia underlines the general principle of AFSC that everybody is worth working for, working with and worth existing.
- Key local host in Solo
FPLAG (Forum of Peace Interfaith and Ethnic) consists of Muslim, Christian, Hindus, Buddhist and Confucian leaders that have a vision to make Solo as a laboratory for peace transformation since 2002. FPLAG would be able to share their experiences in peace program in Solo, including the relationship between Muslim and Christian, training with the radical group, women group for peace, and the collaboration between churches and Islamic centre for peace program.
2 week after exposure visit, participants had a meeting for one day to discuss about what to share with Cambodian people.
The workshop conducted in evening of 12 March, 2009 at ACT office that the target groups were more people such as, friends of ACTs staffs, participants friends, and students. For 13 March, 2009 was the sharing experience workshop for key people that they are from 7 provinces who are working in 15 different NGOs and 1 department from Ministry of Education Youth and Sport. The experience sharing are about Indonesia, the different points of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, inter-ethnic and religious dialog, women involvement and society and her challenging, education system in Indonesia, mediation ( community trauma healing), and government involvement in inter-ethnic conflict management and transformation.
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