Please see Concordis review of 2024 below, you can also click the small down arrow to download it and view it full screen:
Please see below the latest Concordis update below, head to: www.concordis.international/ or watch some of their latest videos at: https://www.youtube.com/@concordisinternational
Latest Updates from Concordis (June 2024)
 Greetings from the Concordis Team Dear Friends, A lot can happen in a week. I thought you might be interested in a snapshot of the activities of Concordis’ team in the Central Africa Republic (CAR), because a recent week has been a good example of their life and work there. There are three separate peace processes running concurrently in the north of CAR. We want to tell you about one of them. One of our cars carrying members of the team had a narrow escape at a roadblock. We’ve been helping the CAR government develop their National Strategy on Transhumance (seasonal cattle migration).  Peace is a process.People belonging to the Runga and Gula tribes in northwest CAR have been in conflict for generations. In 2019-2020 this degenerated into serious violence. Several dozens of people were killed and most international NGO activity was forced to cease.Tensions mainly arise from social inequalities between the groups. In other words, government positions, public offices and resources are subject to competition and dispute, which often lead to violent conduct. More recently, when the Gula youth wished to establish an auto-defence group and the Runga opposed that, this conflict flared up again. Our teams have spent over six years building relationships with people from all sides, conducting shuttle diplomacy to bring them to the point where they could first negotiate a ceasefire and then meet together safely.We set up a peace conference to bring together women and men from the two tribes – the Gula and Runga – to talk. They spoke openly about the horrors of the past and were able to imagine a better future together.They negotiated a peace agreement, the province governor came to witness the signing, and the leaders of the two groups hugged each other. It’s meaningful, that hug. It is the end of one part of the process and the start of the next. Now work begins to follow up and embed this commitment by setting up a peace committee and planning a new way of living together. Because peace is a process.  There are armed groups and opportunist bandits all across northern CAR, where we work.Near a settlement called Djabossunda, in Bamingui Bangoran and close to the Chadian border, armed men had moved a big rock into the road, to force vehicles to stop, so they could be robbed. Knowing this was what was going on, our team driver stepped on the gas and, by dint of some excellent maneuvering, managed to get past the roadblock. The armed men shouted for him to stop, but mercifully didn’t actually fire at our car.This incident demonstrates how essential every member of our team is. Our drivers are key members of the team- they’re experts in spotting hazards and they often get us out of trouble.There is a network of NGO drivers who share information so they all know where the trouble spots are. As the rains come – and they are beginning now – the roads will be increasingly impassable and much of our work will pause.  Concordis’ expertise in listening to local voices and managing the peaceful seasonal movement of cattle in Central Africa, has been recognised and used to good effect recently.The Central African Republic government asked for our support in drafting a new national strategy on seasonal migration. This is to ensure that the seasonal movement of cattle, including those moving across national borders, can be managed so as not to create conflict. Our teams shared the draft national strategy with people who will be affected by it. Through consultation and debate, they refined the strategy to make it more effective. These recommendations were accepted by the CAR government. Voices that would otherwise have been marginalised contributed to national government policy. And government policy became fit for purpose, since it now addresses local concerns.As I said, a lot can happen in a week. If you’d like to support another week of peacebuilding, please click the link below. Thanks for reading, and for supporting. |
Support Concordis
St John’s Church supports Concordis in prayer and practical ways. If you would like to support them financially you can find details here: https://concordis.international/support-us-page