Q&A
Rev. Peter Tibi, who recently was prevented from preaching and speaking at FPCA due to visa difficulties, provides background on his work in South Sudan.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am married to Asha Tibi, with five children (three boys and two girls). I am the executive director of Resource Center For Civil Leadership (RECONCILE International) in South Sudan.
Can you summarize your work?
I equip local leaders with knowledge and skills in conflict transformation. I support efforts to prevent and solve political and social violence and to achieve sustainable peace through conflict transformation. RECONCILE works with churches and like-minded partners to enable conflict stakeholders and actors to develop nonviolent responses in the face of conflict-related challenges. RECONCILE aims to support sustained efforts toward conflict transformation. It endeavors to mitigate conflicts between communities, tribes, and states of the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) and the region.
How do you carry out this work?
RECONCILE offers training in conflict transformation, psychosocial rehabilitation, trauma awareness, trauma healing, leadership, good governance, civic education, and democratization. All these interventions will ultimately help create an environment for a healthy, peaceful, democratic society where people experience a good quality of life.
What are your goals?
Te main objective of RECONCILE is empowerment of the churches, civil society, and
civil leadership for sustainable peace and development in South Sudan and the region. Specific objectives include: • To enhance understanding of communities on issues of good governance, accountability, respect of human rights, transitional justice, democratic transformation, and post Comprehensive Peace Agreement concerns; i.e., cooperation between South Sudan and Sudan
• To strengthen conflict transformation capacity within the religious and community leadership in the marginalized areas of South Sudan and the region
• To enhance capacity of community and religious leadership on reconciliation and healing of trauma caused by conflict
• To conduct research and document cultural values that promote tolerance, reconciliation, and coexistence among people of different cultural backgrounds
• To establish and maintain libraries, workshops, and reading rooms, and equip the same regarding RECONCILE’s primary objective
• To engage in all kinds of advocacy and consultancy work, and organize or facilitate, conduct, arrange, and sponsor seminars, conferences, workshops, and debates on typical issues relating to societal, transformation, economic development, and conservation of the environment.
What are some specific programs?
RECONCILE has a number of International Core Programs.
leaders in understanding Islam. Tere are also crosscutting issues of gender, HIV, and AIDS.
A Leadership and Governance Program involves issues of peace building, accountable governance, democracy, and human rights and conflict transformation. It also involves awareness of the transitional Constitution—and eventually permanent Constitution—and their dissemination to the people, along with training in advocacy and voter education in preparation for elections. Further, RECONCILE provides orientation training to parliamentarians to introduce them to parliamentary procedures and policy formation, and strengthen the function of local government structures.
Our Psychosocial Rehabilitation program deals with reconciliation and healing of memories and wounds of war through trauma awareness and healing programs, as well as reconciliation seminars and workshops. We train South Sudanese and communities of the region as peer counselors to serve traumatized community members. Intercultural/ Cross-Cultural Exchange Learning Tours and Interfaith understanding aim to create conditions for coexistence through religious tolerance promotion visits, collection and dissemination of ethnological material, and training church
Te RECONCILE Peace Institute is the training institute of RECONCILE that offers courses in Peace Studies, Conflict Transformation, and Community Based Trauma Healing (CBTH). Tese courses are taught by South Sudanese and International faculty. Te institute increases the impact of religious and community leaders engaged in peace work, development, and trauma recovery in South Sudan and the region. Participants learn to understand the dynamics of conflict and peace building, develop a network with like- minded peers and with expert instructors, and acquire tools for initiating peace and mobilizing communities to develop in sustainable ways.
What’s happening with Shelvis Smith- Mather, whom our congregation supports?
Shelvis is the principal of the RECONCILE Pace Institute. Due to security concerns in South Sudan, he and his wife, Nancy, are in Uganda until next year, when the institute will re- open for them to come back to South Sudan.
How can we help?
We value your prayers in addition to your financial support. Shalom.
To financially support RECONCILE, visit www. presbyterianmission. org/donate/e052032/.
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