As the Save the Tigris campaign launched five years ago testifies, the role of civil society is crucial in determining processes of historical significance, and regional alliances between Iraqis, Syrians, Turks and Kurds are not only possible, but strategically useful.
In recent years, the advocacy capacity of activist ə irachenə has grown and the population itself shows much interest in receiving support for organising rights and peacebuilding campaigns.
Against this backdrop, Un Ponte Per has developed a regional strategy that runs on several parallel tracks: providing humanitarian support to refugees and displaced persons while simultaneously seeking to hand these activities over to the management of local civil society, a key player in the construction of new practices on a small scale that can then be replicated.
On this premise, the three-year programme 'Paths of Coexistence in Mesopotamia', with the support of the Fondation Assistance Internationale (FAI), was born. It is developed along three axes: challenging the divisions that Daesh has exasperated between communities through social cohesion campaigns; involving the population in the protection of Mesopotamia's cultural and environmental heritage; peace building and non-violent conflict transformation.
The aim is to overcome Daesh-induced fundamentalism by building a path of trust between the communities involved and developing their sense of belonging to a common cultural and environmental heritage, fostering participatory land management and supporting coexistence practices and pacts.
To this end, actions and campaigns for social cohesion, coexistence and peace will be implemented in 8 Iraqi, 1 Syrian and 1 Turkish city along the course of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and Social Coexistence Pacts will be signed.
In order to foster the exchange of good practices and overcome the rifts caused by war and fundamentalism, a 'We love (city name)' city coordination will be activated by civil society in each of these cities, followed by a 'We love Iraq' forum at the national Iraqi level and a 'We love Mesopotamia' forum at the regional level.
It is also planned to train more than 1,000 social workers over three years, at least one third of whom are young people under 30 and at least one third are women, through training programmes that will focus on methodologies, working tools for social cohesion and regional meetings aimed at exchanging good practices and mutual knowledge.
Through the Saves the Tigris campaign, a common identity and sense of belonging to the cultural and environmental heritage of Mesopotamia will be strengthened among Iraqis, Syrians and Turks by implementing direct actions to safeguard the Tigris ecosystem.
In addition, a Regional Forum on the Right to Water in Iraq will be set up involving at least 500 participants from the region, and at least 3 working groups in Iraq and 1 in Turkey will be activated in order to ensure the protection and accessibility of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in the relevant areas, reformulating the management plans of the sites in this regard to enable the participation of the population in their management and protection.
Civilian Peace Interventions will be implemented with the aim of fostering coexistence between local communities and Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, and between local communities and IDPs in Iraq, with a strong focus on facilitating the return of all IDP communities to their home towns after liberation from Daesh.
To intervene in support of local associations, international Civil Peace Corps will be trained and sent on 1-year missions to Beirut and Amman, while international volunteers will be sent for shorter periods to Iraq, and Local Peace Teams will be formed in at least 4 towns in the governorate of Nineveh, in order to strengthen local civil society and help overcome prejudices by promoting coexistence.
This peacebuilding project aims to involve at least 300 operatorsə and 10,000 civil society activistsə in 10 cities in Iraq, Syria and Turkey; about 3,000 people directly reached by Save the Tigris campaign actions; at least 50,000 people who have signed 'We Love (...)' charters; and at least 30,000 people reached by awareness-raising campaigns promoted by civil peace corps and groups.
The impact of this experimental peace-building action will be evaluated and the results promoted through international advocacy campaigns to enable large-scale replication.
