“We need to create spaces where people can clearly articulate what the issues are that they are not happy about,” said Florence Swamy in a recent interview with FemTALK 89FM.
Swamy is the Executive Director of the Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding (PCP), an organization working with peacebuilders in the Pacific to transform, reduce and prevent conflict.
The organization actively works to promote restorative gender justice through inclusive decision- making, empowerment and participation and is a member of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) Pacific network.
Swamy said too often these safe spaces that people can come to and who they can go to are not there.
“And so conflict really comes out of a situation where there’s dissatisfaction about something or where ideas are not in sync with each other,” she said.
She said it came to the support that people need, it was about creating the spaces to talk about issues and to ensure those spaces are safe.
“But also to empowering people to be able to listen. More often than not, we are listening to form a reply to something,” she added.
Swamy explained that many times, “we need to listen to understand.”
“It’s about how do we listen to those different views and come to a resolution to benefit a larger group,” said Swamy.
In her message for the 16 Days of Activism in Ending Violence against Women and Girls, Swamy said that even with restrictions in place due to COVID-19, “advocacy continues to be important.”
“We can’t back off, we can’t slow down. We can’t say it’s not our business; it is our business wherever it [violence] is happening,” she said.
PCP works directly with communities “where women don’t have access to urban areas”.
The team was recently in Naitasiri conducting workshops on peacebuilding methodologies and human rights as well as advocacy on ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG).