Overview 

Philosophy & Strategy:

Peace, for NFI, does not mean ‘minimalist peace’ that is engaged in negotiating for a ceasefire or bringing an end to war. On the contrary, NFI is perhaps ill equipped to launch itself on this turf that calls for severe activism and negotiations at deeper, political levels.

NFI endeavors to affect the lives of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children who live in areas of conflict and often have to cope with its violent manifestations. Thus, peace for NFI is to negotiate for and create spaces where particularly deprived and alienated communities can find themselves enjoying better social infrastructure and governance. In such communities, NFI supports long-term development action like work on livelihoods, health and education.

Another focus of the peace and justice program is on facilitating opportunities for these communities to form strong informal networks or even democratic, formal associations with the same communities who had ‘othered’ them. Towards this end, NFI promotes grassroots peace building initiatives and facilitates inclusive deliberation, debate, and dialogue for a greater public understanding of the complex nature of conflict if these are voiced as demands from local voluntary organizations.

Activities:
 
Projects running under the Peace and Justice program have focused primarily on the North-Eastern region of India.

• Working with affected communities:

NFI assists local NGOs to enable vulnerable groups to cope with the impact of conflict. We try and use a holistic approach in order to maximize impact .i.e. we try to supplement initiatives such as support groups for affected people and forums for community integration with efforts to improve community health, elementary education, livelihood security and local governance.

• Documentation, research, and dissemination:
  NFI supports studies on the underlying causes of conflict, its impact on the lives of affected people, the effectiveness of state response, and grassroot experience in conflict resolution. It also encourages sensitive, balanced, and well-informed coverage of these issues by mainstream media through it’s programme on development communication.

NFI has made grants to some NGOs and individuals to study the impact of conflict and examine the existence of local peace building initiatives in certain geographical areas like Chhattisgarh, Manipur and BTAD, Assam that are more affected by conflicts of violent nature.

• Platforms for interaction:
  NFI brings together community members, peace practitioners, academicians, and policy makers to share knowledge, experiences and ideas. This includes organizing networks, campaigns, workshops, and seminars at the local, regional, and national level.

Future Outlook:

We plan to continue our support to community initiatives in the North-East, and to strengthen our existing partnerships there. We also hope to expand the scope of the program to the central-eastern region of the country.

Program officer: Monica Banerjee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )