Crcvt.org
Title
Conflict Resolution Catalysts Home Page
Description
Since 1987 Conflict Resolution Catalysts (CRC) -- a small nonprofit organization based in Montpelier, Vermont USA -- has been active world-wide to empower ordinary citizens to be peacemakers and effect positive change in their communities. Our work is focused at the grassroots level in societies polarized by conflict and torn apart by radical political and economic change. Our programs bring people together and provide them with the skills and support and citizen-run structures to begin to take control of their lives and communities, and to resolve problems in ways that are nonviolent, mutually-beneficial and sustainable in the long-term. We have been active as far away as the former Soviet Union and Bosnia, and as close as our own backyard of Vermont. We have offered a wide range of programs such as negotiation training, discussion groups, capacity-building for local grassroots organizations, neighborhood facilitation and mediation, linking local citizens with their own authorities and with international organizations, citizen-run newspapers and radio stations, counseling and support groups, and practical skills training in computers
And now we are about to begin working in Kosovo. Pending expected funding, CRC's Community Facilitators Project will engage local and international citizens to be problem-solvers in Kosovo communities, to address basic economic, psychological and security needs, and to build peace from the bottom-up. We are currently accepting applications for facilitators and other support staff. The first training is tentatively planned for early May, and project implementation is likely by June.
Recognizing that in post-conflict societies, peacebuilding means rebuilding and democratizing the social, economic, and political fabric of communities, we address the hard issues of fear, isolation and trauma in the hardest hit areas, such as Sarajevo and its surroundings. Rebuilding communities means rebuilding trust which can be so shattered that often it can only be dealt with indirectly and gradually, via practical activities that address practical needs.. We have been one of the first peace and conflict resolution groups to go in, before other organizations think it possible. We're not big or fancy; as one individual at UNHCR described us, we "do the most with the least." This bottom-up approach to empowerment through citizen education and action is relatively rare in the world of international peacemaking and development.
