Sapa Structure and Partners
Partners:
India:
Ekta Parishad
Gandhi Bhawan Campus,
Shyamla Hills, Bhopal-462002 (M.P)
E-mail : [email protected]
Web : www.ektaparishad.com
Gandhi Peace Foundation
Bangladesh:
Gono Unnayan Prochesta
13A/3A Babar Road, Block-B
Dhaka –1207
Bangladesh.
E-mail: [email protected]t
Nepal:
Institute Of Human Rights Communication Nepal,
IHRICON
P.O. Box 5188,
Anamnagar,
Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail : i[email protected]
Website : www.ihricon.org
Afghan Friends Service Organization.
Afghan Friends Service Organization
AFSO- Afghanistan
Street 15, house 36,
Kart-e-Sae, Kabul, Afghanistan
Peace and Community Action (PCA)
43 1/1 Nelson Place
Wellawatta, Colombo, 06
Sri Lanka
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pcasl.org
Pakistan:
South Asia Partnership (SAP-PK)
Haseeb Memorial Trust Building
Nasirabad,
2 km. Raiwind Rd.
PO: Thokar Niza Beg,
Lahore, 53700
email: [email protected]
Britain:
Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW)
Quakers Peace & Social Witness (QPSW)
Friends House, 173 Euston Road,
London NW1 2BJ 020 7663 1072
E-mail : [email protected]
Web : www.quaker.org.uk
Gandhi Bhawan Campus,
Shyamla Hills, Bhopal-462002 (M.P)
E-mail : [email protected]
Web : www.ektaparishad.com
Gandhi Peace Foundation
Bangladesh:
Gono Unnayan Prochesta
13A/3A Babar Road, Block-B
Dhaka –1207
Bangladesh.
P.O. Box 5188,
Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail : i[email protected]
Website : www.ihricon.org
Afghan Friends Service Organization
AFSO- Afghanistan
Street 15, house 36,
Kart-e-Sae, Kabul, Afghanistan
Peace and Community Action (PCA)
Britain:
Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW)
Friends House, 173 Euston Road,
London NW1 2BJ 020 7663 1072
E-mail : [email protected]
Web : www.quaker.org.uk
Profiles of SAPA Core Group Members
Abdul Kaliq Quraishi, Afghanistan
Abdul Khaliq Quraishi has been working with the American Friends’ Service Committee in Afghanistan since 2004, as a Community Trainer, promoting Peace Education and Nonviolence in different districts and provinces of Afghanistan. Besides training school teachers he has been involved in training students of the psychology department of Kabul University, and conducting workshops on psycho social counseling and focusing. He has participated in workshops on Nonviolence and Conflict Transformation in India (2005), Peace Building and harmony – Rural in Afghanistan (2007) and Peace Education & Relationship Building to strengthen Civil Society in Sri Lanka (2008). He has also been involved in Peace Building projects in Bamyan Province as well as Sister School and Child to Child projects.
Since the American Friends’ Service Committee decided to close down its offices in Afghanistan, Abdul Khaliq and his colleagues decided to form a new organization Afghan Friendship and Cooperation Organisation (AFCO) to carry on the work of the AFSC
Since the American Friends’ Service Committee decided to close down its offices in Afghanistan, Abdul Khaliq and his colleagues decided to form a new organization Afghan Friendship and Cooperation Organisation (AFCO) to carry on the work of the AFSC
Mohammad Tahseen, Pakistan
Mohammad Tahseen is founding Director of South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK). Mohammad Tahseen is an upfront intellectual, a concerned citizen and an advocate of civil liberties. He has been part of multi-facetted movements of Peace, Development, Democracy and Human Rights in Pakistan since 22 years. He is one of the founding members of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). He is also a founder member and First Secretary of Pakistan NGO Forum – a national representative body of NGOs in Pakistan. He is on the Board of Directors of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, an active member of Forum International Montreal (FIM), and also chairperson of Building Bridges with Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) program. He plays a pivotal role in bringing trade unions, media organizations, peasants’ movements and civil society organizations together at national forums to struggle for the common cause. In addition, he is a member of organizations like African Asian Forum of Development Professionals for Participatory Action and Research, South Asian NGO Group of Commonwealth Foundation U.K, Working Committee of Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy. Board of Directors of Association of Development of Human Resources (ADHR), Islamabad,and Global Excellence in Management (GEM) Initiative
Nasir Uddin Ahmed, Bangladesh
Nasir Uddin Ahmed is the Director of Gono Unnayan Prochesta. He studied Sociology in the University of Dhaka. As a student he engaged in social work as a volunteer of Service Civil International (SCI). Experienced natural calamities i.e., devastating cyclones of 1965, 1970 which caused death of millions of people in the Home Island located in the Bay of Bengal. His experiences during the war of liberation in 1971, resulted in the urge for involvement in Peace work.
As member/volunteer of Service Civil International, and later, as a participant in the Asia-Europe exchange program in 1981 he got regional and International exposure by participating countries of Western Europe. In 1981 under Asia-Europe exchange program.. Later in 1982 he joined Gono Unnayan Prochesta. He attended Responding to Conflict course in UK in 1993.Visited: India, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Thailand, Japan, UK, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Philippines and interacted with people living in conflict situations. He is associated with various national and regional networks including South Asia Peace Alliance (SAPA), and also works with Govt. and Non-Govt. Organizations in the field of Conflict Management.
Radha Bhatt, India
Radha Bhatt has been actively involved in Gandhian Constructive work (peace and development work) in the Uttarakhand region, and in other parts of the country, since the 1950s, ever since she helped found the Lakshmi Asram, Kausani, Dist. Almora., a centre for women’s education and empowerment. Later, as Secretary of the National Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust, she was active in peace work undertaken by the Trust in strife torn states of Assam, Manipur, Tripura and also in Bihar. Some of these activities are still continuing. Presently, as the Chairperson of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, she has initiated peace work in Jammu and Kashmir and the North east,and also guides the Centres of the Gandhi Peace Foundation which are involved in peace work all over India.
She believes that work for protection of the Environment is a part of peace work, as disturbance or disharmony in ecological balance upsets the rhythm of man and nature and often results in conflict.. Therefore she has always been in the forefront in environment campaigns in the Himalayas. Currently she is actively involved in the “Save the Rivers’ campaign in Uttarakhand.
Rajagopal, PV. India
P V Rajagopal, a Gandhian activist, Chairman of Ekta Foudation Trust and Co-coordinator of South Asia Peace alliances (SAPA).
He is also Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation(GPF)and the Founder and President of Ekta Parishad, a grassroots rights based organization, dedicated to the Gandhian principles of nonviolent action with the aim of assisting the marginalized sections of the people to gain control over livelihood resources such as land, water, and forest.
Rajagopal has led several campaigns and foot marches to draw attention to these issues. These efforts culminated in the Janadesh (People’s Verdict) 2007, a March of 25,000 tribals, from Gwalior to Delhi. It highlighted the issue of land reforms once again, and led to the formation of the National Land Reforms Committee.
Educated in a Gandhian Basic Educational Institute, in his home state, Kerala, and later at Sevagram, Gandhi’s ashram in Maharashtra, where he completed a degree in Agricultural Engineering, he is deeply committed to Gandhian values of peace and nonviolence. As Secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Ashram, Joura, Morena, Madhya Pradesh, he was actively engaged in mass surrender and rehabilitaion of Dacoits in the Chambal Region of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar pradesh and Rajasthan. A year of peace work at the Gandhi Ashram in Chuchuyimung (Nagaland), gave him an insight into the problems of the region, an issue with which he is still deeply involved. He is associated with a large number of voluntary organizations working for the tribals and other marginalized sections as Board member or as Chairperson/President, and has been on important Committees set up by the Government, notably, National Council for Land Reforms, Organization for Release and Development of Bonded Laborers) in the State of Tamil Nadu, and the National Council for Rural Institutes.
He is also Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation(GPF)and the Founder and President of Ekta Parishad, a grassroots rights based organization, dedicated to the Gandhian principles of nonviolent action with the aim of assisting the marginalized sections of the people to gain control over livelihood resources such as land, water, and forest.
Rajagopal has led several campaigns and foot marches to draw attention to these issues. These efforts culminated in the Janadesh (People’s Verdict) 2007, a March of 25,000 tribals, from Gwalior to Delhi. It highlighted the issue of land reforms once again, and led to the formation of the National Land Reforms Committee.
Educated in a Gandhian Basic Educational Institute, in his home state, Kerala, and later at Sevagram, Gandhi’s ashram in Maharashtra, where he completed a degree in Agricultural Engineering, he is deeply committed to Gandhian values of peace and nonviolence. As Secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Ashram, Joura, Morena, Madhya Pradesh, he was actively engaged in mass surrender and rehabilitaion of Dacoits in the Chambal Region of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar pradesh and Rajasthan. A year of peace work at the Gandhi Ashram in Chuchuyimung (Nagaland), gave him an insight into the problems of the region, an issue with which he is still deeply involved. He is associated with a large number of voluntary organizations working for the tribals and other marginalized sections as Board member or as Chairperson/President, and has been on important Committees set up by the Government, notably, National Council for Land Reforms, Organization for Release and Development of Bonded Laborers) in the State of Tamil Nadu, and the National Council for Rural Institutes.
Shobha Gautam, Nepal.
Shobha Gautam is a journalist and women's rights activist who has written extensively on women who have been affected by conflict situations and has been advocating for the rights of women for the past twenty-two years. She is President of the Institute of Human Rights Communication in Nepal (IHRICON), General Secretary, Nepal Press Institute (NPI), Core group member, South Asia Peace Alliance (SAPA), coordinator, SAPA-media and Executive Member of Nepal's Citizen Peace Commission.
Ms. Gautam has worked with the South Asia Women's Institute for Peace Studies as well as with International Alert as a National Consultant on "UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Women, Peace and Security in Nepal." Her work as the Organizer and Coordinator of a research program on women's participation in politics was instrumental in having all major political parties sign the Declaration on Enhancing Leadership of Women in Major Political Parties. Ms. Gautam is also a senior media, peace and gender trainer, providing training to journalists all over the country on conflict, gender issues and human rights reporting.
She has authored and co-edited several books. In 2005, Ms. Gautam received the "Krishna Mohan - Nudup Peace Award" for playing a leading role in raising awareness of the role of women in carrying out good governance and peace work in Nepal.
T. Thayaparan, Sri Lanka
T.Thayaparan has been involved with peace building, conflict transformation and reconciliation work since the last 11 years with his organization, the Peace and Community Action which is a national organization committed to peace work in Srilanka. One of the founders of this organization, his belief and understanding about peace is to see it as a process of understanding and transformation of relationships and to deal and address the factors which are influencing human beings to be violent or nonviolent. The war in Srilanka has affected the relationship between communities. Unless people are aware about the implications of the judgments which they make about other communities building peace and relationships will be very difficult in Srilanka. He believes that nonviolence is a process in which people try to understand each others’ needs and are willing to listen and support others. He and his organization are trying to raise awareness on these issues. They are trying hard to work on nonviolent processes in all our activities and it is become our core process now.
Stuart Morton, Britain
Stuart Morton is the Quaker Peace & Social Witness Programme Manager – South Asia, with responsibility for a programme entitled “Networking for Peace”. The aim of the work, as defined in 2003, is to strengthen the non-violence movement in the region by acting as a catalyst and connector, and to include within this conciliation work relating to the violent conflict in North East India. Stuart has been responsible for this programme since 1996, though in the years until 2000 was mainly involved in managing a QPSW peacebuilding project in Sri Lanka. He has made an average of 1-2 visits to South Asia each year since 1996 and has visited five countries in the region. Stuart’s heart and mind has been grounded in the tradition of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) since 1971 and from 1980-96 worked as a staff member at the Quaker Centre for Education, “Woodbrooke College”, in Birmingham, UK, where he served in various capacities including a period of seven years as the “Peace, Justice and Environment” tutor. QPSW has entered its more recent work since 2001 by responding to key invitations from the region.
Sapa Secretariat
Vijay Bharatiya
For the last 25 years, he has facilitated process on education, media, youth, environment, human Rights and livelihood issues. He has worked with Dr.S.N.Subbarao (Noted Gandhian and Director of National Youth Project) , He was in the Baba Amte’s Knit india March the 5 month Peace Caravan of 100 young cyclists who moved around 15 states of India. He is long associate of Ekta Parishad working as a freelancer. He is mission oriented person. He believes that with courage, strong conviction and passion for promoting the values of Nonviolence oce can bring a visible change. He is an enterprising person believing in creating things from Zero. He is currently holds the charge of SAPA secretariat in New Delhi.
Rita Roy
Presently in the SAPA Secretariat, Rita Roy had worked for 34 years in the Gandhi Peace Foundation. A teacher by profession, her main interest was in the field of Gandhian education, and also in introducing Gandhi and Gandhian ideas, especially those of peace and nonviolence, to young students from India and abroad. The Gandhi Column for Children, brought out and edited by her, which appeared weekly in the leading newspapers in the country was part of these efforts. Working part time, she supports the SAPA Secretariat in its task of coordination and maintaining communication between the Core Group members.
