In April 2010, an action research “Healthy Network Research” was initiated by PSO with five networks one of which was UNOY Peacebuilders. The purpose of the action research was to understand the dynamics of networks and to develop strategies for strengthening networks. It was an action research because in the first phase workshop on Network Dynamics was conducted after which they key persons did practical actions to improve their networks and then again the key person met at a writeshop to document their experience. A key person from each network was selected to take part in the action research. The key persons were supposed to actively engage in the action research and were owners of the research. Gulalai Ismail from Pakistan was the Key Person for Pakistan, and Rahel Waldaeb as the co-key person. The research was led by the Expert Eelke who has developed FAN approach. According to the FAN approach networks can be strengthened if there is a free actor in the network, a free actor is a person who works beyond his confined roles and responsibilities to strengthen the network.
The UNOY Peacebuilders decided to focus the action research on its Gender Working Group. Gender Working Group is an online group of UNOY members which aims to help UNOY team to strengthen its gender program. Like all other networks, research at the UNOY started with a TimeLine workshop on 8th-9th September 2010 in Hague at the UNOY headquarters which was facilitated by Richard Smith from South Africa. It was an interesting workshop conducted with the members of the steering group of UNOY Peacebuilders which helped members to look back to the history of the network; and to highlight the important events of the network and their perceptions about those events. Looking back at the highlights of the network helped the members to come up with suggestions for improving the gender network. Some of the members said that the Gender Working Group is not only a group but it is a network; a web which has outreach to all of the UNOY programs, it has a greater potential for gender mainstreaming of the UNOY programs. The members also came up with the suggestion of initiating more horizontal discussion in the Gender Working Group instead of vertical suggestions i.e. discussion should be initiated by the members themselves instead of discussions initiated by the Secretariat. Another shortcoming mentioned was that the members of the Gender Working Group haven’t met even for once with each other which make the discussion on e-group less lively as it lacks the warmth of personal connections; to overcome this shortcoming the member gave different ideas such as developing an online forum, skype video calls etc. The timeline workshop provided food for thought to the Key person, which helped them to actively take part in the upcoming phases of the action research.
After the timeline workshop, the key persons of UNOY Peacebuilders network joined the group of key persons from five other networks in Ede from 13th-17th September 2010 where they took part in an intensive workshop on network analysis “Networking for Development”. The workshop was facilitated by Eelke Wielinga and Ger Roebeling. In the workshop the participants did intensive discussions on the challenges they face in the network, and learnt different tools of FAN approach which can evaluate the networks and can bring life to them. It also gives them the opportunity to learn from their peers of other networks, and take their suggestions for improving their networks. One of the learning points for the UNOY Key persons was that the members of the Gender Working Group should not view themselves or should not be viewed as beneficiaries of the programs only but as partners of the UNOY, it will increase ownership of the network among members.
The analysis workshop was followed by nine months of Action Period. The key persons were supposed to share the insights in the network and strengthen their networks on the basis of the action points. Gulalai Ismail, however, could not implement the research in UNOY because of the lack of clarity on her role as key person. Key persons from other networks faced the same issue, which was pointed out in the writeshop.
After nine months action period the key persons met at writeshop in June 2011. The writeshop was facilitated by Sandra Hill from CDRA in South Africa; it provided the opportunity to reflect on the action phase, to reflect on what was happening in the networks, and to document the experiences which will provide understanding on the network dynamics. The documented experiences provided raw material for a publication which can be used as a guide by academia and networks for strengthening networks using Free Actor Approach. The publication is in the final phase. The action research raised many questions for UNOY Peacebuilders regarding the Gender Working Group and generated many recommendations for improvement. One of the Key outcome of the action research for improving the Gender Program of the UNOY is the development of a new program. The program aims to strengthen the capacity of youth led Peacebuilding organizations in gender mainstreaming of the Peacebuilding activities, the organizations will be given seed grants to implement programs for gender mainstreaming of Peacebuilding activities in their organizations and communities. The trained core group of the organization representatives will also volunteer for conducting online trainings on gender mainstreaming of Peacebuilding organizations, thus replicating their learning to many other young people and organizations.
Gulalai Ismail, Key Person at Healthy Network Research-PSO
