The PAVE Program consists of a comprehensive curriculum of courses to strengthen the capacity of volunteer Peace Facilitators and Peace Ambassadors. These volunteers form Peace Facilitator Groups at the sub-district (upazila) level, which then network upwards to the district and national levels. These upazila teams prevent, detect and mitigate violence and provide alternative dispute resolution platforms.
- Basic Training will be provided to the newly selected leaders to be trained as peace facilitators with the contents of democracy, election, conflict and peace building. This three-day training will help participants to gain a better understanding of political and election conflict in a safe environment. It aims to encourage participants to take personal responsibility for creating the culture and environment necessary for safe political activity and work for peace. The methodology that will be used in the training is heavily influenced by the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) framework.
- Youth Ambassador Training is a youth-focused adaptation of the Basic Training. Participants will be selected both from political and non-partisan activist backgrounds. This three-day contains sessions on understanding extremism and its history, the drivers of extremism and drug addiction, identity, prejudice, hate, and critical thinking. After receiving the Youth Ambassador Development Training, the 20 participants of each training will form a Youth Ambassadors Team (YAT) for their own Upazilas. Each team provides is a multi-party platform in a community, committed for youth’s engagement for peaceful coexistence and social harmony. One male and one female youth will be selected as Coordinators to lead the YAT. Peace Ambassadors of respective Upazilas will act as the mentors of their teams.
- Formation of Multi-party Upazila Teams. These Peace Facilitator Groups (PFGs) comprise political and CSO leaders dedicated to mitigating the impact of conflicts and ensuring peace and harmony in their community. They meet regularly in follow-up meetings, identify issues of conflicts, or potential conflicts, and conduct peace events to engage and spread the call for peace to wider audiences.
- Leadership structure. Three team members are selected as Peace Ambassadors who lead the process and represent their team. One should come from AL, and another from the BNP to represent the two major political streams of Bangladesh. The third one should be from CSOs considering their role as a buffer zone if conflicts arise among the political forces. Teams also select a Coordinator. Under the leadership of the peace ambassadors, the Coordinator mobilizes the members, calls meetings, and keeps records and documents. The team meets quarterly at the end of the basic training for each Upazila.
- Peace Ambassadors play a vital role to lead the process of peacekeeping initiatives in their communities and represent their teams with wider audiences. THP has 216 Peace Ambassadors in its working areas to date. The project will identify 3-4 Peace Ambassadors from each team, who demonstrate an interest in serving as advocates for peace within their communities and spheres of influence. The training curriculum for the Peace Ambassadors will be reviewed and updated in collaboration with IFES under this project. Peace Ambassadors will be given the following training for their leadership development and engagement in community action”
- Leadership Training. This three-day training examines what leadership is, what leaders do and how to lead ethically. It is designed to challenge or encourage participants to take personal responsibility and to come to the realization that they want to be ethical leaders. It includes introduction to leadership, leadership characteristics, what leaders do, leadership vs management, leadership styles and ethical leadership development. It uses a methodology of group exercise and presentation, pair group discussion, open discussion, and self-assessment.
- Community Mobilization Training: This three day-long course supports Peace Ambassadors to mobilize communities for fostering broader and more tolerant interparty interactions and overall social harmony in the communities. It has been designed with contents included Feedback on post PAVE training action, Root causes of violence in Bangladesh, Peace a refresher, defining: Advocate, Ambassadors and Peace Ambassadors, Different peace event design and processes, Role of facilitators, What makes a good facilitator, Facilitation of difficult conversations and scenarios, What makes a good venue, Role and functions of Pace Facilitator Groups, and Planning and designing peace events. Interactive and participatory methods are used in conducting the training.
- Alternative Disputes Resolution Training: This two-day course trains Peace Ambassadors and Peace Facilitators to mediate and work to resolve local disputes. The aim of this training is to: provide an introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution approaches and mechanisms; its applicability to local disputes; Introduce and practice mediation techniques and skills; and, provide an understanding of conflict resolution, and its relationship to justice and human rights. It uses the methods of role play, group exercise and presentation, pair group discussion, open discussion, brain- storming and questions-answers.
- Gender training. This two-day course focuses on the gender dynamics of conflict, especially as it pertains to the role Peace Ambassadors and Peace Facilitators in particular play in mediating or mitigating communal conflict with a gender dimension, or situation with gender-based violence. The contents of this course include: Introduction to the gender dynamics of conflict, Sexual harassment and violence against women in politics, What can we do as allies, Greater equality as prevention of gender-based violence and Role of a facilitators, What makes a good mediator. It is two-day long training.
- Training of Trainers (TOT). Select Peace Facilitators and Youth Ambassadors will be trained to lead PAVE Harmony Workshops in their communities. These focus on areas of identity and pluralism in Bangladesh. It has a simple theory of change: IF people accept and acknowledge that the current situation in Bangladesh needs to change AND they increase their knowledge on the key principles of identity, security and diversity IT WILL encourage them to change their attitudes and behaviors. The topics of this course are Identity, Diversity, Dignity, Security, where we are, Why are we in this situation, Conflict and violence, Cost of violence, What is social harmony, Benefits of social harmony, Constitutional Rights and Citizens Responsibilities and personal commitment.
- Community Peace Events are local initiatives taken by upazila teams based on issues that arise in their communities and in response to local needs. So far, a wide range of issues were identified ranging from electoral to communal violence and addressed through Peace Events, such as social gatherings, signing Code of Conducts, public declarations against Drug Abuse and Extremism, and Interfaith Festivals. Teams will be encouraged learn of issues of particular concern for women and address political empowerment and participation.
- The International Day of Nonviolence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence. This day has been observed by Peace Facilitators since 2015 to promote peaceful coexistence among opposing groups and increase political tolerance. On this day, Peace Facilitators jointly arrange human chains, round table discussions, public meetings, and press conferences in their communities as well as distribute posters, leaflets and stickers with relevant awareness messages among people. Under this project, this activity will be continued.