CONCORD
How to BuildSocial Capital
AcrossCommunities
T H E
Barbara J. Nelson
Linda Kaboolian
Kathryn A. Carver
H A N D B O O K
Many thanks to Lezlee Hinesman Matthews, Bill Parent, and Nga Nguyen-Scott.
On the cover (clockwise starting from top): Image of the world, student artwork,Malone Integrated College, Belfast, Northern Ireland; *Seeds of Peace
International Camp, Maine, USA; **Graffiti, Derry, Northern Ireland; OakwoodIntegrated Primary School, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Mural, lobby of MaloneIntegrated College, Belfast, Northern Ireland; **Foundation Stones for Lasting
Peace mural, Belfast, Northern Ireland;
Cover photos by Kathryn A. Carver unless indicated otherwise.*Photo courtesy of Seeds of Peace
**Photo courtesy of Kathryn Conrad
This page: Center City, Belfast, Northern Ireland, photo by Kathryn A. Carver
Design by Stan Paul
The Concord Project
UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research
3284 Public Policy Building, Box 951656
337 Charles E. Young Drive, East
Los Angeles, CA 90095
USA
Tel: 310-794-5523
Fax: 310-206-5773
Email: [email protected]
http://concord.sppsr.ucla.edu
Barbara J. Nelson
Linda Kaboolian
Kathryn A. Carver
How to BuildSocial Capital
AcrossCommunities
CONCORDT H E
H A N D B O O K
The Concord Handbook: How to Build Social Capital Across Communities
Copyright 2003, Barbara J. Nelson, Linda Kaboolian, Kathryn A. Carver
Copyright in all original works of authorship contained in this publication is owned by Barbara J. Nelson, LindaKaboolian and Kathryn A. Carver. These materials may be used, reproduced or reprinted, provided that such use is fornon-commercial or personal use only and the following copyright notice appears in all copies: The Concord Handbook:How to Build Social Capital Across Communities. Copyright 2003 Barbara J. Nelson, Linda Kaboolian, Kathryn A.Carver. The literary works contained in this publication may not be modified in any way. All rights in photographs,illustrations, artworks, and other graphic materials are reserved.
ISBN: 0-9658871-8-9
CONCORDT H E
H A N D B O O K
CONCORDI. II. III.
About the Concord ProjectUrgent ProblemsThe Handbook as Part of the Solution
IDEASI. II. III. IV. V.
What Concord Organizations DoConcord ActivitiesCross-Community WorkSocial Capital and Concord OrganizationsOrganizational Challenges
LESSONSI. II.
Design Principles and Necessary PracticesUsing the 10 Organizational Lessons
ACTIONI. II.
What Leaders Can DoActivities and Exemplars
10Principles
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5568911
131319
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ConcordI. ABOUT THE CONCORD PROJECT
Part 1
The Concord Project is an internationalresearch and action program whose mis-sion is to strengthen concord organiza-tions, which bring together people with funda-mentally opposing views or identities for the pur-pose of promoting civil society while recognizinggroup differences. In research, the Project identi-fies concord organizations and investigates the
characteristics that make them successful at creat-ing bridging social capitalthe human and orga-nizational resources that span social differences.In practice, the Project disseminates its findingswidely, through written materials and trainingprograms to nonprofits, NGOs, governmentalorganizations, foundations, and businesses inter-ested in developing stronger cross-communitystructures and leadership skills.
1
CCoonccoorrd: Agrreemment between perrssoonss; ccoonccurrrrencce in
feeling and oopinioon; harrmmoony, accccoorrd. A sstate oof peacce
and ammity between ccoontending parrtiess oorr natioonss; a trreaty
esstablisshing ssucch rrelatioonss. (Oxfoorrd EEnglissh DDicctioonarry)
The Concord Handbook
How to Build Social Capital Across Communities
2
TThhee PPllaacceess
This Handbook is based on models of actiondeveloped in more than 100 concord organizationsin four geographical areasthe United States,Northern Ireland, South Africa, Israel, andPalestine. Each region has a history of imaginativeconcord activities as well as long-standing inter-group conflict. All share an English colonial histo-ry; some have other colonial experiences as well.All have groups that were excluded from full citi-zenship through legal disenfranchisement, forcedresettlement, apartheid, or genocide. Economicdisadvantage has accompanied political limitations.In each of these places, marginalized groups arepoorer, on average, than those with a longer histo-ry of political incorporation. The tasks of eco-nomic development are different in each place, butcrucial for full participation and a positive future.The success of concord organizations is helped byspecific conditions. Cross-community work bene-fits greatly from effective democratic politicalarrangements and a lasting commitment to low
levels of violence by the state and by members ofdifferent communities. These ideal conditions arerarely fully met. At this time the lack of a viableMiddle East political solution and the escalatingviolence between Israelis and Palestinians havereduced dramatically the concord activity thatbegan in the Oslo period. We have included someof the more durable concord organizations in theregion, in recognition of their work and as a sign-post of what will be important when peace occurs.
TThhee PPeeooppllee
Barbara J. Nelson is Dean of the UCLA Schoolof Public Policy and Social Research. LindaKaboolian is a faculty member at the John F.Kennedy School of Government at HarvardUniversity. Kathryn A. Carver is a health andhuman rights lawyer. We wish to thank the manypeople and organizations that welcomed us and theW. K. Kellogg Foundation for its support. TheConcord Project may be found on the World WideWeb at hhttttpp::////ccoonnccoorrdd..ssppppssrr..uuccllaa..eedduu..
(L-r) Library mural in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Organizational history banner at IDASA, Pretoria, South Africa.
Phot
os b
y Ka
thry
n A.
Car
ver
The most urgent problems facing the worldtoday are conflicts over religion, ethnicity,race, and values. These conflicts arise asmuch within countries as between them.Democracy, economic development, and peacehang in the balance if ways are not found to workeffectively across these divides.
Color and class divide Americans. Religionand national aspirations divide the NorthernIrish. Color and economic development divideSouth Africans. Identity and aspirations for state-hood divide Israelis and Palestinians. Clashes overidentity and values, with their intense personaland cultural meanings, often prove more intransi-gent than conflicts over resources. Successful solu-tions to battles over identity and values dependon effective democratic political arrangements anda lasting reduction of violence. But success alsodepends on working across communities in every-day life, work that is fostered by strong concordorganizations.
CCoonccoorrd oorrganizatioonss brring
toogetherr peoople with funda-
mmentally ooppoossing viewss oorr
identitiess foorr the purrpoosse oof
prroommooting ccivil ssoocciety while
rreccoognizing grrooup differrenccess.
Conditions for SuccessfulCross-CCommunity Work
Effective Democratic Political Arrangements
Lasting Reduction of Violence
Strong Concord Organizationsand Activities
Around the globe, thousands of concordorganizations provide durable, thoughtful settingsfor people to act together to solve their jointproblems. Concord organizations undertake awide variety of activities: dialogue programs, wit-ness activities (demonstrating an alternative futureby living together or sharing scarce space), educa-tion and training, conflict mediation, communityservice, and economic development. Examples ofconcord organizations include the NationalConference for Community and Justice, a humanrelations organization in the United States;Corrymeela, a sponsor of dialogue programs thatbrings together Protestants and Catholics inNorthern Ireland; the National Centre for HumanRights Education and Training of the SouthAfrican Human Rights Commission, whichdesigns programs for newly integrated schoolsand work places; and Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam in Israel, a village of forty Jewish andArab families living together in Israel.
CCOONNCCOORRDD::
II. URGENT PROBLEMS
The Concord Handbook
3
The Concord Handbook is designed to aidthose who want to strengthen existing con-cord organizations or start new ones. TheHandbook presents both the ideas that underpinsuccessful concord work and the design principlesand necessary practices for running effectiveorganizations. This dual approach, ideas andactions, corresponds to that of the leaders of con-cord organizations whose work combinesthoughtful reflection and effective practice.
The Concord Handbook is written for currentand future leaders: the presidents, boards, and
senior staff of organizations with cross-communi-ty missions, leaders of single-identity communitiesinterested in moving toward engagement withother communities, scholars who study social cap-ital, and public officials and foundation and busi-ness executives who value effective bridge build-ing. The Handbook provides a place to engagewith ideas, a starting point for discussion, asource of practical organizational design princi-ples, and a reference for connecting with success-ful organizations engaged in cross-communitywork.
III. THE H
