Visualising Peace: first screening of 3 films (November 2023)

On Sunday, November 12th, the Visualising Peace project had its first screening, which took place at the Kwetu Film Institute offices and the Rwanda Cinema training centre. This was the first opportunity for the Kwetu team—the Uyisenga Ni Imanzi team of teachers, facilitators, students, and young people—to come together to watch the films and give feedback….

Using a Mural and Well-being Thermometer: a creative MEL journey in Hetauda, Nepal 

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Note in Hetauda, Nepal by Juhi Adhikari and Sapana Lama  In August 2023, Juhi Adhikari (YAB*/Lead YAAR**) and Sapana Lama (YAB), together with a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh, conducted a two day baseline monitoring, evaluation and learning activity with young participants in Hetauda, Nepal. The activities used…

Reflections on the “Revitalising Tradition to Inform Curriculum” Webinar: Exploring Theoretical and Practical Perspectives 

The webinar on 19 October 2023, titled “Revitalising Tradition to Inform Curriculum,” organised as part of the Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) project, highlighted the significance of cultural traditions in youth and education. The presentations and discussions focused on the role of incorporating cultural art forms into curricula, and approaches to engaging young people in…

The Indonesian National Children’s Consultation (facilitated by YAB Members)

On 27 October, Youth Advisory Board (YAB) members from Indonesia co-facilitated the Indonesian Children’s Consultation with MAP co-investigator Dr Harla Octarra as lead consultant. The meeting was organised by the Ministry of National Development Planning and supported by UNICEF, with the aim of preparing a 5-year national development plan for child protection. YAB members, including…

Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI) at the Yntymak Week Celebrating International Peace Day

On September 19, 2023, the Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI) presented the MAP project at the Yntymak Week (Cohesion Week). For the first time, the event unified the voices of the Peacebuilding Hub of Kyrgyzstan and other actors, such as CSOs, formal and informal groups, INGOs, UN, IOs, government, media, grassroots activists, influencers, local leaders,…

Snippets from the UNESCO – MAP Roundtable in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 21 September 2023

Inspiring insights and collaborative conversations on culture and arts education in Nepal On 21 September, Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) in Nepal, in collaboration with UNESCO Kathmandu, hosted a National Dialogue (Roundtable) on Culture and Arts Education. The UNESCO-MAP National Dialogue convened diverse voices and practices from across generations, bringing together young people and key…

Looking within: The power of reflexivity in our journeys

For the July 15th Youth Advisory Board meeting, we hosted a session on reflexivity. One of the original, and now deleted, slides was called ‘So… how do I think about thinking?” Although awkwardly written, the idea of the title was to encourage a conversation about what being reflexive was: is it simply remembering things that…

MAP Impact Week 2023: A moment of reflection and celebration

By Vina Puspita (MAP Project Research Officer) From 17-20 July 2023, MAP hosted an Impact Week online event, bringing together MAP young people and stakeholders (youth facilitators, educators, cultural artists, social workers and policymakers) to share how MAP has impacted them and their communities. The MAP Impact Week was funded by the University of Lincoln…

My Hetauda Experience

Anjana Nagarkoti Anjana Nagarkoti, a youth researcher, shares her experience on how art-based learning methods can be an effective way to create social awareness among young people who want to learn and contribute to bringing change in their community. Here, she shares her 4-day research experience where she observed the learning style of the young…

The role of arts-based experience and cultural vitality for social transformation: reflections on MAP work

My attendance at the online MAP Social Impact event on March 30, 2023, was a random encounter—a chance invite from a colleague who suggested I’d be interested in the project. I’m a lecturer at the UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL Institute of Education (IOE), London, and I lead an MA in Digital Media: Education. My research…

Young women of Rwanda and Nepal, cycling in safe spaces, discussing, and challenging gender-based discriminatory proverbs

Principal Investigator – Picturing the past, present, and future in the imaginations, dreams and journeys taken by young women in Nepal and Rwanda This blog provides a brief discussion on how young women in Rwanda and Nepal have taken part in cycling journeys to safe spaces (Gayle et al. 2013) for their reflection and conversations…

Re-spinning cultural art forms: reflections from the Culture as Change webinar

Central to the Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) research project, is the exploration of how cultural art forms can catalyse, re-frame and generate alternative ways of knowing. This post explores some of the ways in which this is occurring in the MAP project….

Facing Heaven – Dēudā Folklore, Art & Peace in Nepal

Inception Fieldtrip May 2023 (With contributions & Translation from Dila Dat Pant) Introduction Funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) via a Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) commissioned project began this April, exploring the role of Nepalese Dēudā culture on local conflict issues, peace building and policies for sustainable peace in society. Dr…

Building our project team as an International Steering Group: Picturing the past, present, and future in the imaginations, dreams and journeys taken by young women in Nepal and Rwanda

MARLON LEE MONCRIEFFE, Principal Investigator, UK. NUB RAJ BHANDARI, Co-Investigator, Nepal. CHASTE UWIHOEYE, Co-Investigator, Rwanda. Introduction Our MAP team first started working together in Nepal through 2018-19 Changing The Story funded project “Examining Interpretations of Civil National Values made by Young People in Post-Conflict Settings (Kenya and Nepal)”. As well as this, we have worked…

Picturing the past, present, and future in the imaginations, dreams and journeys taken by young women in Nepal and Rwanda: An introduction

Introduction There is a synergy in the mission of both Janaki Women Awareness Society (Nepal) and Uyisenga Ni Imanzi (Rwanda) in that they exist as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for empowering the health, wellbeing and lives of women. Both organisations will work together on a unique international project that will apply the MAP philosophy of…

Allow me to return home: get more love, care, and support when I’m bleeding

Juhi Adhikari Youth Advisory Board member, Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) Participatory arts-based international research project in the UK, Rwanda, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, and Nepal. Credit: Problem Image, Shony Bhatta (anonymised), 14-year-old, Female, Nepal “Please allow me to return home; I’m scared to go to sleep with the cattle nearby. It’s just that I’m going through…

Adapting the Methods of the ‘Mobile Arts for Peace’ Project for the Psychosocial Assistance of Children and Youth in Ukraine

By Olga Ovcharuk  Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies and Intercultural Communications National Academy of Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts (Ukraine, Kyiv) Photo Credit: Tina Hartung, Unsplash Russia’s full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, began on February 24 2022, marked the beginning of the largest humanitarian catastrophe in Europe since the Second World War….

MAP Indonesia: Informing Youth Policy through Arts-based Methods

By Harla Octarra from Atma Jaya, Indonesia This short video shows the journey of how MAP young researchers collaborated with various stakeholders to gradually inform youth policy through research, creating art forms, and an audience with local government. Told from the perspectives of Ibnu, Indri, Haikel, and presented by Harla (as MAP Co-Investigator in Indonesia),…

Reflections: Musical Dialogue during the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) conference 2022

Two girls holding a banner

By Juhi Adhikari (19) Undergraduate Student at Tribhuvan University & MAP Nepal Youth Researcher Caption: MAP Nepal young researchers using participatory approaches (2022) Last year I was selected to join the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE 2022) in Mexico. I was the youngest participant among 50, all working on peace education, either as an…

Vice Chancellor Prof. Neal Juster delivers Welcome Speech at MAP ‘Gathering’ Conference

Vice Chancellor Prof. Neal Juster gave a welcome speech to over 40 delegates from Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Indonesia and Nepal alongside University of Lincoln colleagues amidst an exhibition of artworks from Phase One activities at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) as part of the MAP ‘Gathering’ Conference conducted at the University of Lincoln from 8-11 November 2022….

Manuals and toolkits: Capacity Building for Adults – Mariah Cannon

Author: Mariah Cannon – Institute of Development Studies Edition: Camilo Soler Caicedo Caption: Photo-collage workshop (An example of bottom-up engagement to inform adults) – 8th April 2021, Red Nose Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia   While it was heartening and inspiring to listen to the major successes of the Mobile Arts for Peace projects in their initial…

Experience of Curriculum Implementation in Palpa, Nepal – Tirtha Prasad Gautam

Author: Tirtha Prasad Gautam Focal teacher, Janapriya Child Club Janapriya Secondary School, Tansen Palpa Nepal Member of Curriculum Development Committee, Tansen Municipality, Palpa Edition: Camilo Soler Caicedo Caption: Activities in Palpa and Kanchanpur District Nepal is a beautiful mountainous country. The Himalayas are full of diversity as they are a combination of mountains and plains….