Berghof Foundation: 50 years of conflict transformation

Providing space
for innovation
The Berghof
Foundation
as grant-maker
1981–2015
To complement its own operational activities and
to explore new and innovative ideas, the Berghof
Foundation has for the majority of its existence also
acted as a grant-making institution that funded stateof-the-art
conflict transformation projects of other
organisations and individuals. The grant- making
programme — which was later complemented by
a two-year Georg Zundel scholarship programme
named in honour of the organisation’s founder —
allowed us to question our own assumptions and
tackle issues that we believed were of relevance to
the peacebuilding field.
After building numerous valuable partnerships and
providing a total of €35 million in funding for more
than 450 projects, both programmes were cancelled in
2015 to allow a stronger focus on our operational work.
For this book, we talked with one of our grantees,
Ram Bhandari. He received two research grants
for his work on transitional justice (2011-12) and for
a project with former child soldiers (2014-16) in his
native country Nepal. In the following interview,
Ram provides insights into how the grants made a
difference to his life and work.
You were an active peacebuilder long before you
worked with the Berghof Foundation. What was your
path into the field of peacebuilding?
I come from a family directly victimized
by forced disappearances. I have suffered
imprisonment, threats and physical abuse as a result
of my activism against the authorities responsible
for the disappearance of my father during the armed
conflict. During my time as a student and later as an
activist I went through many legal battles trying to
find out what happened to him. In 2005, and with no
news about the fate of my father, I met other families
in a similar situation during my battles in courts and
in the streets during public protests. I was convinced
that we could achieve more if we all worked together.
I started in my home town Lamjung, where I built
a small network of families and established a
community radio station. Radio was a powerful
tool to convey our message into rural villages as
most people were illiterate. Back in Kathmandu in
2009, I then formed a national network of families
of the disappeared (NEFAD) to advance a victim-led
transitional justice advocacy.
How did you get in touch with the Berghof Foundation?
Because I was pushing for change, justice
and accountability, I received many threats from the
security forces. In 2010, I decided to leave Nepal and
study abroad, first in Italy and then at the University
of Hamburg, where I met the former Executive
Director of the Berghof Foundation, Professor Hans
J. Giessmann, who supervised my thesis. It was
through this study programme that I got to know
the Berghof Foundation and its approach to conflict
transformation through action research. After
my return to Nepal, I successfully applied for two
research grants.
What were you able to achieve with the grants?
The first grant in 2011 allowed me to expand
the work I did prior to leaving Nepal. We worked
with associations that represented the families of
the disappeared. We supported their mobilisation
efforts by providing them with training in leadership
skills and with the necessary equipment to conduct
research themselves, which allowed us to conduct
around 300 interviews and produce a written report
in English and Nepali. A large-scale launch event
in Kathmandu and other dissemination activities
helped connect the local activists with high-level
policy makers such as the Minister for Peace and
Reconstruction, parliamentarians, political leaders,
civil society actors, donors, and embassies. This
generated a real space for dialogue and partnership.
The network is still active today and enabled the
emergence of local leaders who are still engaged in
their community.
We are now planning to form an international
network led by victims and survivors. We are wellconnected
with grassroots movements around the
world who want to represent and claim their rights
themselves. In January 2020, we organised a big
meeting in The Hague to set up the International
Network of Victims and Survivors of Serious Human
Rights Abuses (INOVAS), which we aim to launch with
partners in more than ten countries. I have high hopes
that being part of international advocacy will benefit
our local Nepalese members as well.
How did the grants influence your own work and
life trajectory?
The grants supported me on my path
to become the grassroots peacebuilder and
advocate for justice that I am today both locally and
internationally. They have allowed me to use my
nonviolent local activism to shape a policy dialogue
on the national level and to change the system of
transitional justice in Nepal.
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