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Salzburg Global Fellow Anju Jha on peacebuilding, equity, and her experience in the Asia Peace Innovators Forum
This interview was conducted prior to Salzburg Global's Asia Peace Innovators Forum in-person program in June 2023.
Anju Jha, a Fellow of Salzburg Global’s Asia Peace Innovators Forum, is the president and chair of Mandwi, a nonprofit organization in Nepal implementing diverse projects and advocating for policy change to ensure an equitable society. She has been involved in conflict mitigation and mediation as well as humanitarian and development work for 16 years across many organizations. She is particularly passionate about finding radical solutions to address growing social conflicts among communities and inside families.
Sadaf Taimur, Salzburg Global Impact Fellow: Tell us more about what you're currently working on. How is your work related to peacebuilding?
Anju Jha: I have been working in NGOs and the development sector since 2005. In 2014, I established an NGO, Mandwi. We are working on conflict mitigation, disaster management, education, livelihood, and more. The core theme is conflict mitigation. We are working to mitigate conflict; it means peace in society. In Nepal, we have different kinds of disputes. We have had ten years of insurgency inside the kingdom. More than 25,000 people were killed by the state and by armed groups. Youth, women, and the poor and vulnerable often don’t have access to justice in our society due to money. We focus on peace for them. Vulnerable communities cannot access the judiciary, so we are working on a quasi-judiciary to get justice to their doors. In this model, there is mediation, arbitration, and facilitation. We work with most groups, sometimes the rebel and arms groups, to make them come to the peace process. This is our approach to bring peace to our society.
ST: Why did you decide to join the Asia Peace Innovators Forum?
AJ: The name attracted me. My friends have attended this forum and suggested the sector I work in. The forum will give me different flavors to learn – not guidelines, but flavors. The ways are different, but everywhere, people are working for peace. Different places have different types of conflicts. I think this forum will give me a platform for sharing experiences and knowledge with other people, which will enable me to elaborate on my expertise as well. That is my motivation for joining.
ST: What are you hoping to experience through this program?
AJ: Sometimes, one needs to gain experience from others. Through this platform, I hope to obtain the opportunity to learn from the shared experiences of other countries. Different countries are participating there; meeting people from different countries is an opportunity. I think I will gain access to different types of forums after this. I will be able to build a network that will expand my expertise. The peace perspectives gained from this forum will enable me to apply them in cases of disputes. Sometimes we have disputes between people and the government, such as the construction of roads. While the government will want to build a big road, society does not want to vandalize their houses. We need to facilitate a conversation in this case to enable a common solution rather than watch the situation aggravate. So, I think getting different types of expertise from different people and the opportunity to gain access to other forums in the future are my expectations from this experience.
Since coming to Salzburg in June 2023, Anju has been working alongside other Salzburg Global Fellows on a project titled “Promotion of Communal Harmony in Rautahat, Nepal”.