Strengthening Communities for Peace

In December 1998, Leitana Nehan developed a proposal for their first large project for community peace-building on Bougainville, to be funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The proposal was revised and resubmitted to AusAID in September 1999 as a project entitled 'Strengthening Communities for Peace (SCP). Leitana Nehan was sponsored in this enterprise by the International Women's Development Agency (IWDA), based in Melbourne, Australia, with which it had worked in the past (see Chapters 2 and 3), and was to be a partner in the project. The project was funded as part of AusAID's Bougainville Reconstruction Program. In accordance with Leitana Nehan's constitution, the project focused on the organisation's main goals, namely, to create a less violent and more peaceful Bougainville, placing specific emphasis on combating violence against women and promoting women's rights. Phase 1 of the SCP project was funded for two years, and launched by the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Nick Warner, on 24 February 2000.