A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Anne Finnan and the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP)

Anne Finnan is a graduate student in the International Political and Economy Development (IPED) program at Fordham University, Bronx, NY. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served as a Community Development Worker in Nepal from 2000-2002. She is very familiar with the Nepali culture and language and is excited to start working with COCAP. Between her Peace Corps committment and graduate studies, Anne worked with Project Self Sufficiency, a non-profit in her home town. Project Self-Sufficiency works with displaced, single and young parents. Anne's clientele included young, single moms struggling to care for their children and themselves. Anne wishes to continue to work in the nonprofit sector after graduation in December 2005.

Established in 2001, the Collective Campaign for Peace  is a relatively new network that coordinates the efforts of over forty grassroots and community groups in Nepal. Many members of COCAP operate in regions of the country that have suffered badly from the conflict between the central government and the Maoist insurgency, an ongoing war which has claimed the lives of thousands of Nepalis.

While all COCAP members are building peace, much of their activity is oriented around human rights issues. One group works on behalf of the so-called untouchables—members of the lowest caste in Nepal—and another on torture and disappearances. Several are engaged in campaigns for women’s rights. All of the organizations must work in an environment where severe human rights abuses are rampant, human rights defenders are persecuted, jailed, tortured and threatened, and women are universally marginalized, disenfranchised, and degraded.

During the summer, Anne’s ability to speak English proved valuable to COCAP. Her time was divided between writing, editing, and translating the six-month report for November 2004-May 2005, and the annual report for all of 2004. She was also involved in a variety of other activities, which allowed her, among other things, to act as a human rights monitor at a Peace Rally and to participate in the General Assembly, an important event that facilitates information sharing between COCAP’s members.

Since the dissemination of information is vital to the success of COCAP and its members, the network has established the Peace Resource Center in Katmandu. Procuring resources for the center is sometimes difficult for COCAP, which has a limited budget; making information available to members outside the immediate Katmandu area has also posed some problems. With a tremendous volunteer base on which to draw, and international support from organizations like AP, however, COCAP is making significant gains in their ability to exchange information.

While in Nepal, Anne posted reports online in the form of blogs. Her entries include observations about the lasting effects of the dissolution of the Nepali parliament when the king seized control of the government in 2002, a discussion she had with a Nepalese man that revealed the pervasiveness of discrimination in Nepal, and the triumphs and challenges of COCAP, her host organization.

• Anne Finnan's blog