Arms for Arms

http://peacemedia.usip.org/resource/arms-arms-%E2%80%93-un-action

The Arms for Arms program is a unique recycling project, one that turns decommissioned weapons into prosthetic limbs for victims of conflict. This video tells the story of Elba Garcia, a Nicaraguan woman who lost an arm when she was caught in crossfire between Sandinistas and Contras.

Analysis: http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/profiles/blog/show?id=780588%3ABlogPost%3A748843&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post

What is perhaps most appealing about the Arms for Arms project – aside from the obvious benefit of helping people in need of Prosthetics – is its ingenuity. As it turns out, weapons are a great source of expensive and hard-to-manufacture metal parts that are essential for prosthetic limbs. Thus, the program is a sort of three birds, one stone accomplishment. Weapons are eliminated, prosthetics are given to those who need them, and the recycling of parts avoids the otherwise expensive process of creating new ones.



While this video is not a thorough analysis of conflict in and around Honduras and Nicaragua, nor is it free from institutional bias and organizational promotion (the U.N.), it does provide a solid example of how humanitarian interventions are becoming more innovative. Despite the troubling history of conflict in this particular region of Central America, the Arms for Arms project is a refreshing reminder that the weapons of war can indeed be transformed into instruments of peace.

Are you a square? Or a blob? (International Aid)

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In the international aid context, the squares of the future (donors and INGOs) must also focus on building their own skills to accompany and support blobs (local groups, community leaders, and grassroots initiatives), rather than overpower or co-opt them. A deeper understanding of the challenges blobs face in serving vulnerable families and communities in the developing word is key to unleashing their potential.
Squares continue to refer to the absorptive capacity needed to implement large-scale programs and as such, blobs are implicitly coerced to develop such capacities in order to gain access to squares’ resources. Instead, we need sound organizational development initiatives that will increase blobs’ responsiveness and resourcefulness, rather than distract them from their constituency. A new set of fundamental skills is necessary for those working in the square institutions–the ability and penchant to understand and work with blobs of any size or type can and should become a core capacity of squares.

http://www.how-matters.org/2012/07/03/squares-and-blobs/

No arms for Atrocoties