Yakjah Peace builders participate in International Convention in Colombia

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network 7 peace builders working on the ‘Culture and Conflict’ project, one of the 39 projects across 6 primary streams of Gender, Justice and Security Hub by the London School of Economics participated in the third Convention held by the Hub from July 15-22, 2023 in Colombia.
The Convention brought together practitioners and academicians including researchers, scholars, professors, Deans and NGOs to deliberate on feminist approaches for global contemporary development challenges, structural violence and various crises raging worldwide.
Speaking at the Convention, Yakjah researchers in a joint session on ‘Reflections; Research, Practice and Ethics’ shared their insights from their project involving 23 women artisans from Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharing their personal stories of stepping into the craft ecosystem, Anamika Bharti from Jammu and Urzeeba Bhat from Kashmir highlighted how design innovation training of the women artisans was a transformative experience for them.
Aamir Ganie, Yakjah’s communication and design lead in the project presented the similarities women artisans have like the challenges of patriarchal structures and resilience.
Akshay Kumar Sharma, Yakjah’s strategic and policy lead spoke about the critical value of building strategic partnerships and networks.
Tanya Bhat and Zakir Hussain shared a policy perspective urging for adopting feminist approaches to achieving development goals.
Concluding the presentation Zakir spoke about the inter-personal dynamics of the Yakjah researchers.
Ashima Kaul, Founder of Yakjah, leading the project in India, summed up the project goals as those aligned with the national policies.