51吃瓜

Meet Elizabeth Turner,
Coordinator of the Peacebuilding Fund Secretariat in Guatemala.

About myself -?I am Australian, but a resident of Guatemala for many years, and since 2017 I have been the Coordinator of the Peacebuilding Fund Secretariat in Guatemala.

My work?at the Peacebuilding Fund in Guatemala -?These days, we are currently in the process of finalizing the conflict analysis and PBF eligibility request for Guatemala, identifying strategic areas and key strategies for continuing PBF?s contribution to building peace here.

Changes during the?time of the corona virus -?Many project activities within our portfolio of seven peacebuilding projects have been affected over the past seven?weeks by measures being implemented in response to the COVID-19 crisis: for example, the prohibition or limitation of meetings and gatherings and travel between Departments, a 4 pm to 4 am curfew, as well the cancellation of public transportation have all meant that many meetings, workshops, visits, and missions have had to be canceled.? The projects are adapting and exploring how to continue to maintain contact with their project partners and move as many activities as possible to a virtual format as many institutions have been closed or partially closed.

My daily routine in the time of the Corona virus -?For the past seven?weeks I have been working from home, my husband also, and our two daughters, Isabel, 12, and Nina 8 are home-schooling. We live in a condominium in Guatemala City, where thankfully it is peaceful and quiet and we have lots of nature around.

These days, I think we are coping pretty well; we have our ups and downs with it, like everyone I imagine and I do get tired. My husband and I take turns supervising the girls? schooling. I get to focus exclusively on my work during the morning, and he has this time in the afternoons. At midday, we cook lunch and clean up together, and at 3.30 pm every day we all go out for a bike ride as a family so that we can be back by the 4 pm curfew.

How do I?find ‘peace’ in these uncertain times? I am finding peace in daily routines, and on just focusing completely on my current task, whatever it is, and however insignificant it may seem. It stops the mind wandering into the future, or into worrying.

The Peacebuilding Fund in Guatemala ?

Guatemala was declared eligible to receive funding from PBF in 2010, in recognition of the need to strengthen capacities to progress implementation of pending commitments from the Peace Accords, which ended Guatemala?s 36-year civil war in 1996.? Since 2011, PBF has supported two phases of peacebuilding work, and over $30 million in funding, with a focus on issues such as strengthening the Rule of Law and via institutions and civil society in the security, justice and transitional justice areas, promoting dialogue and a focus on human rights in addressing social conflicts, empowering the participation of women in peacebuilding and seeking justice and transformative reparations for sexual and gender-based violence, as well as the protection and reintegration of migrants in the northern triangle of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The PBF Secretariat in Guatemala is currently finalizing a conflict analysis and proposal for a new phase of support.

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