Enabling Local Ownership of Development 2010-2015

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 31 2016) include: (1) in the Philippines in part due to the long-term work of Likhaan new national legislation on reproductive health was enacted and new clinical tools to reduce infant mortality were established; (2) in Sudan in part due to the long-term efforts of Sudanese Organization for Research and Development and the Salmmah Women’s Resource Centres the President changed the Criminal Code which previously combined rape and adultery; (3) in India the Deccan Development Society negotiated a historic agreement with the Karnataka state government resulting in an incentive package for small-scale farmers to engage in biodiverse millet production; (4) in Guatemala the “Breaking the Silence and Impunity Alliance” (made up of the National Union of Guatemalan Women Women Transforming the World and Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team) worked together to support the women of the community of Sepur Zarco who suffered sexual slavery and rape during the country’s armed conflict in the 1980s. Each of the Alliance partners contributed in accordance with its own area of expertise (psychosocial awareness-raising and judicial). This strategy led to an important advance on the judicial front with the Guatemalan tribunals prioritizing the hearing of the women’s testimony due to their advanced age. A trial was heard in February and March 2016 – the first time such a case had been brought before national courts – and precedent-setting sentences handed out to the two accused both former high-level military officers; (5) in Colombia the “Project Counselling Service” was contracted by the City of Bogota and held 15 workshops in 2015 to develop a public policy in support of disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants. Over 400 people participated including ex-combatants from other countries who had been through reintegration as well as representatives of organizations with experi