Rebuilding Damaged Communities: Support for Sustaining Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - Bangladesh Case Study Student Activities Teacher's Notes Overview This case study highlights the grass-roots aftermath of the 1997 Peace Accord between the Government of Bangladesh and the tribal Jumma peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in south-east Bangladesh. The struggle over indigenous rights and Government policy saw the exodus of tribal families as refugees from the region. With the establishment of a peace process in the region, international support was needed for these tribal families, displaced and marginalised through the conflict, to be able to return home. Through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Australia responded to assist this peace process. The provision of much needed food support, encouraged families to be confident to return home to begin the process of building new communities in peace. Level Middle secondary Objectives Students will: consider land and environment issues which threaten the peace process; explore and evaluate strategies to reduce the barriers to sustaining peace; develop values consistent with a commitment to redress disadvantage and promote peace. Links with nationally developed statements and profiles Studies of society and environment Place and Space - People and Places; Care or places Natural and Social Systems - Political and Legal Systems Investigation, Communication and Participation. Preparation multiple copies of case study seven overhead transparencies with pre-written titles seven overhead transparency pens. Procedure The class reads the case study. The teacher poses the following question for class discussion: How would the lack of access to basic food supply threaten the peace process in the CHT? Divide the class into seven groups. Explain that they will be investigating the land and environment issues which, if remaining unresolved, could directly and indirectly threaten the peace process in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Give each group an overhead transparency with one of the following ' Identified Barriers to Sustaining the Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts': Limited cultivation land available The land is not very arable for sustainable food cropping Generally, what the people eat is what they produce themselves Currently there is no title or ownership over the land Soil erosion and sustainable forest management The annual cycle of natural disasters. Invite each small group to discuss how this issue is a direct/indirect threat to peace in CHT. Identify strategies they would propose be undertaken. Groups select and list on their overhead transparency, their top two strategies for resolving or minimising the impact of the issue on the people of CHT. A representative is nominated by each group to present their views to the class. Each leader: explains how their land and environment issue could directly and indirectly threaten the peace process in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; presents their group's suggested top two strategies. As each group view is presented, the rest of the class notes and records the strategies so they accumulate a series of 14 strategies. Students use these notes to develop a written argument on 'Sustaining the Peace in the CHT.' Useful web links The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies contains a series of detailed reports on aid given and project status in the Chittagong Hill Tracts: http://www.ifrc.org Go directly to other pages - select 'Situation Reports' - select 1999 e.g. 17 Nov. 1999 Bangladesh Situation Report No.1 Ausralia's overseas aid agency's Country Briefing for Bangladesh: http://www.ausaid.gov.au * Further information and resources can be obtained from the Professional Development Providers. Top © Commonwealth of Australia