CASA (Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action) is a Non Government Organisation, which has been working for the upliftment of the society in India since 1947.

Ten members of CASA staff lead by Mr. Suresh Sathpathy and two staff from their partners spent 8 days in Nepal learning about UMN’s Conflict Transformation programme. The staff came from the 4 regions of India where CASA work. While peace work is not a central part of CASA’s work there is a need for their development programmes to support increased community cohesion in India’s diverse society.

The Nepal programme included presentations in Kathmandu both from UMN staff, and the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, as well as a  meeting with  AIN staff and the chairman of their peace working group.
In addition 6 of the group visited Dhading and 6 went to Rupandehi.  In these clusters they met the cluster teams and the Conflict Transformation officer introduced them to partners and the various Conflict Transformation programmes. This included the interfaith peace programme in Kapilbastu and work to provide water for marginalized people in Rupandehi and the mediation work and forgiveness programme in Dhading. The group also learned about UMN’s commitment to Doing No Harm while doing development work and the Safe and Effective Development in Conflict programme for all cluster staff.