Update on China Risk Management Program 

Plowshares’ international programs have included China since our founding in 1981. Our long and positive relationships are captured in a phrase frequently voiced by Chinese hosts, “Alice and Bob Evans are long time friends of China.”

In recent years, these Sino-American relationships have been strengthened through a strong partnership with Civic Exchange in Hong Kong and warm friendships with representatives of the churches in China; Amity Foundation; Chinese Academies of Social Sciences in Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai; and, more recently, the Ministry of State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA).

In the fall of 2008, several of these Chinese colleagues urged Plowshares to build on these relationships by introducing to China training workshops in “Peace Skills” similar to those which Plowshares has conducted throughout the world.  Adapting skills of analysis, constructive intervention, deep listening and joint problem solving to a Chinese context led Plowshares and our hosts to identify this emerging program as “Risk Management for a Harmonious Society.”  After visits to Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing in 2008 and 2009, my wife Alice and I agreed to work with these colleagues in capacity building for a sustainable, harmonious society through a series of training workshops over the next few years. A third member of our team is Ms YanYan Yip, Chief Operating Officer of Civic Exchange in Hong Kong.

Changing Landscape: Mainland China is currently experiencing a significant increase of social conflicts. These are illustrated by land disputes, disagreements about relief and development priorities, air and water pollution, frustration with bureaucracy and corruption, and unemployment for workers and graduating university students related to the global economic crisis. Underlying all of these issues is a growing gap between the rich and poor. Researchers at the Institute of Rural Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences underscored these challenges in a research document published in August 2008: “… in a time with so much social conflict, little contradictions can trigger mass unrest, affecting the whole society.  If such incidences cannot be solved properly, both the society and the whole country will pay a heavy price.” [Policy Forum Online 08-065A: August 26th, 2008 “China Civil Society Report: Mass Incidents in China,” Yu Jianrong and Yu Debao]

Plowshares’ Chinese colleagues agree that community, government, academic and religious leaders need to be equipped with additional skills of facilitation and what they call social  “risk management.” The training workshops will draw on Plowshares’ many years of experience in Hong Kong with several governmental and non-governmental organizations in addition to extensive international training for multi-sector leaders in the USA, South Africa, Latin American and Indonesia.

Emerging Workshops. The Plowshares team conducted a one-day “sample” workshop in Nanjing this past March.  Anticipating 30 participants, we found 65 gathered in the classroom on Saturday morning. Participants included members of the university faculty, graduate students, staff and field workers from Amity Foundation, representatives of the Nanjing municipal government, senior trade union representative, a professor from the forest police academy, and members of social organizations such as the General Secretary and board members of the Nanjing YMCA.

The majority of participants affirmed their desire to continue with additional skill training, and Plowshares and our Nanjing hosts are already planning a more intensive four-day workshop in October. Following the successful March workshop, we met with additional colleagues in Beijing and Shanghai, where we conducted an introductory workshop at Shanghai Normal University. We found strong interest in both cities for hosting capacity building workshops in the months and years to come.

Challenges Ahead:  Plowshares faces a number of challenges in undertaking this program. We have begun a process not only to translate our basic Peace Skills curriculum into Chinese, but to adapt this material for a Chinese context. We are working with translators to identify Chinese symbols for English terms, Chinese examples for concepts, and exchanging the Western and African case studies -which are central to the workshop methodology- for new cases from Mainland China. Plowshares staff members are also aware that highly participative teaching styles are new and often uncomfortable for many Chinese participants. This calls for creative course design and adapting many teaching approaches to meet the needs and expectations of this audience.

The energy, enthusiasm and cooperation of our Chinese colleagues have already lessened the weight of these challenges. With support from staff members of the Amity Foundation, the social service arm of the Church in China, the Plowshares team was able to use the March visit to identify potential case studies and interview social workers, development personnel and pastors for four potential case studies for future workshops and the Peace Skills leaders' guide. Skilled multi-lingual university professors have volunteered their expertise to review the emerging translation, and thoughtful insights from a Chinese Program Advisory Group are leading to fresh cross-cultural teaching approaches more appropriate for a mainland Chinese audience. Probably most important to the Plowshares team is the hospitality of our Chinese hosts and their strong support for this emerging program.

Plowshares has the good fortune of having several significant donors who are interested in supporting this “Risk Management for a Harmonious Society” project in China. We invite others in our Plowshares network, through the enclosed development request, to join us in this important project in the world's largest and one of the most rapidly changing societies in the world. Constructive and peaceful Chinese-American relations are crucial for both recovering from the current economic crisis and building a partnership for the global community and our environment.

For a more detailed description of the March 2009 visit:

in English,  click here
in Mandarin, click here

For background on this program, please click here

Click to read in Mandarin
Click to read in simplified characters