Restorative Justice in Mozambique

Since its inception, VARJ has offered its members the opportunity to receive grant funding and access volunteers for projects whose ideas align with our organisation’s goals of making restorative justice more accessible.
Although VARJ continues to be primarily focused on restorative justice education and support in the City of Vancouver, we will always support the interests of our board members as our capacity allows. VARJ’s connection with the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) is an excellent example of this.

Through his involvement with CUSO and The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), long-time board member Dr Frank Tester was touched by the work of the CCM with regards to their peace initiative to trade civilians’ arms with development tools. These weapons were donated to artists who transformed them into sculptures. Click here to read the piece he authored on the subject. 

Frank was moved by the CCM’s interest in promoting peaceful communities, and was inspired to help in any way he could. With a grant from the Canadian High Commission to focus on bringing restorative justice education and nonviolent communication tools to women, youth, and those committed to supporting the accessibility of these skills, Frank and fellow VARJ board member Evelyn Zellerer were afforded the opportunity to travel to Mozambique. Both being experienced restorative justice practitioners, they were able to offer 2 circle-based workshops.
The goal was to open conversations for different methods of conflict resolution and community healing by holding both a peace circle and providing an introduction to restorative justice training. Mozambique’s justice system, being overwhelmed, was a driving factor for the connection formed between the CCM and Frank’s initiative, as it was understood that having an introduction to restorative justice practises would provide a stepping stone for the CCM - and any individuals who were able to attend the workshops - to continue their pursuit for offering more peaceful solutions to how conflict is handled in their communities. 

For more information on their personal experiences with this project, please feel free to contact us to be connected with Frank and Evelyn.

While this project was conducted with the collaboration and organisational assistance of the CCM, VARJ is in no other way associated with the CCM nor do we claim to be specifically supportive of their work or beliefs. VARJ is a non-religious non-profit and we did not participate or advocate for Christianity in any of our workshops or communications.