Strategic Plan

Introduction

War Resisters' International began a strategic planning process in 1995 in order to become more effective at what we do. By WRI we mean the organization in its own right as well as our Affiliates. The purpose of having such a plan is to be clear about the goals WRI should be working towards, define our priorities and inspire us to carry out the spirit of the WRI declaration above.

The development of a Strategic Plan can best be described as the process of asking four basic questions:

• What is WRI's purpose?


• Where are we now, in relation to our purpose


• Where do we want to be, what are our goals?


• How do we get from here to there?

WRI Council members Ellen Elster and Joanne Sheehan agreed to coordinate the process. A number of methods were used to answer the four questions - questionnaires to WRI affiliates, discussions at the 1995, 1996 and 1997 Council meetings, consultate the Executive Committee throughout the process. It has been a participatory process, giving an opportunity for the whole WRI network to be involved.

This document contains various parts. During the strategic planning process we saw the need of revising the WRI Statement of Principles. It was accepted by consensus at the 1997 Council meeting. A Statement of Functions was written to clarify what WRI does. Goals and Objectives for the next three to six were developed.

Statement of Principles

by the WRI Council in Carmaux, France, June 1997

War Resisters' International is a worldwide network of independent organisations, groups and individuals who all accept the WRI declaration: War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war, and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.

It exists to promote nonviolent action against the causes of war, and to support and connect people around the world who refuse to take part in war or the preparation of war. On this basis, it works for a world without war. WRI membership is open to all those who accept the WRI Declaration.

WRI embraces nonviolence. For some, nonviolence is a way of life. For all of us, it is a form of action that affirms life, speaks out against oppression, and acknowledges the value of each person. Nonviolence can combine active resistance, including civil disobedience, with dialogue; it can combine non-cooperation -- withdrawal of support from a system of oppression -- with constructive work to build alternatives. As a way of engaging in conflict, sometimes nonviolence attempts to bring reconciliation with it: strengthening the social fabric, empowering those at the bottom of society, and including people from different sides in seeking a solution. Even when such aims cannot immediately be achieved, our nonviolence holds us firm in our determination not to destroy other people.

War is an avoidable form of organised violence. However, its roots go deep. WRI seeks to address these roots, including by changing processes of socialisation, and by transforming the patterns of domination that affect every aspect of life, both within society and between societies. Domination is found in the oppression of the less powerful and in the subjugation of nature iself; relationships of domination can be based on factors such as gender, class, cultural and ethnic differences, and exist between and within nation-states. The preparations for war are not confined to armed forces, they can be found throughout cultures. It is not just the soldiers and politicians who are responsible, but also those who give their consent and cooperation. It is not just those who seek satisfaction through gaining power over others or through accumulating possessions, but also those who define their own identity by demonising the Other, whether in the name of religion, ideology, or nation.

WRI recognises and opposes global injustice and the role played by the military in causing and maintaining such injustice. When WRI was formed in 1921, it was European based and much of the world was still colonised. Since then, exploitation has been continued through economic, political and military structures; through the actions of states and corporations in the industrialised and materially rich world; and through the actions of post-colonial states themselves. The pattern of economic exploitation has led not only to grave inequality and injustice -- within and between societies -- but also to environmental destruction. This is backed up by military force, with the active cooperation of, and often direct involvement by, former-colonial regimes and other dominant states. Our resistance to this use of military force - and to the preparation for it and to the social militarisation accompanying it - goes hand in hand with active resistance to the unjust systems in which it plays a part.

Addressing the causes of war requires a commitment to social transformation. WRI seeks to join with others in building a world based not on fear of military might, nor on domination and hierarchy, but based on relationships of equality, where basic human needs are fulfilled, where women and men have an equal voice, different cultures and ethnic groups are accepted by one another, borders do not divide, and the natural environment is respected. We work to build societies where everyone can have a say in the decisions that affect them and where collective responsibility and voluntary cooperation replace imposition.

WRI will never endorse any kind of war, whether that war is waged by a state, by a "liberation army", or under the auspices of the United Nations, or whether it is called humanitarian military intervention. Wars, however noble the rhetoric, invariably are used to serve some power-political or economic interest. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that certain situations pose a problem of conscience: episodes such as armed resistance to Fascism or to genocide, or armed struggle for liberation from oppressive or externally-imposed regimes. Each conflict merits analysis. While we unite in opposing the militarist policies and the oppressive structures leading to these situations, and in developing nonviolent forms of solidarity, in such situations we are aware of the limits to what our approach offers in the short term. Therefore, we take a long-term view. We know where war leads - to suffering and destruction, to rape and organised crime, to betrayal of values and to new structures of domination. And so we reject it, acting upon our commitment to create a better way.

WRI's "No" to war is intended to break the cycle of violence. In the grimmest situation we insist on looking at what resources are available for nonviolent action and on identifying how, and with what groups, nonviolent action might contribute to reducing the violence. We maintain our commitment to work through nonviolence because we are convinced that the means we use will shape the ends we achieve, and we know that violence and war have their own logic: that violence tends to bring out the worst in people, and that warfare cannot tackle the roots of war and tends to fuel future conflict.

WRI members engage in a wide range of nonviolent actions. Each person in WRI makes a personal commitment, but at the same time looks for ways in which this commitment can take a collective form. WRI groups have often been best known for resistance to military service or war taxes, campaigning against arms production and the arms trade, or working in solidarity with pacifists in a war situation. But groups may also carry out projects of psychic and physical reconstruction during and after wars, facilitate dialogue among groups in conflict, or promote small-scale community economic development. Behind all these strategies is the basic theme of the need to build a peace culture: a culture that carries a global and holistic consciousness, connecting how we live and the decisions we make with the impact this has on others; a culture that questions militarist, racist and patriarchal values, and that includes the perspectives of those who have been marginalised; a culture that values diversity; a culture that fosters a sense of responsibility about the world and finds appropriate expressions for this locally; and a culture that deals with conflict in a different way, seeking its transformation by nonviolent means. In this, the WRI Declaration is an important first step.

Long Term Goals

1. Promote nonviolence

Nonviolence for WRI means a form of action that affirms life, speaks out against oppression, and acknowledges the value of each person. Promote, first in the informational sense of spreading awareness of nonviolent strategies and of the existence of nonviolent groups and campaigns. Second in an analytical sense of taking nonviolence seriously, recognising the achievements and limits of nonviolent strategies and the conditions conducive for effectiveness. Third, in an organisational sense, organising, helping to organise or stimulating nonviolent action projects with an international dimension.

2. Promote antimilitarism

Antimilitarism for WRI means not supporting any kind of war and striving for the removal of all causes of war, which includes opposing global injustice and the role played by the military in causing and maintaining such injustice. Promote by connecting groups working on related issues, by offering a continual analysis of the changing shape of militarism, and supporting and encouraging all those to cooperate with militarism.

Statement of Purpose:

To support and connect war resisters around the world, and to promote nonviolent action against all causes of war.

Strategies used by WRI - Statement of Function

War Resisters' International is primarily a global network of organisations, groups and individuals set up so that war resisters could support each other more effectively and to promote nonviolent action against militarism and the causes of war. WRI is an organisation in its own right as well. WRI has a programme; it initiates action and campaigns; it promotes nonviolence as a mean of social transformation; and it supports organisations and individuals. WRI serves as a political forum to facilitate global discourse on topics such as new forms of conflict. WRI provides a platform for people who value independent thinking, base their actions on nonviolence, and feel personally responsible for their own action.

Functions

Linking people together: WRI set out to link together people committed to its principles. By organising conferences and other events, by publishing magazines, pamphlets and books, and by providing information by computer, WRI brings people in contact with each other.

Initiating campaigns and action projects: WRI offers an international perspective on issues. Promoting and coordinating actions or projects at an international level, nonviolence lies at the heart of every action and campaign. WRI seeks to create a stable base for any action project it initiates by involving other organisations, groups and individuals who can then carry through the project, recognising the importance of local support.

Support actions: WRI supports organisations, groups and individuals addressing the causes of war and refusing to support any kind of war. This support takes various forms, depending on means and circumstances. The Prisoners for Peace list, attending trials, organising speaking tours, and fundraising for specific campaigns are examples of this work.

Promotion and public education: WRI promotes nonviolence as a means of social transformation. By organising study conferences, publishing articles and books, and by stimulating discussions, WRI sets out to deepen the thinking about nonviolence and analysis from the point of view of nonviolence.

Where are we now?

In order to operate these functions, WRI has many components.The chart shows the relationship between these components. In addition, WRI has many resourses which support its functioning:

• Office in London


• WRI's publication Broken Rifle
• Sections' and Associates' magazines


• Conferences


• Electronic communications

Each of these components and resources have their strengths and weaknesses. WRI faces many challenges as we work to improve how we function in order to reach our goals. The office in London represents an important tool for WRI which serves every elements of its structure.

With a very few permanent staff, more initiatives from outside the "central circles" of the organisation are needed.

As we began the Strategic Planning process, we asked the affiliates to identify WRI's strengths and weaknesses:

What is WRI doing well? - WRI's strengths:

• NETWORKING
  
  
  • ensure links and connections between sections, individuals, other organisations through conferences, journals, conveying information etc.
  
  
  • support to groups and individuals in difficult situations
  
  
  • communicating ideology, attitudes, information, debates, methods on antimilitarism and nonviolence
  
  
  • facilitating the participation of people who wants to be included in this network
  
  
  • about to move out of the Western world towards greater culture diversity
  
  
  
  


• SUPPORT AND COORDINATION
  
  
  
  • CO-work and work on asylum seekers
  • Alert actions when needed
  
  
  • Support to newly started groups
  
  
  • Coordination of projects and in particular Balkan Peace Team
  
  
  
  


• GENDER-PERSPECTIVE
  
  
  
  • A willingness to see its program in perspective of gender, ahead of many other organisations organising both men and women.
  
  
  
  

What are WRI's weaknesses?

• members are too spread around regionally and internationally


• much work for few activists


• lack the power to influence macro political events and tendencies, and more an internal platform for its members


• little access to media


• little money, too few people


• some sections have difficulties accepting feminist perspective


• unclear aims and cooperation, too academic, too little theoritical


• involved in too many items with limited capacity and unclear aims
• uncoordinated tasks


• language problems


• lack of financial income, increasing costs


• Working Groups have difficulties functioning

Situation today

In general we see a decline in the peace-movement. This has an effect on WRI both regionally and internationally. WRI has done CO work since it began in 1921. WRI's strongest base has been in Western Europe and North America. However, as conscription is being abolished there, we see the activities of Sections changing or ceasing to exist. There is new interest in CO work in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa, with groups connecting with WRI as an important resource. This situation presents a number of challenges which we try to address in this Strategic Plan. As we work to become more international, we are aware that we face cultural barriers, different understanding and thinking, which also reflect the way different regions are working. We also recognize our common concerns and shared hopes.

Goals and objectives

Introduction to the three year programme

Describing our strategic plan, we use the following concepts:

Programme Goals describe what WRI plans to accomplish with respect to our communities and the world. How we want to change things beyond our organisation (what we will do).

Organisational Goals describe what WRI intends to accomplish internally as an organisation. How we want to change things within WRI (how you do things, which includes structure and constitution of WRI).

Outreach Goals describe reaching out to groups within WRI and beyond. Who do we want to work with (outreach to expand WRI, and to others).

Underlying Objectives reflect a commitment to further develop certain principles as we work towards our goals. These objectives are fundamental to all the goals.

These goals and objectives are based on the Statement of Principles.We recognize the interconnections of these goals and objectives. They reinforce each other. For example, having an exciting programme makes it easier to raise funds and promote WRI. Our commitment to objectives such as "developing WRI to be truly global" and "integrate a gender perspective into WRI's antimilitaristic work, drawing from different cultures and traditions" strengthens our outreach and programme and our goals are made more possible by our commitment to these objectives.

These are poposed goals, with program proposals for the next three years, until the next Triennial meeting in year 2001. More specific details (including timelines and fundraising plans) on how we will accomplish these goals will be coordinated by the Executive Committee, working with the Council, staff, Affiliates, Working Groups and individuals and committees working on specific projects. At the next Triennial in 3 years we will re-examine our goals in light of the work we have done, and revise the program plan to reach those goals in the following three years. WRI will continue to update and revise its Strategic Plan throughout the years to come.

A good strategic plan must be feasible, with goals that are realistic. It must be measurable, with specific goals. It should be flexible, so that if it is not working we can amend it. A good plan generates something to work for that will make a difference. This is not a manual for what each of us must do. Rather it is meant to be the map of what WRI as a whole wants to do in the coming years. Each affiliate and each member then has to choose where to put their effort in order for us to reach our common goals.

1. PROGRAMME GOALS

1) Promote nonviolence

A. Increased understanding of nonviolent social empowerment.

WRI will engage in a process of reflection in order to deepen our understanding of nonviolence and empowerment and to implant the discussion more firmly into WRI's work. Empowerment refers to a process of restructuring power from the bottom, encouraging people to assert themselves as active citizens to influence change. Beginning with our own groups and extending to include a broader range of experience and context, we will evaluate our activity in terms of personal, group and social empowerment leading to social transformation. We will develop a better understanding of the role of nonviolence training in promoting nonviolence.

How: Theme Group at the Triennial 1998, reflection among Affiliates, analysis of WRI's own activity, regional and local seminars, conference in 1999. We will work for a more effective exchange between nonviolence trainers. Follow-up will include publications (i.e. resources on tools to analyse, documentation compiled and agendas for seminars), and further suggestions on how this theme can be incorporated into WRI's work. IFOR's Women Peacemakers' Project will also give us insight as a program addressing nonviolent empowerment of women.

Who: Project Group on the Nonviolence and Social Empowerment Project; Women's Working Group's members and other WRI women active with the IFOR Women Peacemakers' Project, Nonviolence Training Working Group and Nonviolence Trainers.

2) Promote antimilitarism

B. CO work expanded into broader antimilitarism work.

CO will be discussed more in terms of nonviolent action strategy, eg making a collective stand from a personal decision, building a social base, empowerment strategies, unilateral disarmament at the personal level. Antimilitarism will be presented as a lifelong commitment. Objection will be connected with non-cooperation in a wider perspective. We will raise the visibility of a nonviolent analysis of militarism.

How: Encourage discussion throughout WRI. Produce and distribute series of information leaflets dealing with topics, such as Women and Nonviolence and Nonviolent Social Defence. Build on past WRI work including the 1987 conference "Refusing War Preparations" (also known as "Broadening the definition of CO"), and the 1991 Triennial Theme Group "Nonviolent Strategy and People's Movements". This goal is related to many of the other goals which follow, as well as to promoting nonviolence.

Who: Affiliates, Working Groups in cooperation with the Executive, Council and Office.

C. CO-work continued

WRI reaffirms our commitment to supporting CO work and resistance to military service as an integral part of WRI's philosophy. While CO becomes less of an issue in some countries with the professionalization of armies, we recognize that on a global scale CO has become more significant.

How: Continuation of CONCODOC project updating the information and developing a system of subscription for "Refusing to Bear Arms". Continue to maintain and disseminate up to date informaiton on issues around conscription and support individual CO's and resisters.

Who: Office, Affiliates

D. New strategies developed as armies become professionalized

Strategies to oppose professionalization and modernization of armies, new roles of armies (such as rapid deployment and intervention) and military blocs such as NATO will be developed and implemented into action.

How: Triennial Theme Group "Peace Action and the Modernization of the Military" 1998 will make recommendations of developing common strategies and common campaigns.

Who: Office, Affiliates.

E. Nonviolent civilian intervention experiences analyzed.

WRI will deepen its understanding of nonviolent civilian intervention based on evaluation of past and present experiences.

How: WRI will create opportunites to better understand the work of its member groups already engaged in developing projects. WRI will engage in consultation with other groups dealing with this issue as well. Participate in BPT's evaluation, and continue cooperation with PBI. Learn from IFOR's Women Peacemakers' Project on experiences from "Women Cross the Lines". Identify and use other existing resources.This analysis will feed into the discussions going on within and outside WRI.

Who: WRI's representative to the BPT and IFOR's Women Peacemakers'Project, Affiliates.

F. Work done on reconstruction and democratization analyzed.

Several affiliates have gone through war, conflicts and dictatorships. In the post-conflict situation they play/have played an important role in looking at ways of social healings and reconstruction taken into consideration the cause of the conflict to find a just basis for future peace. WRI will analyse the experiences and have a networking function in connecting different groups together.

How: Theme Group at the Triennial 1998 will analyse experiences of affiliates and others. Also experiences of BPTwill be usefull especially looking at how this type of work effects the possibilities of a just peace after a conflict. The Theme Group is encouraged to produce a leaflet and give suggestions for achieving this goal.

Who: Theme group on Reconstruction and Democratization. Affiliates.

2. OVERARCHING OBJECTIVES

G. WRI developed to be more global

WRI is a worldwide network of independent organisations, groups and individuals. WRI will put more emphasis on developing the links to support and connect people around the world.

How: WRI's programme will reflect the commitment of addressing this objective both structurally and philosophically. WRI will reactivate its links made through WRI events such as Triennials and conference, etc. Encourage relationships between affiliates, particularly to provide support and cooperation to isolated affiliates (i.e. those with less international access). These relationships and common projects will help groups learn about the realities of each other and promote exchanging experiences and cooperation. Affiliates are encouraged to "twin" with each other in forming common projects. Affiliates in rich countries are encouraged to support affiliates in poorer countries for their participation in WRI events. All other goals and objectives will consider how to incorporate this objective.

Who: The whole structure of WRI will be involved in this development (Executive, Council, Triennials, Affiliates, Working Groups, Office); conferences and programmes (such as Nonviolence and Social Empowerment).

H. Gender perspective integrated into WRI's antimilitarism work, drawn from different cultures and traditions

Discussion of gender issues within WRI will be stimulated on questions such as "How do the lives (behaviour, work, attitudes) of women and men contribute to the possibility of war?", "Are there two types of anti-militarism depending on gender?", "Consider the conditions of lives of women during war (such as war-rape, prostitutes for soldiers); the language of rape and the language of war" and "Explore non-patriarchal methods of organisation".

How: Forums for discussion will be created in publications such as Peace News, Broken Rifle, sections' publications. WRI Program will be examined and made visible where gender issues do exist, and there will be developed comprehensive approach to gender issues of antimilitarism in WRI.

Who: The whole structure of WRI will be involved in this discussion (executive, council, triennials, sections, working groups, women's working group, mixed group on "gender issues"

I. Ecological perspectives implicit in WRI's philosophy of nonviolence defined and integrated into our work

Increase awareness regarding the effect of military and war on the environment, destruction of the environment for military purposes (such as plutionium production, war for natural resources like oil). Cooperate with environmental and ecological movements and share nonviolent strategies.

How: Triennial Theme Group "Civil Disobedience and Nonviolent Environmental Action" 1998 will contribute to the WRI's awareness. Discussion at WRI meetings. Encourage publishing articles and leaflets within WRI and the environmental movement. Consider co-sponsing events.

Who: Participants in the Theme Group. Affiliates. Council.

J. Economic perspectives implicit in WRI philosophy of nonviolence defined and integrated into our work

Increase understanding of economic exploitation which leads to grave inequality and injustice - within and between societies - and to environmental destruction. Explore nonviolent economics as alternative to the market economy.

How: Triennial Theme Group "Grassroots Economy in times of Globalisation" 1998 will contribute to the WRI's awareness. Discussion at WRI meetings. Encourage publishing articles and leaflets.

Who: Participants in the Theme Group. Affiliates. Council.

3. ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES

K. WRI's financial situation stabilized.

WRI's income will be increased.

• New donors will be developped in every country where there is an affiliate, both individuals and organisations. A WRI funding base the region's way of doing it will be found. Too little of WRI's outcome is raised outside Britain.


• "Tax-effective giving" should be encouraged, and to be set up as an objective in countries where it does not yet exist (i.e. everywhere except the UK and USA).


• Fundraising will be concentrated on specific programmes or meetings which will include the administrative part of it, which means staff and office expenditure. Councils and Triennials will be used as part of programme-work, in forms of conferences before or after, and/or as a special meeting place for participants taking part in the programmes. Having working groups responsible for program-areas means that fundings will include some money for the working groups.
• Sponsoring will be encouraged.


• Events and festivals will be organised to collect money.

Choice of places for events will be discussed in regard to what we lose and what we gain financially and politically from different places. For example the yearly Council as a fixed meeting place in Belgium give the possibility to raise money in Belgium. A decision will have to be weighed against what it will mean politically.

How: To appoint a finance and fundraising committee, including the treasurer, some Executive and Council members. Using the strategic plan for fundraising the programs described in the strategic plan.

L. The function of WRI Affiliates strengthened as the base of WRI

The Affiliates ought to give WRI its base. Important grass-root work is done at this level. The office and the Executive have a function of linking the Affiliates together in common actions in its international work for nonviolence and antimilitarism. The level of communication between the different elements of WRI will be strengthened for mutual learning, stimulate reflections, offer roadshows etc, and they will be stimulated to twin with each other on specific issues.

How: The quality of communication will be improved through the existing means WRI presently has. Explore new forms of communication as new technology develops and how the Peace Translation Project can help communications. Sections' representative is important link to the network. Steps will be taken to strengthen the function of the Sections', liaison with individual Council- and Executivemembers. The role of the individual members will be defined. Encourage discussions at Councils on the roles of the Sections Reps., elected Council members and individual members.

4. OUTREACH STRATEGIES

M. Cooperate with other organisations, groups and networks

WRI will improve its outreach to movements sharing WRI's perspective and cooperate with groups with a close philosophical base, working on issues identified in Strategic Plan and with groups with specific goals, with global NGO networks and regional networks. WRI will also investigate possibilities of working in cooperation with other groups/organisations outside the peace movement for cooperation to see if there are any overlaping aims and means in reference to goals of common concerns.

How: Contacts will be made as WRI works on specific projects and organizes events such as Triennials, speakers' tours etc. Explore idea of joint seminars.

Who: Working Groups (both regional and issuewise), WRI office and Affiliates will work on cultivating contacts.

N. WRI's work promoted through peace magazines in the WRI network

Peace magazines will support and connect nonviolent and anti-militarist movements and campaigns around the world. They will provide forum where such movements can develop common perspective, promote pacifist analysis and give critical support to nonviolent revolution.

How: Better use of Affiliates' peace magazines in WRI's outreach. Relating Peace News to the other peacemagazines. Explore the possibilities of a better use of Broken Rifle and Peace News, e.g. for political discussions in between meetings (incl. Councils and Triennials). Exchange and communication between the papers.

Who: Project Groups of editors of Affiliates magazines and Peace News.