Category Archives: EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Teachers lead the way towards Peace in their Classrooms and Communities in Rakhine State, Myanmar

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from UNESCO Bangkok

The Ministry of Education in Myanmar and UNESCO are jointly implementing the “Education for Peace and Development in Northern Rakhine State” project through funding support from the Belgium government. Teachers, principals and education officers from Rakhine State have been trained in life skills for peace and conflict transformation in partnership with the Centre for Diversity and National Harmony. This reaffirms the commitment of the Ministry of Education to promote peace education as a means for fostering mutual respect for cultural diversity at a school level.

Myanmar

The overall aim of the peace education project is to enhance the capacity of principals, school teachers, students and their parents to facilitate inclusive problem-solving processes and consensus-building around community priorities and to strengthen the commitment to an inclusive civic national identity.

UNESCO has developed school-based peace education training resources with four components: training of trainers, teacher training, teacher and student guide for the classroom and working with parents. The resources are activity-based with combinations of learning outcomes/competency development delivered through a mixture of concepts, structured learning exercises, experiential learning, posters, drama, art and story-telling that lead to a culture of peace and building a safe school and community. In May this year, 41 participants from 17 townships in Rakhine state attended the training of trainers in Yangon and subsequently 250 staff from 98 schools in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Minbya and Mrauk-U received teacher training in their respective townships.

Through a conflict-sensitive approach to education, the pilot training of trainers and teacher training aim to promote inter-cultural awareness and peaceful co-existence. The project activities promote the long term goal of education to overcome discrimination and exclusion through human rights-based, quality education. The Ministry of Education is keen to see the training modules developed for this project rolled out in the whole of Rakhine state as well as in other ceasefire areas.

(Thank you to the Global Campaign for Peace Education for calling this article to our attention)

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East Asia, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Bosnia and Herzogovina: Celebrating 10 years of global education for peace at UWC Mostar

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from the United World Colleges

This year, graduation season has been particularly special for the whole community at UWC Mostar, which has just celebrated its 10th year anniversary! UWC Mostar was established against the background of the violent breakdown and division of former Yugoslavia along ethnic and religious lines that occurred between 1991 and 1995. During the conflict, over 140,000 people died, over 50% of the population was displaced and over one million people sought refuge in other countries. In this context, the opening of UWC Mostar not only provided a new educational model that was radically different from the prevailing national educational system in place since the war, but it also demonstrated the relevance of the UWC mission in the 21st century: using education as a force for a more peaceful future.

Bosnia
Click on photo to enlarge

In fact, since the war, UWC Mostar was the first school in Bosnia and Herzegovina having students from across the country being taught by the same teachers and in the same classroom. This deliberately inclusive educational model, which makes students from all backgrounds work and learn together, was – and is – very different from the segregational educational system still prevailing across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) today. Pilvi Torsti, Chair of the Foundation Education in Action, UWC Adriatic graduate from Finland and one of the master minds behind starting UWC Mostar, underlined the active role of the college in fighting this model and make education a means for peace among people: “The wider influence of the work has even led to court rooms: UWC Mostar has been used to make the case against segregated educational system in this Canton. It is a miracle that we are all here today”.

UWC Mostar’s mission was and continues to be a most relevant one: to equip the next generations of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the knowledge, skills, leadership qualities and international values, necessary to bridge the still existing ethnic divisions and move their country into a more peaceful future. But UWC Mostar has become much more than a model for inclusive education for young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina: its student body includes individuals from all over the Balkans and from countries across the world, with a special emphasis on students from post-conflict countries.

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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Mary Ann Hennessey, Head of Office of the Council of Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina and member of the Board of the College Foundation, who took part in the recent celebrations for the college’s 10 year anniversary, underlined: “From 2006 the United World College Mostar has been enrolling students from BiH and from around the world, providing an example of openness and diversity which lies at the heart of a modern, student-centred education. In doing this, and building relationships with local educational partners, UWC Mostar contributes to the transition from a post-conflict society to a society which can make a success of the European integration process, and eventually transition to a genuine modern, European Union economy, society and polity”.

UWC Mostar’s inclusive approach is also reflected in the words of Jasminka Bratić, Chair of UWC Mostar Board, who commented: “Mostar was the right place for founding a college. The College where children are educated about mutual differences in the atmosphere of equality and tolerance, where they are taught to respect those differences, to develop their critical thinking, creativity, social compassion and responsibility”. She also added: “Not long ago Bosnia and Herzegovina has applied for EU membership. But Mostar can boast about having its own UNITED NATIONS for the past ten years, where people of different cultures, nations, religions and traditions live and work in peace and harmony within the city and Gimnazija building”.

Being situated in a city which was divided by the war, UWC Mostar consciously spread its residences across the city to enable the students to integrate with different communities – and to become a living proof how people can live together independent of their ethnic, religious, national or linguistic background. Today, it is the interaction of students with the local community which has become the essence of UWC Mostar and one of its most unique characteristics. By establishing its community service programme in cooperation with more than 15 institutions and associations in Mostar, UWC Mostar gave impetus to the development of a community of volunteers in a society in which voluntary work was not firmly established. Sharing one school building with a local school and through scientific fairs and competitions, UWC Mostar played a key role in gathering students and teachers from both the Bosniak and Croat side of the educational system to work together.

This year, UWC Mostar is celebrating 10 years of work and achievements – and the whole UWC community celebrates with them! During the celebration, Pilvi Torsti, shared her thoughts on the past and the future of UWC Mostar: “So dear guests, this is what I wish all of us to recognise today: UWC Mostar celebrates today 10 years of start-up history, start-up mentality, start-up people. That start-up has educated almost 800 students (including current 1st years). 1000 Bosnian teachers have taken part in workshops. Now it is the challenge to turn the start-up into a long term successful venture with many new ‘firsts’. And that is the challenge for you all – there is nobody somewhere out there to do it but you!”

(Thank you to the Global Campaign for Peace Education for calling this article to our attention)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe

Colombia, Minister of Education: The education sector is crucial for the consolidation of peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article of RCN Radio along with comments by Gina Parody, Minister of Education, reprinted by El Pilon (translated by CPNN)

The Minister of Education, Gina Parody, speaking at the meeting of secretaries of education from across the country, invited them to teach a new generation of peace, preparing children and young people to consolidate peace. The meeting took place in the municipality of Villa de Leyva in Boyaca department.

Colombia
Minister of Education, Gina Parody

The directors of the 95 Ministries of Education in the country are meeting from 29 June to 1 July, to take stock of education management and to meet the sector’s challenges in the light of the peace agreement to be signed in Havana, Cuba.

Secretaries of Education and the Education Minister are addressing a number of issues including educational infrastructure, the full school day, enrollments, quality of education, early childhood education and budgetary concerns, among others.

Remarks by Gina Parody, Minister of Education:

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos has set a goal: see the country experience its first generation that does not live even one day at war: a generation of peace. With the silence of the guns Colombia can turn the page and start writing the chapter of peace and equity. To write that chapter of hope and reconciliation, Colombia is prepared with the most valuable legacy that we can give our children: education.

For the first time, the government has allocated a larger budget for education of our children and young people, that the budget for war. We are convinced that it is in the classrooms that the new generation will begin to rewrite the history of Colombia as a country in peace.

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(Click here for the original articles in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

(continued from left column)

And we’re already advancing! With every action we take in favor of education, we move forward towards peace. For example, we have established free education in all public schools in the country, from kindergarten to grade eleven; today thanks to this 7,620,397 children and young people are preparing for the future and their families simply by sending them to school.

We declare education to be compulsory until the 11th grade, to ensure that children wield pencils rather than guns. We started the Full School Day, ensuring that children spend more time in school and less on the streets. Today there are more than 500 thousand children who benefit from this measure, by 2018 it will be 2.3 million children, and by 2030 all children in public schools will be studying eight hours a day.

Our children will not only have more hours of study but also more spacious and modern spaces that facilitate learning. Our goal is to build 30,000 new classrooms by 2018, equivalent to 1,500 schools.

We are opening the possibility for low-income youth to prepare in the best universities in the country, we are gaining brilliant minds in the service of peace and rather than in the battlefields. With the program ‘Ser Pilo Paga’ 40,000 young people and their families will transform their lives.

We are working to improve the conditions of our teachers, because they are the heroes of education, whose dedication and commitment are forming the generation of peace. We are delivering 4,600 master’s scholarships and more than 20,000 digital tablets with instructional materials. To this are added 78,000 million pesos of incentives to reward their efforts and to improve the quality of our education.

With actions like these, we can be sure and without doubt, that the future and progress of our country will be defined in the classroom and not in the fields of war, because the soul of peace is education.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Ivory Coast: UNESCO announces the creation of a school for the Culture of Peace in Yamoussoukro

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article by Abidjan.net (translated by CPNN)

The Deputy Director for Africa of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Edouard Firmin Matoko announced Tuesday the creation of a school for the Culture of Peace in Yamoussoukro , the Ivorian political capital, during a meeting.

Matoko
Edouard Firmin Matoko

Called the “Pan-African center for research and advanced training in the culture of peace”, the school is expected to open in a year at the latest”, or in 2017. Mr. Matoko spoke during a workshop of experts from UNESCO, the African Union (AU) and the State of Côte d’Ivoire.

The school will be housed within the Felix Houphouet Boigny Foundation for Peace Research, he continued hoping that “the procedures will move rapidly.”

“Following validation by the Cabinet in Ivory Coast, the creation of this school must be submitted to the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in July in Kigali (Rwanda)”, he added.

The educational content, teachers’ profiles and the cost of training have not yet been defined for the Pan-African center for research and advanced training in the culture of peace, but the objective will be ” capacity building of decision-makers in the values ​​of peace and citizenship”, according to the permanent ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to UNESCO, Denise Houphouet.

(Click here for the original French version)

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Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Addis Ababa: Pan-African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from UNICEF

Ensuring equitable access to education is key in addressing the root causes of conflict and instability in Africa, stakeholders said today [June 1] ahead of the Pan-African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.

africa
Click on image to enlarge

The three-day event shares evidence and best practices from UNICEF’s Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA), and the Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) on Peace Education, established by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). In doing so, the Symposium will seek to assess how inclusive, equitable and innovative education policy and programmes can contribute to sustainable peace and development across the continent. Currently, three out of 10 children in Africa are living in conflict-affected settings and exposed to numerous risks.

“The capacity of education to support children develop and thrive is well documented, however we now also know that education can prevent and reduce the impacts of conflict,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala. “If the right policies and interventions are in place, together with financial investment, education can be a driving force in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 36 out of 45 countries are at medium or high risk of experiencing man-made disasters, the highest rate globally. Moreover, at least 327 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa live in fragile contexts and the majority of the estimated 29 million primary school aged children who are out of school are primarily found in fragile settings and are particularly at risk or threatened by conflict.

“We need to reorient Africa’s education and training systems to meet the knowledge, competencies, skills, innovation and creativity required to nurture the continent’s core values,” said Dr Martial de Paul Ikounga, African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology. “We will then promote sustainable development at the national, sub-regional and continental levels.”

The African Union Commission, under the Agenda 2063 “The Africa We Want”, envisions that by 2020 “all guns will be silent and a culture of peace and tolerance would be nurtured in Africa´s children and youth through peace.”

Oley Dibba-Wadda, the Executive Secretary of ADEA, sees education as “a key tool against all kinds of violence” and strongly appeals to African governments to “endorse and develop integrated, peaceful, inclusive approaches and strategies that support the implementation of a comprehensive program on non-violence, tolerance and peace, especially for the young generation.”

The high-level event in Addis Ababa, which is being attended by Ministers of Education from 16 African countries, including conflict-torn states, will close with concrete recommendations on how to strengthen education sector policy and programmes in Africa to address the risks faced by children and to support sustainable peace and development across Africa. The symposium will also provide evidence to inform both donor and public funding strategies and investment priorities.

“Education can play both a protective and preventative role. In doing this, education’s power is transformative and serves as a peace dividend, reducing inequities and grievances between groups and strengthening social cohesion” said the Ethiopian Minister of Education, Ato Shiferaw Shigute.

The symposium is co-organized by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education, UNICEF, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), and the Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) on Peace Education.

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Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Book review: A Student’s Guide to Starting a Career Working for Peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

A publication notice from Information Age Publishing

Author: David J. Smith, George Mason University

A volume in the series: Peace Education. Editor(s): Laura Finley, Barry University. Robin Cooper, Nova Southeastern University, published 2016

This book is a guide for college students exploring career options who are interested in working to promote peacebuilding and the resolution of conflict. High school students, particularly those starting to consider college and careers, can also benefited from this book.

peace jobs

A major feature of the book is 30 stories from young professionals, most recently graduated from college, who are working in the field. These profiles provide readers with insight as to strategies they might use to advance their peacebuilding careers.

The book speaks directly to the Millennial generation, recognizing that launching a career is a major focus, and that careers in the peace field have not always been easy to identify. As such, the book takes the approach that most any career can be a peacebuilding career provided one is willing to apply creativity and passion to their work.

CONTENTS
Peace Education Series Introduction, Laura Finley and Robin Cooper Preface. Acknowledgments. CHAPTER 1. What is a Peace Job? CHAPTER 2. Preparing for and Finding a Peace Job. CHAPTER 3. Peacebuilding Careers in Diplomacy. CHAPTER 4. Enforcing Peace and Justice Through Human Rights and Law. CHAPTER 5. Working in Conflict: NGO, IGO, Humanitarian, and Military Careers. CHAPTER 6. Teaching About Peace and Conflict. CHAPTER 7. Activism: Social Justice and Environmental Action. CHAPTER 8. A Healing Approach: Health, Community, and Faith-Based Strategies. CHAPTER 9. Creating Peace: The Arts, Science, Technology, and Media. CHAPTER 10. Pursuing Peacebuilding Education. APPENDIX A: 86 Peace Jobs for College Grads. APPENDIX B: Peace Jobs Glossary. APPENDIX C: Peace Jobs Career Resources. APPENDIX D: Additional Readings. About the Author.

(Thank you to Alicia Cabezudo for calling this to our attentionI)

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Côte d’Ivoire: clubs of peace and non-violence installed in Universities

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from abidjan.net (translated by CPNN)

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Ramata Bakayoko Ly, conducted on Thursday [19 May] in Yamoussoukro, the inauguration of clubs for peace and non-violence in the universities and grandes ecoles of Côte d’Ivoire with the aim of pacifying the academic space.

abidjan

The investiture ceremony, held at the National Polytechnic Institute in Yamoussoukro, launched the capacity building activities of the peace and non-violence clubs of the Universities of Ivory Coast in the presence of the Minister of Solidarity, Social Cohesion and the Compensation for Victims, Prof Mariatou Koné and the Representative of the UN Secretary General in Côte d’Ivoire, Aichatou Mindaoudou.

Click here for the original French version of this article

Question for this article:

University campus peace centers, What is happening on your campus?

There are now seven university clubs: Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Cocody, Nangui Abrogoua of Abidjan, Alassane Ouattara of Bouake, Péléforo Gon Coulibaly of Korhogo, Lorougnon Guede of Daloa and the public grandes ecoles ENS Abidjan and INP-HB, Yamoussoukro.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research praised the students for their massive support to the cause of peace before sending them on a mission as ambassadors of peace to address the barriers of violence, intolerance and fanaticism.

“I urge you to practice acts of non-violence on the campus. In this way you can ensure that the academic activity can take place in a peaceful climate and the Ivorian universities will reach the level of the best universities of the world and contribute to the emergence of the Ivory Coast”, advised Ms. Ramata Bakayoko Ly.

The awareness campaign on the culture of peace with students was launched jointly in 2015 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the United Nations Office in Côte d’Ivoire. It provides a framework for exchange of experience and acquisition techniques that will enable members to better play their role in supporting the peace efforts of the academic space in the spirit of the Charter of nonviolence named after Alassane Salif N’Diaye professor emeritus.

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Mediterranean meeting on mediation to be held in Tangier, Morocco

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article in Libération (translated by CPNN)

The city of Détroit de Gibralter [Morocco] is home on 2 and 3 June 2016 to the fifth meeting of Mediterranean mediation. A legal-social forum is expanding on the south side of the Mediterranean. Following the previous meetings, and considering the growing importance of mediation in the social reality around all of the Mediterranean as an alternative means of dispute resolution, this event is of great importance. It provides a good opportunity for debate and reflection for actors on both sides of the sea.

mediation

The city of Détroit de Gibralter [Morocco] is home on 2 and 3 June 2016 to the fifth meeting of Mediterranean mediation. A legal-social forum is expanding on the south side of the Mediterranean. Following the previous meetings, and considering the growing importance of mediation in the social reality around all of the Mediterranean as an alternative means of dispute resolution, this event is of great importance. It provides a good opportunity for debate and reflection for actors on both sides of the sea.

The event aims to promote the culture of mediation in the Mediterranean, creating a network of peace mediators and conflict resolution including the southern Mediterranean.

Indeed, mediation is playing an increasingly important role in resolving conflicts in the family, commercial, and intercultural business. It is a useful and necessary tool.

According to a statement from organizers, the event aims to promote the exchange of information on mediation, considered in its broadest sense and in the service of exchanging experiences between Mediterranean countries.

Bringing together many prominent scholars and experts belonging to several countries in the region, this forum is designed as a deductive approach, starting from the general to the specific, expanding from mediation in general to its different fields of application. The various interventions will address various topics of mediation relating to commercial, family, intercultural and business applications.

Organized by the University of Abdelmalek Essaadi of Tetouan, the National University for Distance Education (UNED), the University Pablo Olavide, the Research Group on Contemporary Arab Studies of the University of Granada, the Three Cultures Foundation of the Mediterranean and the national Association of Mediators (Paris), the meeting intends to spread the culture of conflict resolution through mediation and its consolidation in the Mediterranean to help promote the culture of peace.

(click here for the French version)

Question for this article:
EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Mideast

Paris: A standing orchestra !!!

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

Special for CPNN by Kiki Chauvin

In the spirit of the movement “Nuit Debout” [“Night Standing in Place”] that continues to exist in Paris, thanks to coordination rather than hierarchical power, their creativity continues to develop through sharing rather than individualism.

orchestre
Click on the photo to enlarge

A call on social networks brought out no less than 350 musicians from all backgrounds and all levels, from amateurs to conservatory professors.

On Wednesday, April 20, the orchestra performed in the Place de la Republique, before an audience of several thousand people (plus 16000 spectators on the live webcast). They played three movements of the New World Symphony by Anton Dvorak.

The musicians included 40 trumpets, as many flutes, oboes fifteen, 60 violins, as well as unusual instruments like the saxophone, mandolin and ukulele (who had to innovate by writing their own scores). Musicians who did not know before took only 2 hours to rehearse and agree. The biggest difficulty was the choice of the direction of a conductor: how to lead such a group within the spirit of the movement, ie no leader! After discussions, votes and eventual consensus, the coordination was be resolved with three different conductors, one for each movement of the symphony. One of them was a woman violinist who conducted for the first time!

After the success of the evening, the orchestra decided to offer another concert. The chosen date is Saturday, April 30. Between “The chorus of slaves of Nabucco” by Verdi and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, their votes will decide …

In the spirit of this spontaneous militancy, other initiatives have appeared such as a stand for free legal advice “Lawyers standing” available to 18h every evening. An infirmary, a distributive canteen, a “standing TV”, a “Radio standing” and a “Biblio standing” are installed and removed each night.

On April 30 perhaps we will hear the birth of a “standing choir”?

Here is a heart that beats to a different world, a world of social justice, sharing, recognition of human values, independent of the “money god”, a world of solidarity in a universal culture of peace.

(Click here for a French version of this article)

 

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe

Mennonite Central Committee: Peace education in photos

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article compiled by Elizabeth Kessler for the Mennonite Central Committee

Our Global Family education program supports nine projects that focus on peace education. Students learn about diversity, forgiveness and the skills they need to mediate conflicts between their peers. These programs are all located in places that have a history of violent conflict, and our local partners believe that the children who learn nonviolence have the potential to grow to be leaders of change.

mennonites
Click on photos to enlarge
Photo credits (left to right): Dave Klassen, Khamsa Homsombath, Ryan Rodrick Beiler, Majeda Al Saqqa, Edupaz, Sezam, Grassroots Development Initiative, Help the Afghan Children

Nigeria

Patrick Asuquo Effiwatt is the head boy at Township Primary school in Plateau State, Nigeria. He is also one of the student leaders in the school’s Peace Club, which was set up by our partner Emergency Preparedness Response Teams (EPRT). EPRT is working to start 50 new peace clubs in secondary schools across the state.

Each club brings students together to learn how to resolve conflict between their peers. “I have been part of the Peace Club for two years now, and it has impacted my life greatly,” testifies Patrick. “Conflict is a given. But there are ways to settle differences that lead to forgiveness and nonviolence. I want to be part of those solutions.”

Caroline Emmanuel told us, “I once mediated between my grandmother and my aunt when a serious disagreement erupted.” She’s a member of the Mangu Hale school Peace Club, one of the clubs set up by EPRT. The members of the club have been praised by the school’s parent committee for the positive impact they have had on the school.

Laos

These kids are learning about trust through a teambuilding activity at a peacebuilding summer camp organized by Mittapab (Friendship), a group of educators and young adults who teach peace skills to their peers in Vientiane, Laos. Global Family provides resources for workshops, internships and the peacebuilding summer camp.

Sunsany Khodphoutone, the leader in the red shirt, has been a volunteer since 2011.

“I take my role as a peacebuilder seriously,” he says. “Sometimes I am so excited about what I have learned that I can’t help but teach everyone I come into contact with…. I really love what Mittapab is doing—more than my study subject at college. I will continue to improve myself to be a good leader and peacebuilder for the future of Laos.”

Gaza

Suheil Arandas (age 10, in the red shirt) participates in a dance class at Shoroq wa-Amal. Shoroq wa-Amal means “Sunshine and Hope”, and is a program for refugee children at the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza. The Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA), a Global Family partner, is providing leadership training and healthy outlets for expression for the children, many of whom have lost loved ones to violence. The CFTA believes that trauma healing is an important building block for a future of peace in Palestine and Israel. Global Family provides stipends for counsellors to meet with the students.

Ahmed Zokmatt, another student at Shoroq wa-Amal, draws a crowd of children protesting for their right to feel safe.

Ahmed was devastated by the death of his cousin, who was killed in an Israeli air strike during the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict. “He was a dear friend of mine,” he says. “When I knew Ibrahim was coming to visit I could not sleep from happiness. We would laugh, eat, play and he would sleep next to me. I am in disbelief that I will never see him again.”

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Question for this article:

Can peace be guaranteed through nonviolent means?

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While at Shoroq wa-Amal, Ahmed expresses his feelings through drawing and painting.

“I want to tell the world that children in Gaza have the right to play, smile, be happy and feel safe and secure,” Ahmed said.

Colombia

Luis Esteban Estupiñan Mosquera teaches English and physical education in Cali, Colombia. He has been a teacher for 14 years, but came to a new school in 2014 where MCC partner Edupaz has been working to teach students, teachers and parents how to mediate conflicts.

At the schools where he taught before, Luis says the teachers didn’t know how to handle conflict, and used “punitive methods” with the students. Many of the students come from families that fled violence in rural Colombia during the decades-long civil war, and still experience the effects of street violence and domestic violence.

Coming to this new school changed things for Luis. “The fact that this school is teaching alternatives to managing conflict has changed a lot in my performance as a teacher and in my personal life,” he says. “I have now learned how to teach my students to avoid conflict. This is wonderful!”

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dženaida Dizdarevic Subašic is a teacher and participant of Education for the Future, a Global Family-supported program in Bosnia and Herzegovina that trains primary school teachers in modelling tolerance and acceptance of differences.

Neighbouring communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are ethnically divided, and children go to separate religious schools. By promoting trauma healing, peacebuilding and reconciliation, teachers can have a positive impact on how Christians and Muslims coexist.

Dženaida was skeptical about the training at first, but she now teaches nonviolent communication to her students. “Skills learned in nonviolence workshops also help students have better relationships and more respect in dealing with each other,” she says.

Kenya

This photo was taken at Rae Kanyika Primary School in Kisumu, Kenya. Christopher Omondi, on the right, is conducting a session on leadership with the Student Leaders Council of the school. Christopher is a volunteer with Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), a local organization in Kisumu that works to promote peaceful environments in schools.

In April 2016, GDI will become one of Global Family’s newest partners. Global Family will provide funding to train teachers in restorative discipline as an alternative to corporal punishment. GDI will also train teachers in conflict resolution and confronting gender discrimination.

Afghanistan

Atifa is a grade seven student in Paghman District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. She is proud to have been able to settle disputes between her classmates ever since taking a peace education course offered by Help the Afghan Children, a Global Family partner.

Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) works in 15 schools in Paghman District, offering peace education as well as computer classes with support from Global Family. While it is usually difficult to directly measure the impact of peace education, we know that aggressive conflicts between students in Paghman District dropped by 63% between 2011 and 2013, and two-thirds of students were seen to be modelling the behaviour taught in HTAC classes.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global