New Developments
United Nations International Year of Youth
Posted by CR Ed on Apr 18, 10
The United Nations has declared 12 August 2010 - 11 August 2011 as International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. This should provide some exciting the opportunities for those working in the area of youth and peacebuilding, and we encourage everyone to get involved.
More information will be posted on the United Nations youth website, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/index.html
Darkness and Light in November 2009
Posted by Shawn McElroy on Jan 05, 10
Posted by Shawn McElroy on behalf of Loreta Navarro Castro, Center for peace education, Miriam College, Quezon City, Philippines
My November 2009 began in an upbeat mood. I attended two successive conferences in South Korea in the early part of the month. The first conference focused on promoting interfaith understanding and the need to establish a Peace Education Center that can serve not only Korea but the Asian region as well. The second conference considered various themes (restorative justice, evaluation, conflict resolution education and peace education) and several members of the GPPAC Peace Education Working Group served as resource persons. (GPPAC stands for Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict). The full week in Korea was a happy time for me because both the conferences and the Peace Education Working Group meeting at the end of that week yielded fruitful results.
My hopeful mood continued when I returned to the Philippines. We conducted a Peace Education Training Workshop for Educators in South East Asia. There were 26 participants from seven countries in the region, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Five ministries of education were represented and this augurs well for the future mainstreaming of peace education in the region. However, as the said participants were arriving in the Philippines, a gruesome crime was being committed in the Maguindanao province in the Southern Philippines. At least 57 civilians were massacred in the morning of November 23, an incident that is now etched in our nation’s memory as the most brutal politically motivated violence committed in the country. The massacre truly shocked and saddened us. (I prepared the draft of a Statement which was adopted as the official Miriam College Statement. Please see it below)
As the end of November approached, one thing became clear. The barbaric violence turned into a wake up call or a moment of awakening for the whole nation. There are now countless voices of protest, asking for an end to political warlordism, private armies, and the proliferation or firearms, as well as for the respect of human rights and the rule of law.
I hope that this dark November day would not be in vain. May it yield the kind of light that we seek, so that such an event will not happen again!
Max van der Stoel award 2009 goes to GPPAC organisation!
Posted by Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska on Oct 04, 09
Dear colleagues,
I’m glad to share with you this delightful event. Our Integration and Development Center for Information and Research (IDC) in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine has been awarded the Max van der Stoel Award for 2009.
In 2001, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands established an award honouring the former OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Mr. Max van der Stoel. The prize is awarded to a person or institution in recognition of extraordinary and outstanding achievements aimed at improving the position of national minorities in the OSCE area. The ceremony will take place on 14th of October 2009 in the Hague.
Odessa Regional Mediation Group Educational Projects, Ukraine
Posted by Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska on May 10, 09
Dear colleagues,
Let me, please, continue my presentations of our Western CIS partners in PE/CRE activity.
Main programs of Odessa Regional Group of Mediation (Ukraine) in the Sphere of Education.
by Angela Guseva (ORGM)
http://www.paco.net/~orgm/
Odessa Regional Group of Mediation (ORGM) – is a non-governmental organization that was created for propagation and implementation of mediation and other principles, techniques of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the different spheres of social life. ORGM has been working with education system since 1995.
Basic programmes of the last 3 years.
1. Education and familiarizing of school education specialists with principles of Alternative dispute resolution and restorative justice.
2. Implementation of the restorative justice into educational process.
3. Development of Peer Mediation Programmes.
4. Creation of on-line community of educational specialists who implement restorative justice into upbringing and educational process.
5. Implementation of Conflict Studies courses in higher education curricula.
Cooperative Peace Project in Moldova-Pridnestrovie
Posted by Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska on May 10, 09
Moldova-Pridnestrovie Professional Groups Share on the Conflict
by Corina Simon (PATRIR)
http://www.patrir.ro
Republic of Moldova, a small country situated in Eastern Europe, neighboring Romania and Ukraine, is the site of one of the Black Sea region’s protracted conflicts. A violent conflict in 1992 and the creation of a separate, unrecognized state, called the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, and the lack of settlement in the issue between the involved parties as well as other specific factors has led to present day status quo in the peace process.
The Cooperative Peace Project in Moldova-Pridnestrovie is a project which started in 2006 with the purpose of building foundational capacity, structures and resources to empower civil society in Moldova-Pridnestrovie to actively engage in peace building and conflict transformation work - to address concrete social issues affecting the people of the region.
GPPAC Partners with CREPE Activities in Western CIS
Posted by Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska on Nov 28, 08
Dear colleagues,
I want to give you a very brief information of two more NGOs in our region that could be the partners for your inter-networking.
1. Patrir, Romania - Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania http://www.patrir.ro/index.php?newlang=english . Among other activities they conduct a lot of trainings on peacebuilding for different groups of participants in their International Peace and Development Training Center http://www.patrir.ro/training.
They also have special youth programs like “Youth for Peace” (available in Russian at http://youth-for-peace.blogspot.com/)
2. Inter-regional Social Movement “Conflictological Forum”, Russia. http://www.conflictology.spb.ru/index_en.html An assistance in research and activity in creation of new methods and techonolgies of CR and development of education in CR are among the main tasks of this organisation. Their partner - the chair of Conflict studies of St.-Petersburg State University. It is the only chair that gives CR specialization (the diploma) at the university level within the whole post-soviet space.
I also would like to draw your attention at the III INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS of CONFLICTOLOGISTS organised by Forum and its partners. It will take place at September 30 - October 2, 2009. Deadline: March 1, 2009 More information you can find at their website, listed above.
Celebrating the International Day of Peace by Launching a Peace Education Book
Posted by Loreta Castro on Oct 06, 08
The world marked the International Day of Peace (September 21) in different and creative ways as electronic reports have indicated to us. In my case I am happy to report that my colleague, Jasmin Nario-Galace and I celebrated it by launching a book that we conceptualized long ago but had the opportunity to write and complete only recently.
The book is entitled Peace Education: A Pathway to a Culture of Peace. The overall goal of this book is to provide educators with the basic knowledge base as well as the skill- and value-orientations that we associate with educating for a culture of peace. Although this work is primarily directed towards the pre-service and in-service preparation of teachers in the formal school system, it may be used in nonformal education. It can also be a resource for those who want to understand peace issues and some of the ways by which they can help work for change towards a more peaceable society.
Jasmin and I are pleased that we can offer this small contribution to the Global Campaign for Peace Education, which seeks the introduction of peace education in all educational institutions in the world. It is our hope that our work can help in the realization of this vision. This book is firmly rooted in the belief that deliberate and sustained peace education, both in our schools and in our communities, is an important force and pathway towards a culture of peace and the prevention of violent conflict.
This book is based on our study and research as well as on our experiences as teachers and trainers. By writing about what we have come to know and experienced, we are pleased that we are now able to reach a larger community of educators and other concerned people. It is our hope that the ideas contained in this book will circulate widely and promote enthusiasm for both education and action for peace.
We have organized the book into three sections. Part I presents chapters that are meant to help us develop a holistic understanding of peace and peace education. Part II discusses the key themes in peace education. Each chapter starts with a conceptual essay on a theme and is followed by some practical teaching-learning ideas that can either be used in a class or adapted to a community setting. Part III focuses on the peaceable learning climate and the educator, the agent who facilitates the planting and nurturing of the seeds of peace in the learning environment. Finally, the whole school approach is introduced to suggest the need for institutional transformation and the need to move beyond the school towards engagement with other stakeholders in the larger society.
“To reach peace, teach peace!”
The Philippines’ E.O. 570: Institutionalizing PE in Basic Education and Teacher Education
Posted by Loreta Castro on Jul 28, 08
Posted on behalf of Loreta Castro, Executive Director of The Center for Peace Education, The Philippines.
The Philippines’ E.O. 570: Institutionalizing Peace Education in Basic Education and Teacher Education
July 24, 2008 is a good day for us here in the Philippines. It was marked by the signing of the “Implementing Guidelines” of Executive Order 570 issued by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo last September 2006. The Executive Order (EO) mandated the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to institutionalize Peace Education in Basic Education and Teacher Education.
The formal signing of the implementation guidelines by the concerned cabinet ministers heralded the beginning of action on the ground. The Secretary of the Department of Education and the Commissioner of the CHED as well as the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process not only signed the document but also publicly expressed their commitment and concrete plans in 2008-2009 in order to give life to the guidelines. Some of the specific actions mentioned by the cabinet members were the issuance of memoranda to their constituencies to provide information and more concrete guidance, curriculum review and development, and capacity-building activities.
I was invited to witness the signing because I was the civil society representative in the Executive Committee that prepared the implementing guidelines and it was a joy for me to see that EO 570 is beginning to have the life and vibrancy that it deserves. I am aware that the signing ceremony featuring the public commitment of the concerned government agencies is just the beginning. The more difficult part is the challenge of implementation.
The Center for Peace Education, of which I am the Executive Director, has committed to collaborate with the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process in ways that we can, especially with regards to this EO. I believe that only through such engagement and cooperation among civil society organizations, government and other stakeholders can we be more effective in pursuing goals that are for humanity’s common good.
We need more purposive focusing on the goals that count, and invest in these goals our renewed energy and commitment. I submit that building a culture of peace is among the essential goals for today and tomorrow. Human and ecological survival and well-being, now and in the future, depend on this. Therefore, it makes good sense for all to work together towards this vision.
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