Peace Education

A Place of Peacefulness in Me — This introductory lesson emphasizes that citizens can  create peace within themselves — intrapersonal peace. Children will develop self-awareness and  social and emotional literacy skills by recognizing their own feelings and perspectives.

Celebrating All of Us! — In this lesson on interpersonal peace, children are introduced  to the concept of human diversity, as well as shared human feelings, personalities, perspectives,  and interests. As a result of this lesson, children will determine how they can value human  differences and treat all persons with dignity, respect, justice, and equity.

The Friendship Games is a sporting event organized by the Haitian and Dominican Olympic Committees to foster friendship and understanding between children in these neighboring countries. Although the nations have cultural differences, the games remind youth and adults that they share many similarities with one another, including a love for soccer.

In Bosnia, the ethnic tensions that triggered the siege of Sarajevo in the mid-1990s are still visible in some schools where separate curricula are used for different ethnic groups. The Džemaludin Čaušević Primary School is an exception. This multi-ethnic, multi-cultural school is open to all students regardless of ethnicity. It serves as an example of how multi-cultural approaches to learning bring out the best in children and communities.

Three young people from Kosovo discuss how they are helping to bring about social change in their communities. In a country that is still ethnically divided and struggling with socio-economic, health and education issues, these adolescents are working on projects that bring together youth of different ethnic groups to work on issues that concern everyone. As one states, “We don’t need to talk about peace to build peace. You bring people together to work on some issues and in that way you show that it’s possible for people to work and live together.”

Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire had dedicated her life to promoting peace, justice and equality in all corners of the world, including her homeland of Northern Ireland. In this podcast, she discusses the situation of children in conflict zones and how education can serve to promote tolerance and build peaceful societies. As Maguire states, “it begins in the schools where we implement education on non-violence, conflict resolution and goes right up to the top of our society where our governments are challenged to use non-violent methods to solving problems.”