| Posted: Feb. 01 2010,09:26 |
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Postal address of organization/institution
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St-Jacobsmarkt 82, B-2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
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E-mail address of organization/institution
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info@sciint.org
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Website address of organization/institution
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www.sciint.org
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Telephone of organization/institution
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+32.3.2265727
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PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
HUMAN RIGHTS
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
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TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
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PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
CCIVS-UNESCO
UNOY-Peacebuilders
War Resisters International
World Social Forum
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ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
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SCI
is an international movement working for peace, tolerance and justice
with around 40 branches and 100 partner organisations in Europe, North
America, Latin America, Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The main
activity of SCI is organising long and short-term voluntary work
projects to give young people from different countries an opportunity
to live and work together on a project with the aim of breaking down
barriers between people and increasing international understanding.
In
the last years, SCI worked on developing peace education tools. One of
the main means for transferring the knowledge and tools on peace
education was via trainings and seminars, through e-mail communication
and via the websites www.sciint.org and www.spaceforpeace.net.
Also
new type of workcamps was created, so-called Peace Voluntary Projects.
These are short or long term voluntary projects with pro-active peace
building or peace education as a major element. Whilst all SCI camps
are peace building in some way (an international group living and
working together, resolving conflicts, and working to contribute to
another society), Peace Voluntary Projects have a larger and more
obvious peace building element. Some branches have as well incorporated
a higher level of peace education into preparation seminars for
volunteers that are going to other projects.
SCI focuses also
very specifically in peace activities. This is done through work of
working groups, as is Conflict Resolution group which specializes in
conflicts and conflict resolution, and Peace Messengers Network, which
exists since 2008. This is a group of volunteers who each year
visit/join a workcamp/seminar and run a workshop about peace
(education).
In past few years, SCI organized a number of
peace seminars and trainings. In 2008, the Conflict Resolution team
organized a seminar "Volunteering in Conflict Areas". The aim was to
bring activists together from SCI in order to define a strategy how SCI
should work in conflict areas.
Another activity was the “Peace
Education Seminar 2007” in Poland, with a topic on non violent
communication, focusing on communication in daily life and peace-work.
Participants in this seminar followed the training in non-violent
communication according to the principles of Marshall Rosenberg.
In
2007-2008, SCI Sri Lanka organized a “Non Violent Conflict Resolution”
project for religious leaders. This programme was well received and had
an important impact in resolving local conflicts with the intervention
of religious leaders. Another project was organized in Macedonia,
with a title of "Promoting Multiculturalism"
SCI organizes as
well other type of peace activities. To name one, SCI India has formed
Peace Cells in twelve Colleges near Mumbai and is carrying out
different activities where SCI India in cooperation with like-minded
organizations involve students in various peace activities (as
for example the "World March for Peace and Non-Violence" or in
signature campaigns, street plays, peace rallies, debates and
discussions on "Violence vs Non-violence", etc).
During the last five years quite some branches organized workshops also around the International Day of Peace.
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PROGRESS: Has your organization
seen progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain
of action and in your constituency during the second half of the
Decade? |
We
did see progress within our organization (especially the value of peace
came back in all our activities), however, concerning the outside world
working for a change is a long process. We reached quite some people
(about 10000-12000 volunteers in the last five years) and made progress
in our work in conflict areas.
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OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
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It
is difficult to reach a wider public than our own organization, peace
seems not an attractive topic. Sometimes the importance of
peace-session was not well understood/recognized. On world level there
are political and financial crises. On practical level: lack of
funding, lack of media-attention, difficult to find neutral ground.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
We
would like to network more with like-minded organizations, continue
with the peace messengers concepts and volunteering in post-conflict
areas. At the short term (2010) we plan a peace education seminar in
the Asia Pacific region, anti-war camps and educational projects about
the North-South gap.
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GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
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SCI
is already spread over more than 40 countries. Practical involvement of
volunteers at microlevel is important, as well as the spread of words
and deeds.
Culture of peace and non-violence could be
supported at the world level if the topic “peace” was more in the
media. Governments should put it more on their agenda (stop the
arms-trade). An international convention on the right to an education
to non-violence would be also welcome.
There is also a need for
raising awareness that without a peaceful society, all the things that
people expect, like social justice and human rights cannot flourish.
Many people are concerned with economic development and reducing
poverty, but need to see that you need a culture of peace to achieve
this.
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