II International Conference
December 1 – 2, 2017
Gyumri, Armenia
With more than 15 years of experience in peacebuilding in Armenia, “Women for Development” NGO is announcing the call for participation in the second International Conference, entitled “Peace Education for Peacebuilding”. The conference will take place in Gyumri, Armenia on December 1-2, 2017.
The main goal of the conference is to attract the attention of the international community towards global issues related to peacebuilding, and suggest the necessity of spreading the culture of peace among the young generation in the region and globally as one of the key resolutions for achieving peace. The topics to be addressed throughout these enriching two days are:
- peace education in schools and universities,
- conflict management on a community level,
- gender roles in conflict management and resolution,
- youth and peacebuilding,
- preventing violent extremism through peace education,
- global citizenship education,
- networking for peacebuilding, and
- preventing cross-border conflicts through peace education.
Participants will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the “Armenian model” of peace education and participants from around the world will have the opportunity to present their experiences and best practices in peace education in their countries. During the workshops, students, researchers and teachers from different parts of the world will be able to improve their skills in peace education, and share best practices, knowledge, educational projects, approaches, and evaluation tools. Space will be provided during the event to network and collaboration with specialists from organizations from different countries.
The special guests of the conference will be the members of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict’s (GPPAC) Peace Education Working Group (PEWG), representing various countries. They will share lessons learned from implementing peace education in their countries and regions. With support from GPPAC PEWG, a post-conference capacity building training for the college and university faculty/administrators who prepare new teachers and the government organizations responsible for the policies related to teacher education will be organized in Gyumri on December 3, 2017.
To secure your participation in the conference and to submit a presentation proposal, please fill out the application form. The application form can also be downloaded from WFD NGO’s website at www.wfd.am (section: events/conference)
The working language of the conference is Armenian, English simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
Conference Background
This will be the second “Peace Education for Peacebuilding” conference, initiated and organized by “Women for Development” NGO. The first conference took place in December, 2007 with its main goal being to present the experience and achievements of WFD NGO, its partner organizations, and schools in the sphere of spreading a culture of peace in Armenia and the region. During this conference, the importance of peace culture education and the process of peace building was emphasized. Conference participants were encouraged to contribute to the implementation of the main goals of the Hague 1999 Peace Conference “Appeal for Peace” in Armenia by spreading the ideas of peace education across all the levels of the educational system – including formal and non-formal education, as well as through promoting teacher training in the process of peace education.
Almost 10 years have passed since then, and “Women for Development” NGO has reached significant impact in the area of peace and conflict resolution education. As a result of the fruitful collaboration with the National Institute of Education, peace education was taught in more than 850 schools of Armenia. During the past 15 years, more than 70,000 schoolchildren acquired and applied skills in conflict management, thus reducing the number of conflicts resulting in violence in schools.
The biggest achievement of “Women for Development” NGO is the institutionalization of Peace and Conflict Resolution Education in Armenian schools. In August, 2015 the National Institute of Education of the RA Ministry of Education officially included peace and conflict management education in the range of the topics being taught during the class head’s hours. The letter addressed to the vice-principals of secondary schools highlights that conflict management education aims to decrease violence and create peaceful environment in schools. WFD NGO experience has been highly appreciated by a range of international organizations and networks working in peace education.
Taking into consideration the great interest of teachers, international organizations and non-governmental organizations based in various countries towards the “Armenian model” of peace education, WFD NGO is organizing the second ”Peace Education for Peacebuilding” international conference in 2017.
If you would like to participate in the Conference, please fill in the online Application Form and send it back to emails mentioned below.
QUESTIONS? Email to Gohar Markosyan, Conference Coordinator, at peace.conference2017@wfd.am , CC to goharmark@gmail.com
Sincerely, “Women for Development” NGO 6a Shahinyan st., apt. 16 3118 Gyumri, Armenia Tel:/Fax: +374312 33007 Website: www.wfd.am Facebook page: Women for Development NGO
