Do We Want Corruption to Stop for Peace Sake?
This is an excerpt out of a peace education document. I note the US and Israel opted out of UNESCO. This is disappointing given they both claim they are democracies.
I am looking for signs of peace making.
Only peace teaches peace, war can never teach peace it appears about profits these days as $1 trillion a year is invested into this rather than in peace building. Our world is not at peace yet.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/inee-assets/resources/subdoc_1_676_Teacher_Training_Manual_-_3.pdf
In recent years there have been numerous conflicts across the globe, which have led to suffering and
displacement of millions of children and young people, often under horrific circumstances. The world’s
poorest countries are most frequently those torn apart by internal conflict. Many countries face desperate
poverty that aggravates internal division with the possible consequence of violence. Other desperately
poor countries suffer the destabilizing effect of conflict in neighbouring states.
The programme that has been developed in these materials provides the life skills related to peace
education and conflict minimisation and prevention to reach refugee and returnee children, youth and the
wider community. These life skills will enable the participants to deal with related problems, including the
social fragmentation problems of sexual harassment and exploitation, access to education (especially for
girls), community caring as well as skills for constructive and non-violent living.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has collaborated with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to strengthen these constructive skills for
living through the present “Inter-Agency Peace Education Technical Support Programme”. This initiative
has been made possible through the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway,
Section for Humanitarian Affairs, Global Affairs Department, through the Funds in Trust programme of
UNESCO which partly financed it from January 2004 to June 2005. UNHCR, in particular, has initiated and
supported this programme from its inception in 1997 and has generously contributed financially and to
its implementation in the field, in partnership with UNOPS.
In its mandate, UNESCO is committed to education for peace, human rights and dialogue between different
cultures and civilizations. The Dakar “Education For All” (EFA) Plan of Action includes these principles and
emphasizes the need to improve all aspects of quality education. In this framework, UNESCO has been
concentrating special efforts in the crucial area of teacher training, with particular emphasis in African
countries: this is also in accordance with the Norwegian strategy in multi-lateral and bi-lateral cooperation
of making effective use of the funds to maximize concrete changes in developing countries.
The programme has been built on the solid foundation of the earlier Peace Education Programme developed
by UNHCR since 1997, and later on adopted by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
(INEE). It was upgraded with the input of both refugees and the host community. It also incorporates
lessons learned from the external evaluation undertaken of the UNHCR programme in 2002 and has
further responded to stated needs of people in both emergency and development situations. Education
planners, teachers, refugee and returnee communities, staff of the UN partners as well as government
authorities will find these materials useful for their peace-building efforts, especially if they have been
trained on how to use them.
The work has benefited from the contributions of many students, community members, teachers and
facilitators as well as UN and NGO personnel, too numerous to mention individually. However, special
appreciation should be expressed to colleagues in UNESCO, especially the Division for the Promotion
of Quality Education, in UNHCR, the Division of Operational Support and in UNOPS, the United Nations
Office for Project Services in Geneva. A special acknowledgement should be given to the Senior Technical
Adviser, Pamela Baxter, for the work and energy devoted to the project. The support of Margaret Sinclair,
who was the originator of this programme, Anna Obura, whose evaluation provided both evidence of
positive impact and valuable lessons learned and Jessica Walker-Kelleher, Jean Anderson and Karen Ross,
who took on the task of upgrading the primary section of the formal education component, are likewise
acknowledged.
The value of these endeavours and contributions will be multiplied, to the extent that the skills for peacebuilding,
incorporated in these materials, become a standard component in situations of emergency and
crisis, and for conflict prevention and reconstruction.