Pondering peace: Yorlene Vega, a conference participant from the central Pacific Costa Rican town of Jacó, said after her training she stopped considering herself too small and powerless to take action.

Photo courtesy of Lori Runkle

Imagine a global community in which the money that national governments once spent outfitting their armies for war is channeled into educational institutions, sustainable development projects, social and economic justice initiatives and universal peace and nonviolence training.

When 11 conference participants from three continents joined forces for one week at the Educating for the 21st Century Conference in July at the University for Peace (UPEACE), in Ciudad Colón, southwest of San José, they affirmed their commitment to building a more humane and democratic world by incorporating such a vision into their professional and personal lives.

Eliana Carvalho Mukherjee, an assistant professor at UPEACE, described the goal of peace education this way: “If all the spiders in one city got together and built a web, they could restrain an elephant. A big piece of peace education is training people to do something about the problems of social and economic injustice.”

Using UNESCO's Earth Charter as a foundation for structuring the content of the conference, participants spent the week attending workshops and visiting environmental and peace organizations in Costa Rica where they studied how to incorporate peace education and environmental sustainability into their own work and into the educational institutions of their home countries.

Peace movement: Course facilitator and director of the UPEACE Centre for Executive Education, Mohit Mukherjee, engages in a theater warm-up exercise that was designed to teach students to be more aware of power relationships in their lives.

Photo courtesy of Lori Runkle

One conference activity led by Mukherjee alerted the participants to their own privilege and status in the world. She asked a series of questions that involved linguistic privilege, such as, “Is English your first language?” and “Did you speak the same language at school that you spoke at home?” Participants stepped forward if their answers were “yes” and stepped backward if their answers were “no.” At the end of the activity, the North Americans were in the front row of privilege, while the Costa Rican, Colombian and African participants stood in the back row.

Renato Westby, program development manager for the non-governmental organization Common Hope in Guatemala, said he plans to use the week's training to better partner with local public schools in the country in efforts to improve the quality of education for students and families that his organization serves.

Steven Hawkins, founder of the Dramatic Problem Solving organization, explained that his work with the theater of the oppressed in Costa Rica uses theater as a way to examine and frame social issues. Hawkins led a workshop in which conference participants acted out scenes that portrayed various social concerns they identified, such as materialism, apathy and gender inequity.

Ready to zip along: Conference participants and their course facilitator, Mohit Mukherjee, went on a canopy tour in Monteverde at the conclusion of the conference. From left to right: Alonso Muñoz, Karla Gouthro, Liza Morales, Corinne Young, Renato Westby, Lori Runkle, Theoria Cason and Mohit Mukherjee.

Photo courtesy of Lori Runkle

Through the use of physical images, storytelling, playmaking, and audience participation, Hawkins encouraged the conference participants to examine different ways conflicts within groups and societies can be transformed in positive ways.

“In the dramatic problem solving process, we add techniques from education and conflict resolution, such as identifying root causes of problems and creating action plans with concrete steps that the group can take to make changes,” he said.

Theoria Cason, who advises student groups at the United States' Western Illinois University, in Macomb, Illinois, said the training she received at the conference helped her realize she can choose to be someone who will speak up and lead others. Cason said she plans to return to her job at the university and become a role model for her students by being an example of the concepts of peace, respect and care for the community.

A visit to INBioparque introduced the participants to the concept of “bioliteracy.” INBioparque, in Santo Domingo de Heredia, north of San José, is a nature theme park where visitors are taught about Costa Rica's ecological diversity. Bioliteracy is an experiential learning process that aims to help students value biodiversity, be respectful of all living things and assume responsibility for managing and conserving ecosystems. One objective of bioliteracy is to encourage behavioral change in students that will lead to harmonious relationships with nature and sustainable human development on the planet.

Part of INBioparque's mission is to support teacher training on topics related to sustainable development, biodiversity and the environment.

After a three-hour training session at the Academy for Peace, Rita Marie Johnson said she wanted the conference participants to understand the practical aspects of spreading peace education in their own communities and countries.

Johnson, founder and president of the Academy for Peace in Costa Rica, discussed four aspects of peace education she said could be replicated in other countries: peace from the inside out; bottom up; top down; and all around.

Johnson defined the two skills involved in thinking about peace from the inside out or “BePeace” as “feeling peace,” the ability to remain peaceful under stress, and “speaking peace,” or the ability to communicate empathically and honestly with others.

Trainers from the Academy for Peace train teachers, students and parents at the grassroots level working from the bottom up to practice BePeace – feeling peace and speaking peace – with an emphasis on mediation as a way to solve daily conflicts.

The top down piece of the puzzle involves creating ministries of peace at the governmental level and the term “all around” refers to the inclusion of NGOs involved in environmental and social issues in the overall process.

“Everyone, each of the four pieces, is on the same page and moving in a systematic, organized way to promote peace,” Johnson said.

The Global Alliance of Ministries and Departments for Peace, an organization that supports national governments to invest in infrastructure dedicated to the peaceful resolution of conflict, asked the Academy for Peace in Costa Rica to host its September 2009 Global Alliance Summit.

“Costa Rica will be able to present a well-designed and articulated model of peace at the summit so other countries can replicate it.” Johnson said. “Forty countries will be represented. It's a very exciting moment in history.”

Puerto Rican UPEACE conference participant and social activist Liza Morales said she plans to return to Costa Rica for the summit in September.

“I'm looking forward to learning from the experiences in other countries and the work each has done to create a culture of peace in schools and communities,” she said. “The BePeace training and the networking that comes from being a part of the Global Alliance is priceless. Learning about initiatives around the world empowers me for the work I want to achieve at home.”

The last stop during the week was at the Monteverde Institute, a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 that promotes experiential learning.

Grounded in the environmental, economic, social and cultural realities of Monteverde and the surrounding communities, the institute supports community development activities. Partnerships with international experts and academics, researchers, students and local residents have united the global educational community with the city of Monteverde through projects that support a sustainable future.

All of the institute's programs – which include study abroad programs, applied research projects, and community forums – reflect an emphasis on water resources, conservation biology, ecotourism, community health, Spanish language and culture, and land use and sustainable development.

Corinne Young, a professor at the Saint Leo University School of Business in Florida, said the validation of a movement toward greater peace is something she will take back with her to the United States.

“I know I have a responsibility to keep this peace movement going and spread it to others,” she said. “I'll integrate some of the peace studies pedagogies we discussed at the conference into the business classes at the university where I teach.”