Students from 6 classes around the world met with professionals working for peace to understand their work and reflect on how everyone can get involved in peacebuilding. Leading the conversation, were reunited Kuany Kiir Kuany, Project Officer for UNESCO’s Global Citizenship and Peace Education section, Leonie Evers, Project Officer in the Emergencies Entity of UNESCO’s Culture Sector et Saurea Didry Stancioff, West Africa Program Manager for Promediation, a non-governmental and apolitical organization that facilitates mediation and resolution of armed conflicts.
Each expert talked about their background and their daily life at work reminding us that each and every one of us, at every level, can act in favor of peace.
Saurea Didry Stancioff is in charge of planning and leading activities in Niger, Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast, as well as monitoring and coordinating all Promediation programs in West Africa. She explains the role of mediation, starting strong by underlying that every conflict, whether in a school, family or armed setting, begins in the same way.
Sometimes the different parties understand each other but still disagree. When the disagreement lasts and one shuts down the communication, the problem starts. It can get to massive scale attacks, and the communication won't appear again.
To have mediation, both parties need to feel safe and to trust the process. The mediator's role is to reformulate the needs of each party in the conflict, so that the process is based first and foremost on understanding. In the end, the agreement needs to be neutral and acceptable for both, but the process can be long.
Before joining UNESCO headquarters, Kuany Kiir Kuany was in charge of the Peace Education Program at the UNESCO office in Iraq, which he joined after a long stay at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development in India. He has designed and implemented more than 10 projects at the intersection of education and peace, that have benefited over 10,000 young leaders and educational actors around the world. For him, institutions, the justice system, the economy and schools must work together to build peace. Speaking to young people, he reminded them that education plays a major role, and that schools must encourage critical thinking, promote inclusion and guarantee a good level of literacy.
Building peace is not a conclusion, it's a process.
Léonie Evers joined UNESCO's emergency unit after spending three years in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali with the United Nations Mine Action Service. Prior to this, she worked for over five years at UNESCO as coordinator for emergencies linked to armed conflict. Today, her work involves integrating culture into the policies and operations of the humanitarian, security, peace-building and technical support sectors, coordinating emergency preparedness and response.
Behind any pile of stone, they are people targeted by a conflict.
For her, peace and culture are irrevocably linked because culture is part of our identity, traditions and soul. When a place is rebuilt after a conflict, it strengthens the victims and helps them to come together around a common heritage. At school, and elsewhere, we need to remain open and avoid any kind of stereotypes.
The 148 participants, students from The Senior High School of Moudros, Lemnos Island in Greece, The Wesley High School Oukpo at Benue in Nigeria, The Alpha School at Hanoi in Vietnam, The Kohinoor International School at Hoshiarpur in India, The Oporto Internacional School, in Porto, Portugal and from the Arsakeio Junior High School of Psychiko at Athens, Greece, were able to continue discussions in their classrooms with their teachers, thanks to the resource pack provided by the UNESCO Campus Team.
This event has been possible thanks to the collaboration of 6C Conseil and the support of TECH4ALL.
