Conflict Transformation Across Cultures-CONTACT

03/28/2014

This year's CONTACT-South Asia Program was our first ever program with exact gender balance in the room. It was an important milestone as we think about Gender & Peacebuilding. As president of World Learning writes, "To create sustained peace... we must understand gender as including men and women."

The term “gender” is usually considered synonymous with “women” when it comes to peacebuilding. In that sense, applying a gendered lens to a peacebuilding activity means taking women’s perspectives into […]

03/25/2014

EVENT OF INTEREST TO THOSE LIVING IN WESTERN MASS

The University of Massachusetts will be hosting Bert Ingelaere for a discussion titled Violence and Healing in Central Africa on March 31.

Room 423 Tobin Hall Refreshments will be served Central Africa and more in particular Africa’s Great Lakes region is marked by a history of intense violence. In this context, peace agreements, transitional justice processes, (psychological) health initiatives or poverty reduction strategies are impl...

03/10/2014

CONTACT has been working to encourage intercultural dialogue and cooperation around the world since 1997. With more than 1000 alumni of our program, there should be lots of competition for UNAOC's Intercultural Innovation Award this year.

1. What is the Intercultural Innovation Award?The Intercultural Innovation Award is a partnership between the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group that aims to select ...

02/10/2014

This Thursday and Friday, the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston will be hosting a free conference on 'Unlearning Violence' which will highlight the ties between childhood development, peace, and violence.

This conference will be an exciting and inter-disciplinary event, showcasing the best ongoing research in fields related to early childhood development and violence and peace. Further, presenters will chart directions for future research and policy.

01/22/2014

Dear CONTACT Community,

Our current Program Manager Rebecca Bell will be leaving CONTACT and SIT next week in order to take a new position at University of Massachusetts as Assistant Director for Career Planning at UMASS Amherst. Rebecca has been associated with SIT for 15 years, first as a student, and then working as a Teaching Assistant; Lead Admissions Counselor in Admissions; Adjunct Faculty (International Policy and Citizen Advocacy course for 7 years); and of course, Program Manager for CONTACT. We will miss Rebecca, and wish her success and happiness in her new role.

We are fortunate to have a new CONTACT Program Manager who will join us in the coming weeks. Mark Clark is currently an Admissions Counselor at SIT and graduated from SIT with an MA in Sustainable Development about 5 years ago. Mark worked in the business world in his earliest years, then took some time for extensive international travel, practicing his skills in landscape and travel photography as he journeyed across continents. Mark's understanding of SIT's operational systems and connections with staff and faculty will help to create a smooth transition. We look forward to working with Mark, and he can look forward to welcoming his first CONTACT class on June 1.

We are extremely happy that Colin Large will be staying with us as International Program Coordinator, as he will soon be the office expert in everything we do. Without Colin's presence, this transition would have been more difficult for all of us, but thanks to his close working relationship with Rebecca, we will be guided well for all the upcoming tasks. Colin is also an SIT graduate, so we are happily making very good use of our former students.

This is my time to wish you all a peaceful and successful New Year. We are proud of all of you out there around the world, working to build cultures of peace and justice in and beyond your own communities. Wherever you are, we cheer you on.

Warm regards,
Paula Green

12/06/2013

From Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Speech 1994:

We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.
We are both humbled and elevated by the honour and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.
We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Let freedom reign.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!
Thank you.

10/31/2013

From Karen Remmler at Mount Holyoke College ([email protected])

As a recent CONTACT graduate, I am delighted to invite you to apply for a two-week Institute the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) on “Reconstructing Societies in the Wake of Conflict: Transitional Justice and Economic Development” cohosted by Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. The institute will bring together emerging women leaders working to re-build their communities and promote sustainable economic livelihoods following political violence and human rights violations. This intensive program, cosponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, is scheduled for May 25–June 6, 2014, with an arrival date of May 24, 2014. The institute invites applications from societies recovering from recent conflict, with a preference for delegates from Asia. Through panel discussions and working groups based on actual cases and projects, as well as workshops, debates and special events, the 2014 institute will promote leadership skills and explore the multiple legal, political, economic, social, and cultural approaches to recovering from violence and safeguarding human rights. For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.smith.edu/wpsp/
Please note: Qualified applicants are encouraged to submit applications online by November 15, 2013.
Mount Holyoke College is located in South Hadley, Massachusetts; Smith College is in neighboring Northampton, Massachusetts. USA. Both colleges are 90 minutes from Boston by car.

Event DetailsMount Holyoke College and Smith College are proud to cohost “Reconstructing Societies in the Wake of Conflict: Transitional Justice and Economic Development,” a two-week institute of the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP). The institute will bring together emerging women leaders wor...

10/31/2013

The application deadline for CONTACT South Asia in Kathmandu Nepal has been extended! Please be sure to submit your applications by November 8th for the program that will be held December 4th-15th. More information on the program and how to apply: http://www.sit.edu/graduate/contact-saarc.cfm

The CONTACT Peacebuilding Training and Education in South Asia program is a two-week professional training in conflict transformation. It is held in Kathmandu, Nepal. The program serves the needs of working professionals in the SAARC region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, P...

10/31/2013

For those local to Western Mass and Southern Vermont...

10/21/2013

The deadline has been extended for the World Learning Advancing Leaders Fellowship. The new deadline is November 3rd.

The Advancing Leaders Fellowship recognizes the ideas, talent, and vision of World Learning alumni by supporting Fellows with an award of $10,000, comprehensive training in social innovation and leadership, and a support network of mentors and peers so that fellows can implement an original social i...

10/07/2013

Join Dr. Paula Green and four members of Combatants for Peace, two Israeli and two Palestinian, will speak in Amherst October 8, 7:00pm at the Jewish Community of Amherst (JCA), 742 Main St.

Combatants for Peace is a bi-national peace activist movement of former Israeli and Palestinian combatants who were once part of the cycle of violence and who decided to lay down weapons and to work together towards peace and coexistence in non-violent ways.

10/07/2013

Join Dr. Paula Green and four members of Combatants for Peace, two Israeli and two Palestinian, will speak in Amherst October 8, 7:00pm at the (JCA), 742 Main St.

Combatants for Peace is a bi-national peace activist movement of former Israeli and Palestinian combatants who were once part of the cycle of violence and who decided to lay down weapons and to work together towards peace and coexistence in non-violent ways.