{"id":10144,"date":"2017-07-24T11:28:04","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T15:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=10144"},"modified":"2019-12-23T02:57:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T07:57:04","slug":"center-for-justice-and-peacebuilding-partners-with-undp-and-iraqi-youth-to-build-culture-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=10144","title":{"rendered":"Center for Justice and Peacebuilding partners with UNDP and Iraqi youth to build culture of peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .<\/p>\n

An article by Lauren Jefferson for the Augusta Free Press<\/a><\/p>\n

In an Iraqi mall on Valentine\u2019s Day, shoppers were treated to a unique sight. Twenty-eight young people wearing traditional dress from the many cultures in the country congregated to sing, dance, and hand out flowers and balloons with messages of love and co-existence. The event, one of 42 created and implemented by Iraqi youth across Iraq, was to promote peaceful coexistence and tolerance among Iraqi communities struggling through a divisive political climate.<\/p>\n

The project brings together Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and the Iraqi al-Amal Association in a multi-phase project that focuses on youth and academics to build a culture of peace in the country.<\/p>\n

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As key stakeholders in Iraqi social fabric, youth and academics are \u201cseen as instrumental in strengthening social cohesion and promoting civil society initiatives and dialogue between various ethnic and religious groups,\u201d according to the project grant, which is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).<\/p>\n

Five EMU faculty and alumni are involved: Dr. Alma Abdul-hadi Jadallah, president and managing director of Kommon Denominator, and CJP adjunct faculty; Aala Ali MA \u201914, UNDP development officer; Cynthia Nassif MA \u201914 of Lebanon , and Najla El Mangoush MA \u201915 of Libya, both doctoral students at George Mason University; and Ahmed Tarik MA \u201916, of Iraq. Nassif, Mangoush and Tarik designed workshops on conflict resolution in Arabic for both youths and academics. Jadallah provided the first training for youth in October 2016, followed by two others for youth and three for academics from Iraqi universities. While the academic trainings will lead to a peace building curricula that would be shared by universities across Iraq, the youth trainings culminated in a series of community peacebuilding project proposals.<\/p>\n

Mangoush appreciated the opportunity to work together with CJP alumni on one project, \u201cpracticing our beliefs and skills as peacebuilders from different Arabic countries to assist peace in Iraq.\u201d An important aspect of the project, she adds, is \u201cacknowledging the need to promote peace from a local perspective and through religious tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
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A culture of peace in Iraq, Is it possible?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Continued from left column)<\/p>\n

More than 563 youth from Najaf, Nineveh and Baghdad applied to participate in the trainings. Seventy-two were selected, with criteria including age, potential, experience, connections, responsibility, diversity and vision.<\/p>\n

After the trainings, participants created project proposals that employed sports, arts, social media, listening and dialogue to address a variety of topics: women\u2019s rights, children\u2019s education, displaced persons and host community engagement, interfaith dialogue and conflict resolution workshops, according to Nassif. El Mangoush and Nassif evaluated and selected proposals for funding.<\/p>\n

Muntather Hassan, youth program coordinator for the Iraqi al-Amal Association, has attended each training, worked with youth on their proposals, and watched selected projects come to fruition.<\/p>\n

A Facebook page that provides a space for artworks created on the theme of peace. Five artists started this project, and they\u2019ve been joined by 50 others.Besides the Valentine\u2019s Day project, other funded projects include:<\/p>\n

Visitation programs in Erbil, where Muslim activists visited internally displaced Christian children in Erbil, and in Baghdad, where both Christian and Muslim activists visited Muslim children.<\/p>\n

Though Iraq is full of problems, Hassan says young people see a chance to make a difference and to address issues \u201cthe older generation can\u2019t see.\u201d They are motivated, he said, by the desire to live a normal life without fear, \u201cordinary needs that give them motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA journey like this comes once a life,\u201d wrote one participant. Another shared that he felt \u201cloved, respected, supported and listened to.\u201d Yet another learned not all Muslims are ISIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMohammed came back from Erbil as a different person, a better one,\u201d said one participant\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

About the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding offers graduate programs in restorative justice (the first program of its kind in North America) and conflict transformation, as well as professional development and training for global peacebuilders through several programs: the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Women\u2019s Peacebuilding Leadership Program, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), and the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice. CJP\u2019s vision is to prepare, transform, and sustain leaders to create a more just and peaceful world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . An article by Lauren Jefferson for the Augusta Free Press In an Iraqi mall on Valentine\u2019s Day, shoppers were treated to a unique sight. Twenty-eight young people wearing traditional dress from the many cultures in the country congregated to sing, dance, and hand out flowers and balloons with messages of love … Continue reading Center for Justice and Peacebuilding partners with UNDP and Iraqi youth to build culture of peace<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,74],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-10144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-mideast","tag-mideast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}