Plenary & workshop descriptions

 

PLENARY: ECONOMY AND CRISIS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

 

AFGHANISTAN: ENGAGING WOMEN FOR THE FUTURE

Sakeena Yacoobi (Afghanistan) 

The life of the Afghan woman is challenging. Although many are now in the position where they are the head of their households and responsible for the financial support of their families, they have not been provided with the tools of education, job skills, good health, or leadership skills. All of these things are interconnected and lead to poverty. Currently, Afghanistan is using only half of its population to gain self-sufficiency: the men. To move forward, we must concentrate on the issues of women so they can take care of themselves, their families, and become leaders in their communities. 

 

EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICPEACE EDUCATION IN NEPAL

Ram Chandra Pau (Nepal) 

Based on experiences of CHILDREN-Nepal on empowering poor children, youth and their families and Atelier for Development & the Future, Japan (ADF) on Eco village design education in Japan, we have conducted 10 days Youth Camp about learning the basis of life and civilization of altruism in Pokhara Nepal during the civil war in Nepal. After that CN and ADF jointly designed and implemented Practical Peace Education Project for youth in Nepal for three years. We have developed Peace Education Manuals. We are proud that thousands of youth who were involved in this process are role models in our society. 

 

OCCUPY! ECONOMIC JUSTICE MOVEMENT: PEACE EDUCATION

Janet Gerson (USA) 

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) encampment in New York City’s financial district set off a wide-spread movement for economic justice. Under the slogan “We are the 99%”, people all over the US joined the protests against government and the demise of social services and protections. OWS echoes the global justice movement that rejects financialization and corporate “personhood” over human rights or democracy. What can we learn from OWS’s aims, actions, and developments? Gerson will use her participant experiences to view OWS through a peace educator’s lens. 

 

WORKSHOP SESSION (1:30-2:15) 

EXPERIENCING TRADE TO UNRAVEL FOOD INSECURITY – MOTIVATING THE YOUTH

Yuriko Yabu (Japan) 

The quantity of food produced cannot be the serious issue for hunger as we throw away one-third of perfectly edible food worldwide. This puzzle was how my class at Kinokuni Children’s Village Senior High School started to learn about the unjust mechanism of food trading. Achieving food security requires the world, especially the young generation who are still resistant to excusing injustice, to be informed of where the problems really lie. Thus, in this workshop, the way to get young people interested in realizing equitable trade system is sought by the use of the Trade Game invented by Christian Aid.  

 

CARROTMOB, BUYCOTTING AND ECO-PEDAGOGY

Kevin Kester (USA) 

This interactive workshop introduces tools of eco-activism including buycotting, political consumerism and carrotmob. Green consumers and environmental educators want to decrease businesses environmental impact. Such consumers are often willing to reward a business with profits if the business commits to the consumers’ demands. This process of consumer-directed values that seeks to reward businesses is called buycotting, and the link that connects the motivations of businesses to become more environmentally and socially responsible to the value-driven green consumer buycott could be the profit created through an emerging method of activism called carrotmob. The question is how to use of carrotmob as an eco-pedagogical tool to facilitate transformative environmental learning. This workshop will address inquiry on carrotmob and buycotting as possible forms of eco-pedagogy. 

 

CULTURE OF PEACE - INVOLVING AND ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING IN PEACE BUILDING

Anne Halvorsen (Norway) 

Norwegian teacher and International Peace Educator will offer her practical activities for understanding of peace. Participants will enjoy playfulness while having the opportunity to hear the reflections of someone who contributed to the founding the field of peace education. 

 

WORKSHOP SESSION (2:300-3:15) 

ECOVILLAGE - SUSTAINABLE LIVING AND EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Michiyo Furuhashi (Japan) 

Sustainability is the base of a peaceful and harmonious world. Ecovillage is the way of human beings to live sustainably. This session will introduce ecovillage life in Japan through the example of Konohana Family, and how their way of life will create harmonious world. I will also introduce a participatory program, “Ecovillage Design Education (EDE)” that has been held in 35 countries since 2007. EDE is a holistic program, which consists of four aspects ecological, economical, social, and most importantly, the spiritual as a foundation. The future of this planet depends on what kind of consciousness we human beings hold. 

 

STUDENTS’ EXCHANGES OF PEACE MESSAGES AFTER 3.11 DISASTER

Katsuyuki Nara (Japan) 

After 3.11 disaster, Shin-eiken (or Äi0the New English Teachers Association), a nationwide organization of English teachers at public or private schools, received a lot of “encouraging messages” from students abroad, including Turkey. I visited quake-& tsunami-stricken schools with those messages, and the students wrote “Thank-you messages,” which I sent to the foreign students by mail. After the 10.23 earthquake in Turkey, the Japanese students wrote encouraging messages for the students at the hardest-hit schools in Turkey, and I took the messages to the schools this March. Through the exchanges of “peace messages,” the students in hard times deepened mutual friendship and compassion.