In Washington, D.C., vast discrepancies exist in the quality of a child's education depending on where he or she lives. Where some have opportunities, encouragement, and security, others are faced with obstacles and neglect, and fear for their own personal safety.

But imagine for a moment an entire community that truly provides a safe space for learning.  A place where each student has a teacher who encourages cooperation, understanding, communication and respect through practical, dynamic, and hands-on exercises. Where every classroom is structured to provide children with the means and time to confront and manage the conflicts they are facing in their daily lives. Where parents support these new approaches that their children are learning by also modeling them in the home. At one of the lowest income communities in Washington, D.C., we are seeing this image become a reality through our new program, DCPEACE.

The Program:

To address these needs that exist in our nation’s capitol, UPEACE/US has partnered with educators, administration, and parents in the District of Columbia Public School system to design and implement an innovative peace education and conflict prevention program for the 2008-2009 school year, which is comprised of:

Educator Trainings: UPEACE/US offers high quality professional development opportunities for educators. By conducting an initial needs assessments, we are able to offer teachers the skills, tools, and concepts necessary to address the challenges they are immediately facing in their classrooms. Our trainings aim to encourage the transfer of peace and conflict resolution skills to the students so they can effectively serve as peacebuilders in their schools and communities.

Skills for Understanding Modules: Which enable students to learn conflict resolution concepts and skills through concise and interactive workshops conducted by outside facilitators or teachers with the requisite training. This component offers students hands-on skills training and practice with important concepts spanning from effective communication and identity to understanding and global awareness.

Curriculum Enhancement: UPEACE/US equips educators with the appropriate materials, activities, and exercises necessary to successfully incorporate peace and conflict resolution methodology into their existing classroom curriculum. Each weekly curriculum enhancement lesson ties in with monthly program themes and builds sequentially upon the weeks prior, with the goal of encouraging repetition and solidification of these important concepts.

PeaceRooms: Additionally, UPEACE/US has developed an innovative virtual platform called PeaceRooms, in which students will be able to connect with an overseas partner schools for a year long collaboration and experience the tenets of conflict resolution education and explore themes such as multiculturalism, diversity, mutual understanding and world citizenship.

Parent Workshops: UPEACE/US staff will also coordinate high-quality training opportunities for parents to ensure that they are adequately equipped with the necessary skills to serve as positive role models; demonstrating the kind of communication we are striving for in the school system and at home.

Our Approach to Peacebuilding:

DCPEACE takes a holistic approach to educating children on the basic tenants of peace and conflict resolution and was designed to build a network to support peaceable decisions in the most influential elements of a child’s life. We do this through the utilization of learning opportunities, which arise through student interactions in the classroom, by creating an encouraging environment at school though teacher and principal support, and by promoting the nurturing of skills in the home through parent involvement.

Below are four principles that make our approach truly unique:

1. Long-term Commitment: Too often projects fail because they are short term in nature and orientation. We commit to working with fewer schools for an entire academic school year and in some cases longer. This allows us to engender trust with the community and see real change evolve.

2. Focus on Elementary Schools: We make a conscious decision to work with Elementary schools because that is where we believe we can make the most difference. Fostering core understandings of peace and conflict prevention when children are young ensures that those skills and outlooks have time to sink in as they mature into young adults. 

3. A Truly Comprehensive Approach: Our program is the first in DCPS to take one school and work with all members of the community: students, educators, parents and administrators alike for an entire year to create a culture of peace.

4. Existing Expertise and Networks: UPEACE/US relies on material, support, and expertise from United Nations-mandated University for Peace, a global leader in the field of peace education and conflict prevention. UPEACE/US has also teamed up with a number of local organizations to provide the school community with powerful interactive learning experiences.

Opportunities to Get Involved:

We are actively looking for partner organizations, sponsor businesses, and volunteers to engage with us as we expand this program. If you are interested in learning more and/or getting involved please visit our website (http://www.upeaceus.org/initiatives_education.htm) or email UPEACE/US Program Associate Kelsey Visser at kvisser@upeaceus.org.