What kind of world do you want?

How about a safer one?

At the UCI Center for Citizen Peacebuilding we are working hard toward building a safer world. To find out more about both our research and peacebuilding activities please explore our website. We are interested in your ideas about how to build safer neighborhoods and a more peaceful planet.

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Accomplishments

Action / Action Research

• The Olive Tree Initiative
• Abkhaz-Georgian Dialogues and Research Projects: Continued action research on policy options in the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict and facilitation of collaboration among the international and local peacebuilders involved in peacebuilding in the region.
• Difficult Dialogues Project: Taking on a lead role this year in support of the Difficult Dialogues Project, the Center began facilitation of productive dialogue between UCI students through the International Studies lecture series and discussions at IPACS House.  Looking ahead, the goal is to build a comfortable discussion among students and then bring in our Board and the broader community in follow-up to the Cordoba Initiative.
• Youth Circus Project: Conducted our 2nd annual circus youth camp (Cirque du O.C.) with students from local Orange County communities, in collaboration with Scarlet Sisters Circus of Orange County, Girls, Inc. of Orange County and WAVE Trauma Centre of Northern Ireland.  Supported by graduate fellow Jennifer Luchesi Long, this year’s program provided a control group for comparison and assessment of the program’s benefits and impact, and affirmed the goal of providing a life-changing experience for the youth.  The program represents the Center’s achieved mission of clearly turning our research into informed action thereby creating a safer world – specifically creating the potential for a changed world in the lives of the youth we served.
• Picturing Peace Project: Supported the 1st annual Contest in Peace Photography in collaboration with ArtsBridge America and Lawrence University as part of the ongoing effort to disseminate the work of the Picturing Peace project through an online art gallery highlighting a lection of photographs made by 4th-12th grade school students, who participated in Picturing Peace programs in Southern California, Wisconsin, and Northern Ireland.  The photographs, grouped according to the symbols used by the students in all three cultures to communicate their ideas and feelings about peace, provide a catalyst to dialogue.
• The Malawi Project: Supported Daniel Wehrenfennig’s work in Malawi on a documentary film project capturing the history of the Malawian’s peaceful transition to a democratic political system for use in-country as well as for education of international audiences on successful non-violent conflict resolution.

Education

• Citizen Peacebuilding Award: Conferred 4th annual UCI Citizen Peacebuilding Award to 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai of Kenya in collaboration with the UCI School of Humanities.
• Connecting Women for Peace Workshop: As a result of the Maathai event, Conducted our 1st community peacebuilding workshop, “Connecting Women for Peace,” in collaboration with PeaceXPeace (subsequently accepted member of the Alliance for Peacebuilding).
• The Youth and Gang Violence Intervention Specialist Training Program: working in conjunction with the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles and L.A. Bridges to train community counselors in alternative dispute resolution techniques to help defuse conflict in urban environments, particularly between gangs and at-risk youth and other members of their communities.
• International Studies Forums: Continued to jointly host the International Studies forums on local and global peace issues.

Research

• Best Practices Symposia: Conducted our 5th Best Practices in Citizen Peacebuilding conference entitled, “Counter-terror and Human Rights: International Perspectives on National Insecurity” with a published book of results expected to be out early 2007.
• Student and Faculty Fellowships: Awarded 10 graduate student and faculty fellowships under the Shirin Ebadi Fellowship program in citizen peacebuilding and the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding research fellowships.