SPECIAL NATIONAL CALL
THE CALIFORNIA PEACE ALLIANCE/
CAMPAIGN FOR A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACEBUILDING
Second Monday Telephone Conference on 10/14/13
Invites You to Join this National Call
Guest Speakers
MIKE ABKIN, ANNE CRETER,
KRISTIN FAMULA & DOT MAVER
U.S. REPRESENTATIVES TO THE 09/13 GAMIP SUMMIT IN GENEVA
Will Discuss
LOCAL TO GLOBAL GAMIP REPORT:
PEACEBUILDING & INFRASTRUCTURES OF PEACE
October 14, 2013 at SPECIAL TIME 6:00 - 7:15 pm Pacific / 9:00 - 10:15 pm Eastern
Call-in Number 1-862-902-0250 - Access Code 3698002#
"Infrastructures for peace are social structures that support and facilitate the manifold processes of peace. These include dialogue, reconciliation, mediation, peace education, restorative justice and many others. They need to be carried out with continuity, supported socially, and engaged by all stakeholders, starting at the local level. This is made possible by infrastructures for peace, which function as the implementing mechanisms for enabling environments of peace. They take the form of restorative circle systems, local peace committees, national Ministries for Peace, peace academies, peace museums, among others." GAMIP Literature, summit@gamip.org.
From September 16 - September 20, representatives of the United States and 54 other countries attended the Sixth Summit of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (GAMIP) in Geneva, Switzerland. GAMIP is a worldwide community of individuals in civil society, business and government who work toward a culture of peace by promoting the development of infrastructures for peace at various levels. The USA a founding member of GAMIP, joined other nations to discuss Nesting Peace, to dialogue about infrastructures for peace, and to create a summit that was an infrastructure for peace itself.
Our guest speakers -- Mike Abkin, Anne Creter, Kristin Famula, and Dot Maver -- represent three USA organizations which attended the GAMIP Summit, including The Peace Alliance (TPA), the National Peace Academy (NPA), and the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding (RPCP). In the US, many organizations work to create a culture of peace. TPA, NPA and RPCP are examples of distinct organizations, each working from local to global, that cooperate and collaborate with each other to further work for peace. See www.thepeacealliance.org, www.nationalpeaceacademy.us, www.centerforpeacebuilding.org and www.gamip.org. Click on the links to read reports submitted to GAMIP by TPA, NPA and RPCP.
On the call, our guests will discuss the history and current status of GAMIP, the Geneva Summit, concepts and practices related to the sustainable realization of peace, peacebuilding and what an infrastructure of peace is, experiences by civil society and by governments with infrastructures of peace, outcomes of the GAMIP Summit, lessons learned from the Summit, International Day of Peace at the United Nations in Geneva, and peacebuilding going forward.
Earlier GAMIP Summits were held in UK (2005), Canada (2006), Japan (2007), Costa Rica (2009), and South Africa (2011). In the last twelve years, the world has seen the creation of the first five national Ministries/ Commissions for Peace (Costa Rica, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Sudan) as well as offices, departments and other institutions for the promotion of peace within governments. Outside of government, countless more infrastructures of peace have been developed by civil society around the world, including with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and many others.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Mike Abkin serves as treasurer and on the Board of Directors of the National Peace Academy. He is one of the founders of the National Peace Academy and the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace. Mike previously served with Peace Partnership International, The Peace Alliance and its Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace, and the Foundation for Global Community (FGC). At FGC, he designed and facilitated courses related to personal and cultural transformation and developed a vocational training program in Afghanistan. In his former technical career, he applied systems analysis and simulation modeling for agricultural development and air transportation, including projects in Nigeria and Korea. Mike also served with the Peace Corp in Nigeria and earned his doctorate in systems science at Michigan State University.
Anne Creter has been working to cultivate a culture of peace at various levels, from local to global, since she retired from the state of New Jersey in 2003 as a licensed social worker. She had a 30-year career in welfare/ protective services, plus a private counseling practice. In those roles -- because violence was ever-present at the micro level -- she came to understand what Jane Addams meant that "working systemically at the macro level for peace is THE most fundamental social work." This led Anne to the United Nations NGO community where she now represents Operation Peace Through Unity (www.peacethroughunity.info). She co-chaired the "Culture of Peace Working Group" within the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns and now serves on the newly formed Unite for Culture of Peace group at the UN (www.gmcop.org). Anne has been UN Liaison to the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace and was New Jersey State Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Peace Campaign, as well as a District Team Leader. She currently serves on Philadelphia Yearly (Quaker) Meeting's Peace Standing Committee and Peace Day Philly 2012 (www.peacedayphilly.org).
Kristin Famula is Director of Programs for the National Peace Academy. She earned an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European Center for Peace Studies (EPU), in Stadtschlaining, Austria. For the past seven years, Kristin served as the Director of Religious Education at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado where she created innovative educational opportunities including an all-ages program dedicated to service and social justice. Until her recent move, she also worked as the state coordinator of Peace Alliance Colorado and is co-founder of the Colorado Peace Network.
Dorothy J. Maver, Ph.D. is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. Dot is President of the National Peace Academy in the USA, a founding board member of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace, and serves as Executive Director of The River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding in Gainesville, Florida USA. Her work in education, politics, and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding utilizing a shared responsibility and shared leadership model. From 2005 - 2007, Dot served as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace, and prior to that she was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President 2004. In the world of fast-pitch softball, Dr. Dot is know for her revolutionary fast-pitch hitting technique, The Maver Method: Secrets of Hitting Success and she is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom. Dot serves on the board of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in NYC. For UN International Day of Peace 2013, Dot served as co-chair of the IDP NGO Education Peace Team.
"... a culture of peace ... consists of values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect and inspire social interaction and sharing based on the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, all human rights, tolerance and solidarity, that reject violence and endeavor to prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation and that guarantee the full exercise of all rights and the means to participate fully in the development process of their society ...." - UN Resolution on International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001 - 2010)
Nancy Merritt
Northern California State Coordinator
The Peace Alliance/
Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peacebuilding
Join this historic effort to create a culture of peace.
