State of Education and Peacebuilding

Global Peace Foundation
April 6, 2021

Forging a New Frontier in Education and Peacebuilding

Educational instruction and peacebuilding efforts have undergone transformational changes because of the global pandemic. Remote and hybrid learning has been implemented not as an intentional deployment of new teaching approaches, but as emergency measures to reduce the transmission of the virus in communities. Peacebuilding initiatives likewise have had to adapt to methods that limit person-to-person contact.

A panel of educators and peacebuilding practitioners explored promising approaches for preparing youth as positive agents of change during a March 24 virtual forum sponsored by the Global Peace Foundation and Co-operation Ireland. The panel, “the State of Education and Peacebuilding,” included educators from the Philippines and India and experts from the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) and Co-operation Ireland. The panel shared insights into empowering youth with the resilience, commitment, and creativity to shape the future of education and peacebuilding. 

Panelists included Margarita Consolacion Ballesteros, Director of the International Cooperation Office of the Philippines Department of Education; Tracy Burns, Senior Analyst in the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research; Karanam Pushpanadham, a professor at Maharaja Sayajiro University of Baroda in Delhi; and Matt Gamble, program coordinator for Co-operation Ireland.

The panelists shared best practices in reaching learners through online platforms, television, and lesson packets delivered to difficult to reach communities; reimagining schools as learning hubs to engage youth, educators, and communities; deploying digital resources to engage youth that otherwise may be left out of sustainable growth and development; and promoting efforts to engage youth from different backgrounds to build connections and peace.

Throughout the discussion, panelists shared various resources with international participants.

The Virtual Forum “State of Education and Peacebuilding” was moderated by Cat Lockman, International Director of Organizational Development at the Global Peace Foundation, and was a dedicated session of the two-day Peacesharing Forum: Forging a New Frontier in Education and Peacebuilding, which engaged observers from 69 countries.

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