Peace/conflict

The Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) grew out of various direct forms of peace-building in Western Slavonia, such as the Voluntary Project Pakrac, from 1993 to 1997). CPS aims at promoting the values of non-violence, social justice, respect for human rights, tolerance, and accepting differences through participative methods such as peace education, research, and through publicly advocating peace-building.
CPS operates through two complementary programs – peace education and peace-building public policies, with a focus on human and minority rights, human security, combating discrimination, asylum rights, education policies, and on dealing with the past.
CPS considers that through building a network of educated citizens, who are skilled in employing the values of peace-building, it contributes to the process of creating an active and influential civil society. By strengthening active and interested citizens, CPS acts as a driving force in promoting a positive and sustainable peace. CPS wants to share its peace-building experience with all interested citizens at the local, regional, and global level.
Through public events and public actions, CPS aims to influence the public, the media and state structures, as well as encourage them to be more active when it comes to the processes of facing the past, articulating peace-building policies, and the peace-building programs.
Today, The Centre for Peace Studies deems the following activities to be fundamentally essential for reducing the unjust distribution of power within society, and for the active transformation of conflict:
• Education for peace, non-violence, and on human rights;
• Advocating peace education within the system of formal education;
• Specialized education for implementing standards of protection of human rights, and for the implementation of anti-discriminatory norms;
• Transforming traditional concepts of security policies into concepts of the individual’s security;
• Fight against xenophobia and racism, advocating global human solidarity through the affirmation of asylum rights, as well as supporting the integration of foreigners based upon the principles of interculturalism;
• Advocating intercultural dialogue, and re-examining the traditional concepts of dominant identities;
• Individual work with victims of human-rights violations, and helping them to create a normal life as fulfilled members of our society;
• Reducing social-economic injustice and the exclusion of certain groups within society;

Public Policy Program. CPS follows all public policies dealing with issues identified as relevant within the extensive and positive context of peace-building. Those issues include – anti-discrimination, asylum rights, human security, interethnic relations, intercultural dialogue and peace education.
CPS works on public policies from the initial process of drafting and analyzing a particular policy; through which, CPS advocates a change or modification of a policy; conducts research and make recommendations as a basis for a certain policy and/or advocates for a new one. CPS advocates for extensive social change in all of the aforementioned issues. Through education and advocate campaigns, CPS addresses the public; while through research, analysis, and expertise, CPS contributes to changes in legislation.

Peace Education Program. CPS’s peace education program consists of: 1. Peace Studies as a holistic interdisciplinary peace-education program for interested citizens and citizens; 2. MIRamiDA Youth – a program for invigorating young people who are active in their own communities; 3. Human-Rights Schools – a training program for high-school students; 4. Trainings for Trainers as an empirical methodical trainings program for disseminating empirical participative peace education.

The Pantheater Hamburg e. V. is a group of professional actors who perform their own plays for children, adolescents and adults all over Germany. These plays are related to development policy in our One World. The group acts in schools, cultural centres, theatres and congregations, but also at public events, such as the Church Congress, meetings on the national level, conferences, congresses, fairs, as well as at events and project weeks in the context of global learning, development policy and environmental policy.

Bookable Event: Explorations in the One World

"Explorations in the One World" are multimedia and scenic travel narratives intended to provide information and encourage commitment to various subjects in an entertaining way. The explorations in Chile, Mexico, India, South Africa, Tanzania, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and Ghana deal with the struggle for democracy and social justice, fair trade, the situation of street children, racism, the privatisation of drinking water and solar power. They also deal with dignity, identity and much more.

This event includes the performance of an act and a subsequent dialogue with the audience. Moreover, the actors offer to participate in follow-up workshops.

In our charitable organisation, experts on educational matters and coaches from the Brandenburg and Berlin area are working on the following topics:

• adult and youth education in politics (development policy, ecology, development of democracy, civic participation, questions concerning human rights, migration, etc.)
• intercultural communication
• mediation and conflict management, mediation training and parental training
• organisation counselling
• anti-discrimination training
• study travels focusing on political and cultural matters and related to natural history in (Eastern) Germany and Eastern Europe

In terms of language and culture, we have gathered experiences and established contacts particularly with (Southeastern) Europe, Turkey, the Arab States, Israel, Latin America and Africa.

We invite to conferences, seminars, congresses, professional workshops and informal meetings. People from different backgrounds, positions and interests come together to inspire each other in thought, faith and practice. The centre of all our endeavours is the open dialogue which takes the differently minded serious without denying one's own position. The issues of our conferences derive from impulses given by our own staff, participants, guests and working groups assisting the Academy.

The workshop “Solidarische Welt e. V.” (founded in 1980) wants to offer possibilities together with the world store in Augsburg for united action beyond borders. This includes educational work, fair trade, the work for a humane asylum and the support of single projects abroad. We work independently, of benefit to the public and regardless of political parties. Our work is performed in an honourary capacity and full-time. We offer regular series of events: Asia days, African weeks, fair week and peace actions. Moreover, single events, an educational material place, a public library and a north south-info archive. We publish north south information for teachers regularly.

Difäm, the German Institute for Medical Mission, based in Tübingen, was founded in 1906. It is a specialized advisory center, medical relief organization and bearer of the Paul Lechler Clinic for Tropical Diseases. We provide support to development and relief organizations worldwide (for example: Brot für die Welt [bread for the world], social welfare work and disaster aid) for the implementation of health projects; we assist our local partners in planning their projects and offer them ongoing support.

Our doctors have run health programs in southern countries for years and can thus provide the necessary specialized knowledge. Our main goal is to establish a firm basis for sustainable health care by promoting basic health care services and home health care. With our seminars in public health and treatment of tropical diseases, we further the training of local health care specialists and of qualified personnel.

Difäm promotes and carries out projects that help patients suffering from disabilities or diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and leprosy. Our medical aid service provides indispensable medicine, medical tools and auxiliary materials etc. for partner clinics and health care stations in over 90 countries around the world. Our long-term goal, however, is to make these countries independent of foreign aid. For this reason, Difäm provides raw materials, tools and training for local personnel in order to support the local production of pharmaceuticals. In addition to providing direct aid, we are also active in political lobbying and public campaigns for the right to health care.

Foundation for Citizens Cooperation tries to assist, coordinate and integrate democratic NGO-activities in Germany with a clear focus on smaller initiatives and Self-Help-Organisations.

The Foundation Education and Development is the Swiss centre for Global Education. We support teachers in Switzerland at all levels in their daily work by giving them impulses for their lessons which are directed towards a viable development in a global society. We sell and lend over 800 tried and tested teaching aids in German, French and Italian language. We provide teacher training. We inform and advise with relation to Global Education. We are part of a network of national and international organisations having similar aims. The services of the Foundation Education and Development are available at four regional centres throughout Switzerland: in the German and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking region, in the French-speaking region, and in the Italian-speaking region.

The Karl Kübel Foundation is a foundation that carries out activities in Germany as well as activities in the fields of development cooperation and development education.