Educating for peace

  • January 23, 2012
Educating for peace

Sara Clarke-Habibi led a workshop on peace education at a conference last week.

A masters student who led a peace education initiative in schools in post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina delivered a workshop at a one-day conference on Peace, Conflict and Resolution last Friday [20th January].

Sara Clarke-Habibi’s session at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education conference was entitled Violence, Worldviews and Peace.

Sara [2011], who is doing an MPhil in Educational Research, says her session focused on the causes and impacts of mass violence on communities and the unique challenges that educators face in attempting to educate for peace, healing and reconciliation in post-conflict settings. It also covered the psychosocial characteristics of violence-affected communities and the role which worldviews play in the appearance and escalation of conflict.

For the session she drew on her experience of implementing an integrative Education for Peace model among primary and secondary schools in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina to show the practical challenges and opportunities associated with community reconciliation initiatives.

From 2000-2002, Sara was the National Coordinator of a successful pilot project of Education for Peace in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina which engaged 6,000 children and young people and 400 teachers and staff in a process of worldview exploration and transformation, psychosocial healing from the traumatic effects of the war, inter-ethnic reconciliation and participatory community rebuilding.

She was then appointed Associate Director of the International Education for Peace Institute in Switzerland where she worked with government agencies to achieve national policy integration of Education for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina, co-authored a series of Education for Peace curriculum manuals and developed interactive e-learning resources in Education for Peace for upper middle and secondary school students.

As well as studying for her MPhil, Sara acts as a consultant to various NGOs active in peace-building and inter-religious dialogue.

Her current research – her second masters – focuses on post-conflict recovery and reconciliation, trans-generational trauma and healing in violence-affected societies as well as peace education theory and practice.

Picture credit: Idea go and www.freedigitalphoto.net

Latest News

Harnessing youth to fight the obesity epidemic

D’Arcy Williams [2019] has just been appointed CEO of Bite Back, a UK-based charity campaigning to ensure that every young person has access to healthy and nutritious food. After leaving […]

How do we address the challenges of an ageing world?

Three Gates Cambridge Scholars debate the question “How do we address the challenges of an ageing world?” in the final episode of the second series of our podcast, So, now […]

Health impact: Gates Cambridge at 25

Health is a huge focus of many Gates Cambridge Scholars, whether directly for those studying medical-related subjects or access to health services, or indirectly as there are so many multi-layered […]

Report investigates barriers to Bangladeshi and Pakistani women’s work

Bangladeshi and Pakistani women in London face intersecting barriers to finding good work, including racism, religious and gender discrimination and limited workplace flexibility – and cultural norms, while they may […]