Event Highlights: The Power of Dialogue
We are glad so many members of our local community in Western Massachusetts could join us on June 11 for our event, Bringing the Lessons Home: The Power of Dialogue, Locally and Globally. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to discuss and reflect on our work with communities locally and globally, and how the work is being adapted to evolving needs and challenges.
We wanted to share a few highlights below from the discussion:
“We are trying to see that even when climate change is hitting hard, the farmers and the herders [will] not just pick up machetes and [attack] each other.”
In this short clip, Seth describes how diverse community members in Nigeria are thinking critically and advocating for peace.
The Protecting Our Communities Initiative has had far-reaching impacts in Nigerian communities, as climate change contributes to conflict among farmers and herders. We are now working on expanding this project to other nearby regions where climate change is exacerbating farmer-herder conflict.
Over the past three years, the project has set up sustainable, community-run peacekeeping and advocacy systems in 18 areas in Nigeria.
“A new version of our challenges emerged with the disconnection associated with COVID-19, and also remote school — the loss of those shared spaces and values.”
In this excerpt, Sam discusses how our BRAVE Schools program supports schools as they face new challenges from the pandemic.
BRAVE Schools is a new project that partners with middle and high schools in Western Massachusetts. In this first year, we have been working with eight schools to address hate-related incidents, prevent youth recruitment into violent ideologies, and strengthen inclusive school communities.
In the fall, we plan to facilitate support networks among participating schools, and strengthen threat assessment and restorative justice practices.
To see more of the event, check out this video of the whole presentation.
