What. World BEYOND War (WBW) is teaming up with United4Change Center (U4C), the Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association (RPAA), and Peace First to launch a new webinar series on “Reimaging Peace and Security in Latin America”. The purpose of the webinar series is to co-create spaces for bringing in the voices and experiences of peacebuilders working, living, or studying in Central America, South America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean. Its goal is to elicit reflection, discussion, and action specific to promoting peace and challenging war.
The webinar series will comprise five webinars, one every month from April to July 2023, followed by a final webinar in September 2023.
Webinars 1, 2, and 3 will explore three broad strategies for ending war and establishing a just and sustainable peace: demilitarizing security, managing conflicts without violence, and creating a culture of peace, as outlined in ‘A Global Security System: An Alternative to War (AGSS). (See below). Each webinar will feature three prominent speakers with expertise in the topic in question and use break-out rooms and other forms of digital technology to support learning and sharing in real-time.
Webinars 4 and 5 shift the focus from education to action. We’ll move from learning about the three broad strategies for ending war and establishing a just and sustainable peace, addressed in previous webinars, towards the development of peacebuilding interventions that focus on how these strategies can be used and adapted in practice to improve the prospects for peace and security on-the-ground.
● Webinar 4 includes an online training session aimed at building the capacity of young people around peace projects and project management. This training session will feed into the development of youth-led peace projects.
● Webinar 5 provides young people with a platform to present the processes and outcomes of their youth-led peace projects to a wide, international, audience.
The webinar series has been designed to allow for a blend of reflection, dialogue, and action specific to promoting peace. There will be ample time for Q&A.
When: The webinar series will be held for 1.5 hours each month, for 4 months on Wednesdays, from April 19 to July 19, and the final webinar will be in September.
The start time for the webinars in various time zones are as follows:
● Webinar 1: Demilitarizing Security
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 6 – 8 pm ET
The focus of this webinar is on strategies for demilitarizing security. We’ll explore issues related to disarmament and divestment, the economics of peace and war, and the role of women in peace and security.
Speakers:
● Webinar 2: Managing Conflict without Violence
Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 6 – 8 pm ET
The focus of this webinar is on strategies for managing conflict without violence. We’ll explore issues related to global civil society / NGOs, international law, and global governance (or local infrastructures for peace).
Speakers: [coming soon]
● Webinar 3: Creating a Culture of Peace
Wednesday, June 21, 2023, 6 – 8 pm ET
The focus of this webinar is on strategies for creating a culture of peace. We’ll explore issues related to peace research, peace education, and the role of youth in peace and security.
Speakers: [coming soon]
● Webinar 4: Youth-led Action for Peace
Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 6 – 8 pm ET
Speakers: [coming soon]
The focus of this webinar is on youth-led peace projects. We’ll cover a range of topics, including needs analysis, project conceptualisation, and implementation through to monitoring, evaluation, and communicating the outcomes of the work.
● Webinar 5: Showcase of Youth-Led Initiatives
Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 6 – 8 pm ET
Speakers: [coming soon]
The focus of this webinar is on the processes and outcomes of youth-led peace projects. We’ll hear from young people, who tell us in their own words, how they went about designing and implementing youth-led projects as well as reflections on impacts achieved, challenges faced, and lessons learned along the way.
Where: Zoom (details to be shared upon registration). Register here
Why are we doing this? Latin America is among the world’s most violent regions, with one of the highest homicide rates around the globe, and a long history of armed conflict. In this webinar series, we’ll talk with leading experts about the challenges and opportunities for building sustainable peace in Latin America. We’ll showcase successful stories of peacebuilding efforts from the region. And we’ll explore ways of working together more effectively to build the peace movement in Latin America.
At the core of the webinar series is a call to action, a belief in the importance of engaging participants in learning that leads to action, with the goal of taking what they learned to make direct positive impacts on issues of war, inequality and peace.
Who is the webinar series for? The series is for everyone interested in or working on peace and security issues, especially in Latin America. In particular, it is for young people, and those working with them, who are interested in applying what they will learn in the webinar series to take action to promote peace via youth-led peace projects. On a broader level, the series may also appeal to others working on pro-peace and anti-war issues in different parts of the world.
The webinar series promises to be a fun, educational, and empowering experience with lots of opportunities to network and build community in support of peace.
Everyone registered for the webinar series will receive a PDF versions of two books which will provide additional reading to those who want to go beyond what was covered in the webinar series.
● The Monroe Doctrine at 200 and What to Replace it With (Swanson, 2023)
● A Global Security System: An Alternative to War (AGSS) (World BEYOND War, 2020).
Can I participate when I want? Yes, you are welcome and encouraged to attend whenever you have time. Note that all webinars will be recorded and placed on the webinar series website. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a discount for attending only some of the webinars. You do not need to tell us which ones you plan to attend. Simply attend those you can attend. We also cannot make these tickets refundable.
Who can we contact for further information?
● Dr. Phill Gittins, World BEYOND War, phill@worldbeyondwar.org
● Ximena Murillo, United4Change Center (U4C), xmurillo@united4changecenter.org
● Xochilt Exué Hernández Leiva, Peace First, xhernandezleiva@peacefirst.org
Who are the facilitating organisations? The webinar series is the result of four entities coming together to create something new:
● World BEYOND War (WBW) is a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace.
● United4Change Center (U4C) promotes social justice and peace through collaborative partnerships that empower marginalized groups, creating conditions for self-directed, dignified, and sustainable existence.
● Peace First supports young people around the world to lead social change in their communities.
● Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association (RPAA) works to organize Rotary Peace Fellow alumni and increase networking opportunities among Peace Fellows, and better facilitate collaboration with Rotary to expand the promotion of peace.
(NOTE: The webinars will be held in Spanish, English, or Portuguese – with simultaneous interpretation and translation services).
Is there any cost to participate? Yes, purchase tickets below.
.Do I need to opt-into receiving emails? Yes, so that we are able to send you the event information.
