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World Learning/SIT to Host Peace Advocates from Iraq, Sudan and 35 Other Countries

BRATTLEBORO, VT (May 16, 2007) - World Learning and The School for International Training are pleased to announce the CONTACT Summer Peacebuilding Institute, a three-week intensive program that will bring together 70 peacebuilders from 38 countries on SIT’s Brattleboro, Vermont campus beginning May 28, 2007. The Institute, now in its 11th year, seeks to engage participants in conflict transformation through a process of study, reflection, community-building and cross-cultural problem solving.

Participants in the 2007 Peacebuilding Institute include:
  • an Iraqi social worker and refugee living and working in Jordan;
  • a Sudanese community development specialist working with rural communities impacted by war;
  • and a Zimbabwean business journalist in exile in Namibia.

Along with their colleagues – most of whom have experienced the costs of war first-hand – they will explore the causes and complexities of modern conflict and explore responses to conflict that can break cycles of revenge, hostility and division. Upon returning home, participants bring their experiences to bear on conflict and reconciliation activities in their native countries and become part of a global support network of professionals working to promote justice and peace through shared strategies and learning across cultures.

"This program has shown great success in bringing people together across ethnic and religious divides to explore the roots of conflict," says Carol Bellamy, President and CEO of World Learning. "We are always thrilled to play host to this truly international gathering of people seeking a pathway to tolerance."

The Summer Peacebuilding Institute will take place on the SIT campus in Brattleboro, Vermont from May 28 to June 15, 2007. Some participants will continue their studies toward a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation, with a field component that takes place in Rwanda in January, 2008.