U.S.-Based Exchanges

Compton Peacebuilding Program for Southeastern Europe



	International policy advocacy training participants at World Learning's School for International training campus in Brattleboro, Vermont.

The Compton Peacebuilding Program supports fellowships and practical training projects for young civil society leaders that focus on peacebuilding and prevention of further conflicts in the region. In May 2000, World Learning STAR Network sent six participants from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia to the CONTACT (Conflict Transformation across Cultures) Summer Institute at World Learning's School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Compton peacebuilders received follow-up grants for small practical training projects in their communities.

Women Waging Peace (WWP)



Women Waging Peace 2000: Zorica Trifunovic, Serbia, discussing inter-ethnic peacebuilding with Cypriot and Sri Lankan delegates.

This global, multi-layer initiative to promote visibility, skill development and networking of women peace-builders was launched by Ambassador Swanee Hunt of the Hunt Alternatives Fund and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. STAR Network was selected as the implementing partner for the post-Yugoslav region because of its trusted working relationships with women throughout the region. Jill Benderly, STAR Network co-director in Zagreb, worked with the first delegation of 10 women from Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia. In December 1999, the delegation met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with 100 counterparts from nine other world conflict zones to share strategies and challenges.

As a local implementing partner, STAR Network continues to support the involvement of women from the region in WWP events and programs, the annual colloquia, cross-regional research projects, advocacy efforts and capacity building. A second colloquium took place on November 4-18, 2000, in Boston, where the Women Waging Peace network was expanded to include local partners from Burundi, Sri Lanka, Russia and Mexico. In December 2000, STAR Network participated in WWP's regional seminar, "Women in Politics," held in Belgrade, with participants from the post-Yugoslav countries, Europe and the US.

International Policy Advocacy (IPA)

A group of eight women from Serbia and Macedonia who are active in various sectors -- civil society (NGOs and trade unions), economic (business associations), and government (political parties, local government) -- attended the School for International Training's month-long International Policy Advocacy training program, held in Washington, DC; New York, NY; and Brattleboro, VT, in June 2001. Each participant has made a commitment to become a trainer in public policy advocacy in her local community, for which STAR Network will provide on-site support and financial assistance. The 2001 graduates will network with the 18 previous STAR Network IPA graduates from the Yugoslav Successor States, who will provide co-training and mentoring support. Recent IPA graduates from the Yugoslav Successor States prepared an activist/advocate tool kit, including a public policy manual increasingly recognized throughout the region and the world as a model guide (published by STAR Network in 1998).

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World Learning

World Learning International Development Programs

1015 15th Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20005 USA
Phone: (202) 408-5420 Fax: (202) 408-5397 Email: star@worldlearning.org