Past and current activities of the main project

This project draws on a vast reservoir of experience in developing effective peace education programmes. This experience is integrated into this project through the participation of the Hague Appeal for Peace and the lessons learned from its Global Campaign for Peace Education. Additionally, in several venues cooperation and information sharing have already been undertaken with UNICEF, which has pilot peace education activities in Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia, and Tajikistan. In each of these cases, the evidence strongly suggests that violence reduction is most successful when community involvement is achieved and sustained.

Although there are no government-sponsored peace education programmes in the countries targeted for this project, in each country there are related initiatives that will give additional support to the DDA/Hague Appeal partnership.

• The most notable effort is in Niger, where in 1994 the government established a National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Arms, implementing the ECOWAS moratorium.
• There are two noteworthy peace education partners in Lima, Peru. The first is the Brigada de VoluntariosBolivarianosdelPeru, a social organization run by youth to train young people for leadership. Five to six hundred youth are in social service groups around the city. The second is EDUCA, which works with teachers and has established three education resource centres in the city's largest barrio, San Juan de Lurigancho.
• In Albania, the most relevant NGO initiative is the Albanian National Debate Association (ANDA). ANDA's goal is to inform and empower young people to be critical thinkers. The tenets of peace education are used to research and study controversial issues by organizing debating sessions in schools.
• In Cambodia, the most important organization is the Working Group on Weapons Reduction. WGWR has an education project to raise landmine awareness.