INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE ON PEACE EDUCATION

Educating for Human Security & Survival:
Emergencies in Ecology, Energy, Economy

August 11-19, 2012 * Japan

The 2012 International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) will be hosted at the National Women’s Education Center (NWEC) near Tokyo, Japan, from August 11-19, 2012.  This year’s Institute is being organized in partnership with the National Peace Academy (home of the IIPE secretariat) and the Global Campaign for Peace Education Japan (GCPEJ) cooperating witha consortium of other national organizations invested in furthering peace education in Japan including the Society for Building a Culture of Peace.

For thirty years, IIPE has brought together educators, professional workers and activists in the field of peaceeducation,gathered from around the world to exchange experiences and learn with and from each other in an intensive short-term learning community that embodies the practices and principles of critical, participatory peace pedagogy.  IIPE 2012 participants, many whom will be drawn from Japan and S.E. Asia, will join with representatives from all other world regions.  This residential learning exchange will weave together experiential and theoretical contributions of participants to illuminate diverse views, explore educational applications, and assess possibilities for practical steps toward a less violent and more just world security system. 

Educating for Human Security & Survival:
Emergencies in Ecology, Energy, Economy

Japan’s recent coping with the environmental disasters of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the consequent nuclear meltdown resulting in ecological health crises and economic emergencies are relevant issues for people everywhere. In light of these concomitant crises, the IIPE 2012 peace learning community will inquire into human security possibilities for addressing current global emergencies in ecological imbalance, energy reconfiguring, and gapping economic inequities.  Human security and sustainability are fundamental to peace as  “a long-term and gutsy project...[that] requires social conditions that foster individual and societal well-being...surfaces differing perspectives and needs...[and] is an opportunity to rethink and reshape the prevailing status quo."(1)

IIPE participants are invited into an inquiry on how peace education and participatory learning communities can contribute to the human security and integrity of societies—regional, local and global; and what values, capacities, skills and practices can support protection, prevention and provision in emergencies.  The IIPE program will comprise thematic and interrelated participant-led presentations, workshops and discussions with some special emphasis on learning from the Japanese experience.  Sub-themes such as human security, the abolition of nuclear weapons, gender imbalance, capacity building, youth participation, and Japan-U.S. and Japan-Asia relations and their potential contributions to positive alternatives to the present interstate security system will be incorporated into the learning exchange.

Science educator Dr. Willard Jacobson asked, “What are our societal responsibilities? What responsibilities do we have for those who have less than enough? What responsibilities do we have to for the generations to come?” (2) These questions can help formulate human security alternatives to the dominant security concepts and policies that effect emergency prevention, protection and provision for current global emergencies.  Peace, human well-being and ecological sustainability are also under severe threat from multiple current wars and militarized conflict zones, the arms trade and proliferation of nuclear weapons, and rampant violence committed by state and non-state actors.

By challenging predominant assumptions of mainstream security thinking, IIPE 2012 will open the space to reconsider national, global and human security from a foundation of core principles of peace: principles of human dignity and well-being, human rights and social justice, diversity and inclusion, non-coercive forms of social and political order, ecological responsibility, and democratic participation.  IIPE founder Dr. Betty Reardon points out that a newly evolving security system discourse would necessitate processes that engage human imagination to redress real world problems (Reardon). (3) “Our work is inspired by a vision of a transformed global society, a human future for all the Earth’s people and a healthy future for our shared planet.” (4)

The understanding of human security in facing emergencies—both natural and man-made—is further informed by the National Peace Academy’s principled understanding of peace as “the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.” (5) This core principle is derived from the civil society document, the Earth Charter, which “posits a cosmopolitan imperative of peace as right relationships and a holistic pedagogy of peace." (6)

Japan’s recent crises have shown the world that relationship of Earth and human society must be thought of bi-directionally—that humans must take care of the environment and natural resources of the Earth that sustain human society. At the same time, human society must provide preventative, protective and responsible provisions in the face of climate change and natural disasters.  IIPE 2012 offers participants an opportunity to deliberate on these peace education issues in a community of inquiry, interpretation, shared reasoning, and learning. Multiple voices will be engaged in conceptualizing, strategizing, and practicing an alternative way that might allowing all peoples to realize the full range of their humanity.

Application Information

Click here to apply today using our online application system>>

Applicants can also request and submit a hard copy of the application.   Applications must be submitted by April 10, 2012 for full consideration. 

To assure that notices of acceptance are sent to all applicants in a timely fashion we strongly encourage applicants to apply early, preferably by April 1.  Notices of acceptances will be sent in late April. 

The IIPE attempts to practice the principles of peace education by engaging all participants in our short-term learning community in an experience of participatory learning in which all can learn from each other. Therefore the IIPE is limited to 65 total participants.  Having more than 65 participants diminishes the effectiveness of this aspect of the institute. The IIPE requires full-time participation from all participants. You must be able to participate in the full period of the IIPE (August 11-19) for your application to be considered.

Participation Fees

Participation fees are still being calculated.  They are estimated to be between $500-750 USD.  Participation fees cover all onsite costs including food, housing (double occupancy), local transportation and excursions. Single rooms are available at an additional cost.  

We are currently seeking other sources of funding and support that may later reduce the participation fees. Updated fees will be posted on the IIPE website.

Scholarship

The institute operates on a self-sustaining basis in which all participants, including the organizers and presenters pay their own travel and participation fees or find their own funding. The IIPE attempts each year to raise a small scholarship fund.  If you think you will be in need of scholarship please review the scholarship guidelines on the IIPE website and complete the additional scholarship application when applying.  

We also hope you might consider a contribution to the IIPE to fund scholarships. Your generosity will help ensure that those potential participants in greatest need of training and solidarity will be able to attend the institute. Click here to donate.   

Notes and References for Further Study