| We want to encourage you to
look into the range of possibilities of groups that you could work
with, or groups from which you can get useful information about peace
work. When you hear someone talk about "peace work" or "peace
activism," it isn't immediately obvious what that means. So, it's
important for us all to educate ourselves about what peace projects
have been successful (or not so) in the past, what is being done now,
and what's possible for the future. A web search of "Peace organizations" will yield thousands of websites. We are listing just a few here that strike us as particularly intriguing, just enough to get you thinking. We welcome other suggestions of organizations or projects to describe (briefly) here. We do not claim any connection with any of the groups or projects listed below. Nor do we claim to know exactly what each group does. Therefore, the listings should be viewed as paths to information, not as endorsements. |
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| The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has
been around for more than 100 years. Their website includes
information about their own projects as well as a wide range of other
peace groups with which the IPB has worked. Web address: www.ipb.org. |
Global Peaceworks is
focused on the often intense religious conflict in India. The
organization gives people from India and other countries a chance to
work directly on projects that bring people of different religions
together, to see clearly the destructiveness of religious conflict, and
to appreciate the tremendous potential of cooperation. Web address: www.globalpeaceworks.org. |
| The Heifer Project is interesting because
it was not designed as a peace initiative. Yet it has become a
useful tool for peace by directly alleviating poverty, building
community, and encouraging cooperation between groups that have been
competing for scarce and vital resources. Web address: www.heifer.org. |
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
is one of those peculiar entities created by the U.S. Congress with
public funding for the purpose of functioning like an independent
organizationation (perhaps analagous to public broadcasting). As
such, it acts as a source of research and project grants and as a
clearinghouse for information related to U.S. government policy for
promoting peace abroad. You'll need to click on "About Us" to see
links to specific projects. Web address: www.usip.org. |
| The United Nations is probably the
most well-known peace organization on the planet. But it has some
flaws that are hard to ignore. You've heard the controversies in
the news. Check out their website to see the wide range of things
that they are doing. (It's not all bad!) Web address: www.un.org/english. |
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is
reportedly the oldest peace organization in the U.S. Their
projects tend to focus on sending Americans into areas of conflict so
that they can gain a clearer understanding of the roots of
conflict. In turn, those delegations return to the U.S. to share
their discoveries and to promote non-violent conflict resolution.
There are lots of informative resources on the site. Web address: www.forusa.org. |
| Youth for Understanding (YFU) was created in
1951 to give young Germans an opportunity to live with American
families and see that they were not the evil characters depicted in
Nazi propoganda. Now, YFU thrives as one of the oldest and
largest student exchange programs in the world, promoting international
understanding through exchanges with more than 50 countries.
(This is also an organization that we have supported for many years!) Web address: yfu.org. |
Watch for more entries to this page! |
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