Welcome Remarks

Dr. Didas Kayihura M. (Vice Chancellor, University of Rwanda)
Dr. Mandi Munro-Stasiuk (Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Kent State University)

Official Guest of Honor Remarks

Keynote Speaker

Dr. James Smith, Founder and Deputy Chair of Aegis Trust Board of Trustees

Dr. James Smitch is Co-Founder of the UK’s National Holocaust Centre and Museum (1995). As a medical doctor (Leeds 1993) James worked with the International Medical Corps in 1999 in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. He co-founded the Aegis Trust in 2000.   In 2004 he worked with survivors and Kigali City Council to establish the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda’s capital, at a site where 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi lie buried. It receives tens of thousands of visitors each year and is the base from which the Aegis Trust’s Peace Education Programme has been developed.  James visited Darfur in 2004 and was the first NGO head to call for its referral to the International Criminal Court. He is an author, editor and contributor to multiple films and publications on the Holocaust and genocide.

Moderator: Aggée Shyaka Mugabe (Centre for Conflict Management, University of Rwanda)

Understanding Rwanda’s Challenges to Peace Education: The Role of Class and Ethnicity

Benedict Ngala (Montgomery College)

Gender and Power in Rwanda: A Critical Analysis of the Girls Get Equal Campaign

Kudakwashe Makudo (University of East Anglia)

Can the Subaltern [T]each

Sarah Schmidt (Kent State University) and Sylvestre Nzahabwanayo (University of Rwanda)

Moderator: Amanda Johnson (Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, Kent State University)

Cultural diversity is a significant source of conflict. People often perceive the "other's" cultural differences as a “threat” to their own social group. Intercultural communication is the study of the interactions between individuals/groups from different cultures. It focuses on developing awareness of how cultural differences affect how people interact and perceive each other leading to cultural understanding and acceptance, preventing conflicts from escalating to violence, and generating long term, fundamental peace.

This workshop will help educators include intercultural communication practices in their practice. The workshop will be divided into three parts; (1) understand cultural differences and identify problematic practices such as ethnocentrism. (2) Recognize the importance of “intercultural communication” and how it can foster peacebuilding. And, (3) provide the participants with practical tips to include intercultural communication teaching in their courses.

Moderator: Alice Urusaro Karekezi (Centre for Conflict Management, University of Rwanda)

The Role of Natural Law in Promoting Peace Education in Rwanda

Denis Bikesha, University of Rwanda

Competition or Coordination Challenges: Reflections on Peace Education in Rwanda

Heli Habyarimana (University of Rwanda)

The Path of Peace

Jacqueline Uwimana (Umuseke)

Moderator: Sarah Schmidt (Office of Global Education Initiatives, Kent State University at Stark)

Social emotional learning (SEL) “is a methodology that helps students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others” (CASEL, para #3). In a blog on social, emotional learning and peace, Dr. Parada (nd) notes that social and emotional competencies, especially, self-awareness, self-management and social awareness, amongst others, lead to the development of peaceful societies.

Students who acquire SEL competencies are often self-aware, productive, can make positive, responsible decisions and can build positive relationships with others. This hands-on presentation will: 1. Briefly describe the benefits of SEL competencies & the different approaches to teaching SEL competencies; 2. Describe hands-on exercises/activities teachers or community leaders can use with students to develop self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and making responsible decisions; and 3. Share online resources dedicated to SEL competencies.

Moderator: Diane Ingabire Gasana (Aegis Trust)

Formal Inclusion of Civic Studies in Childhood Education Curriculum in Restoring Peace

Nnamdi Anero (Ignatius Ajuru University of Education)

Peace Education a Panacea for Curbing Social Vices Among Secondary School Student in the Delta State Nigeria

Chukwuemeke Buzome (Delta State University)

Where and How? A Systematic Review of the Contributions of Education to Peacebuilding

Adaobiagu Obiagu (University of Nigeria)

Moderator: Molly Merryman (School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University)

Histories of conflict create challenging moral and ethical dilemmas. Frequently parties to conflict will find their own values are challenged, the intersection of healing and justice is one such location. Sometimes forgiveness is a matter of life and death, hanging onto anger and resentment can prevent biological healing and contribute to blood pressure and heart disease, but perpetrators are unidentifiable or undeserving of forgiveness. In other cases trauma is shared across communities or inherited across generations. Can we make sense of forgiveness in the event of moral ambiguity and ethical uncertainty? 

This workshop will expose participants to different tools for framing the study of forgiveness. This participatory experience will showcase both the range of attitudes and beliefs relating to understandings of forgiveness and opportunities for using forgiveness to intervene in conflict de-escalation or peacebuilding processes. The ethics and metaphysics of forgiveness will challenge participants to think about who we forgive, what we forgive, when we forgive, why we forgive, and how we forgive.

Moderator: Amanda Johnson (Gerald H. Read Center, Kent State University)

Across the world, local communities are experiencing civic unrest, conflict, disconnectedness, among other challenges, which calls for communities to understand, reflect and act on commonly identified issues, and to develop community capacity building processes to advance community knowledge, intercultural understanding, empowerment and solutions.

Community-Library Inter-Action (CLIA), a project of the "Libraries for Peace" Initiative by the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs, responds to this need by supporting libraries to facilitate local dialogue and community action. CLIA is a process where libraries play a meaningful role in supporting community capacity building for social transformation. CLIA enables librarians to create space for community dialogue, and offer resources and support for deliberate community action for social change.

The CLIA workshop uses interactive methods for participants to: 1. Explore implementation of CLIA, enabling any type of library or other organization to strengthen its role in working WITH, not just FOR, communities; 2. Realign their thinking from being service providers and problem solvers to community connectors with the capacity to support shared goals and actions through the strengthening of community identity; and 3. Identify challenges and opportunities of CLIA in practice. Librarians, stakeholders and peace and change makers are invited to attend this workshop and learn to use the methodology to play a key role in developing peaceful and sustainable communities.

Moderator: Neil Cooper (School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University)

Civil Society and Peace Education: A Case Study of the War in Sierra Leone

Edmond Kposowa (Future In Our Hands Sierra Leone)—(FIOSL)

Isidro Fierro (Universidad Espiritu Santo)

The Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region: The Case of the Great Lake Region

Mike Salumu Mukandirwa (Independent Researcher)

Policy, Practice, and Peace Infrastructures: (Re)building Higher Education in Conflict Contexts

Ane Johnson (Rowan University)

Peace Education from the Latin American Perspective: The University's Role in Peace and Conflict

Kent State, University of Rwanda, and Aegis Trust cordially invite all registered attendees to a networking event with hors d'oeuvres and beverages (free of charge). Come to network with your colleagues from across the globe by the pool!

Sainte Famille Hotel
1 KN 1 St, 
Kigali, Rwanda

Moderator: Claver Irakoze (Aegis Trust)

This panel scrutinizes reconciliation aspects and realms, which are directly linked to intergenerational dialogue in post-genocide Rwanda and the way it relates to peacebuilding. The paper looks into existing approaches to promote dialogue around sensitive issues, such as genocide and its aftermath reconstruction process.

Such approaches include, but are not limited to community-based and young-people led peace education endeavors, peace and reconciliation spaces, trainings and other capacity building initiatives oriented towards achieving peace in post-genocide Rwanda. The interaction between parents/guardians and their dependents, particularly young people, is at the heart of this research.

Moderator: Sarah Schmidt (Office of Global Education Initiatives, Kent State University at Stark)

This panel explores three innovative models of experiential peace education, all of which explore ways of involving students in active learning about diversity, with a particular focus on marginalized sexualities and public engagement.

The first presentation addresses the concerning trend of legislators have attempted to restrict what teachers can discuss in the classroom and how anti-LGBTQ policy proposals would impact students and educators. The presentation will share strategies and resources on how educators can navigate the nuances of public policy and work to transform the classroom into a supportive environment that encourages participation from all students.

The next presentation emphasizes the importance of peace museums globally in the advancement of equity for marginalized communities and provides strategies for finding and using online museum materials in the classroom. It will focus on the Smithsonian’s African American Museum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the UK’s Queer Britain museum to explore various marginalized identities and strategies for incorporating museum visits into pedagogy.

The third presentation explores ways that teachers can involve students in community-based oral history interviews to expand understandings and contribute to local populations. This presentation will focus on students as researchers, and will address ethics and resources, as well as presenting examples of work. This panel will allow time for meaningful discussions/interactions and will provide attendees with resources and materials.

Moderator: Denis Bikesha (School of Law, University of Rwanda)

Rwanda’s 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi resulted in over one million deaths. Given that this genocide was notably intimate and systematic, profound trauma lingers among those who experienced it. Transgenerational trauma also affects Rwanda’s youth thus challenging progress toward authentic and sustainable peace.

In response, Never Again Rwanda (NAR), a national peace-building organization, created its Societal Healing and Participatory Governance Program (SHPGP) whereby schooling and non-schooling youth participated in healing spaces with a trained psychotherapist to address trauma and work toward building sustainable peace in their communities.

Results of paired t-tests using data from pre and post-tests reveal a statistically significant decline among participants in post-traumatic stress and low self-esteem along with statistically significant increases in psychological resilience and readiness for social interaction, personal sharing, trauma expression, and daily life. Cohn’s D statistics document that the effect sizes are large. Hence, NAR’s SHPGP offers a model for promoting recovery and peace building among youth living in post-genocide and post-conflict societies.

Moderator: Claver Irakoze (Aegis Trust)

The Book of Life, Archiving Life

Chaste Uwihoreye (Uyisenga Ni Imanzi UNM)

Visualising Peace

Gakire Katese Kiki (Women Cultural Center—WCC)

MAP Youth and Adult Master Trainers

Eric Kabera (Filmmaker) and Chaste Uwihoreye (Uyisenga Ni Imanzi UNM)

Moderator: Diane Ingabire Gasana (Aegis Trust)

This panel argues that education succeeds when children feel safe and secure – with one another, their teachers, and the context in which they learn. Such peacefulness is not a default way in which schools operate. The opposite is often the case, where pursuit of ‘excellence’ or ‘quality’ is paramount, attained through performative competitiveness. However, we argue that excellence, inclusion, equity and peace (building) can not only co-exist but mutually constitute a conducive environment in which all learners can achieve their full potential.

We illustrate this through vignettes from different country contexts; firstly, from the Second Chance accelerated learning programs for Out Of School Children in Ethiopia, with artistic representation of learning at its heart; its south-to-south transfer to Liberia where the very act of attending class is perceived by parents as peacebuilding, and Umubano Academy in Rwanda, built on partnership, community and teacher education for peace.

Moderator: Amanda Johnson (Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, Kent State University)

Among life’s most basic but consequential questions are, “Who am I?” and “Who do others say I am?”. Wolf Erlbruch’s crossover picture book "Die Grosse Frage/The Big Question" (2005) explores answers to these questions from a wide range of outside perspectives. Our workshop will demonstrate how we use this high quality, authentic crossover picturebook in our English language classrooms to not only promote discussion skills but to enhance critical thinking, deep self-reflection, and critical self-awareness.

As educators of students from around the globe, we recognize the importance of promoting skills that enable all students to effectively and empathically participate in our ever-changing, diverse, and interconnected world. We believe that through the sophistication and complexity of real-world circumstances offered by crossover picturebooks, we are promoting the foundations of peace through awareness of self and empathy for others.

Our workshop will offer guidance on the use of "The Big Question" for promoting literacy and language skills including vocabulary development, pronunciation and grammar. Participants will take part in an activity which ties critical thought and literacy development into a personal and introspective reflection about how they understand themselves through the eyes of others.

Moderator: Ane Johnson (Educational Services and Leadership, Rowan University)

Teaching Future Mathematics Teachers: What Does Peace Have to Do With It?

Joanne Caniglia (Kent State University) and Jean Francois Manuraho (University of Rwanda)

Education for Positive Peace: Strategies to Empower Teachers

Irene Connelly and Emilie Munyakazi (A Partner in Education)

Comparative Study of Social Factors, School Environmental Safety, and Public Secondary Education Attendance in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda

Matthew Oni (University of Ibadan)

Peer Mediation in School: Do Young People Support Peer Mediation?

Colins Imoh (University of Bradford)

Moderator: Aggée Shyaka Mugabe (Centre for Conflict Management, University of Rwanda)

Strengthening Women’s Community Leadership through Convergence Activities

Paul Bulambo (Association d’actions de Paix et de Développement Communautaire)—(APADEC)

Adult-Child Interactions, Seeds for Human Greatness: The Peruvian Experience

Martha Llanos (Peace Ambassadors)

Stories in Conversation: Storytelling as Informal Peace Education and a Tool for Transformational Learning

Camille Tinnin, Sophia Lucente, and Isaac Halaszi (Kent State University)

The Role of Libraries and Library & Information Sciences (LIS) Professionals in Peace Education

Peggy Nzomo and Clara Chu (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Moderator: Sarah Schmidt (Office of Global Education Initiatives, Kent State University at Stark)

Karl Marx once stated, “Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.” His message could not be more unwavering today.

Learning serves as a mechanism to foster this message. However, education in recent years has come under scrutiny for teaching a variety of paramount subjects important to understanding relationships and connections both domestically and across the world. In the United States since January 2021, 44 states have introduced bills or taken measures to restrict the teaching of critical race theory or limit how teachers can discuss sexism or racism in the classroom. These political efforts affect teaching in the classroom and in other areas of education across all disciplines. Navigating this turbulence will be crucial for educators in teaching future professionals. This session will explore ways to implement new pedagogy and curriculum that will educate and empower students with the knowledge of topics that often evoke conflict but are necessary to understand, promote and foster peace.

Moderator: Neil Cooper (School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University)

Human-wildlife conflicts are said to exist when wildlife poses “a direct threat to the safety, livelihood and wellbeing of people. Retaliation against the species blamed often ensues, leading to conflict between groups of people about what should be done to resolve the situation” (IUCN SSC HWCTF, 2020). In principle, human-wildlife conflicts can also occur when humans pose a threat to other species and their safety, rights and wellbeing (e.g.,animal rights violations).

These types of disputes represent more-than-human conflict and the potential for more-than-human conflict resolution. Common approaches to human-wildlife conflict management can include barrier mechanisms to separate humans from other species, financial mechanisms to incentivize co-existence, and environmental education to raise awareness about the benefits of wildlife and how to better manage potential threats posed by wildlife (Hsiao, 2022).

While environmental education is a prominent aspect of human-wildlife conflict management, it is rarely ever framed as a form of peace education. This means there are opportunities for peace education to consider how its pedagogy and approaches may be shaped to enhance nonviolent relations between humans and other species, as well as how environmental education could incorporate goals of social justice and peaceful change that are foundational to peace education. This session proposes to reconsider environmental education as a form of more-than-human peace education and inquires how it could better embrace peace education to improve the ways we build positive peace between all species.

This interactive skills workshop will enable researchers, educators, and practitioners to engage with arts-based methods from the project: Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP): Informing the National Curriculum and Youth Policy for Peacebuilding in Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Indonesia and Nepal. Led by young researchers from Rwanda, the workshop will provide a brief overview of different arts-based methods used in the project including drawing, images, film, drama, and creative writing and how these methods have enabled youth researchers to explore sources of conflict and pathways to peace within their schools and wider communities. Participants will be invited to select one of the methods to experiment in smaller breakout groups. The session will close with reflections from the breakout group and the opportunity to engage the young researchers in a Q and A, as well as view examples of participatory action research undertaken in the project.

Moderator: Elaine Hsiao (School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University)

MerceEducation for Global Peace (EGP) promotes research and pedagogy in peace education. In our forthcoming edited volume Teaching Peace amidst Conflict and Postcolonialism (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2023) we examine countries experiencing conflict and postcolonial struggles, where peace education is applied. An effective program of peace education responds to these dynamics meeting global, urgent problems and opening up new opportunities for peacebuilding.

In this roundtable discussion featuring editors and authors from the book, we address the fundamental question of can peace be taught, especially where the scars of war and legacies of colonialism are entrenched in society? Drawing on four of our ten case study chapters: Colombia, Nepal, Northern Ireland, and Uruguay, including a discussant on Kenyan peace education, the roundtable will discuss a variety of policies, cultures, actors, and pedagogies.

This Peace Education workshop will prepare learners with the attitudes, knowledge, skills, capacities, and best practices for fostering peaceable classrooms, homes, and school environments, with broader implications for our communities and nations. The workshop will explore the characteristics and traits of peaceful cultures and societies, and how to spread such conditions. We will challenge dominant narratives about human nature, interpersonal conflicts, violence and war.

Peace Education models and promotes behaviors and values where: 1) people address conflicts nonviolently, 2) where human rights are universally upheld, and 3) where social justice, ecological balance, and intercultural respect have become a reality. Indeed, data shows that graduates of Peace Education programs and schools contribute to more inclusive societies where all people are accepted. They are more likely to protect the environment, help those in need, and work for peace. The approach of the workshop will be interdisciplinary, drawing early childhood development theories, history, gender studies, biology, anthropology, archeology, sociology, psychology, the fine arts, and peace research, among other intellectual traditions.

Since 1981, Barbara has worked to end human rights abuses, violence, war, and ecological destruction. She protected civilians from the death squads in conflict zones as co-director of Peace Brigades International (20223-2008) and worked to establish 280 programs in the study of peace and conflict resolution on campuses around the world while Academic Director at the World Policy Institute (1981-1986).

She is a public scholar and peace practitioner with extensive knowledge of gender violence, peacebuilding, nonviolent social movements, and the political economy of war. She has been recognized for her leadership and “moral courage” four times by foundations and academic societies: The 2022 Mohanji International Foundation Award for “Visionary Leadership in Nurturing the Next Generation of Peacemakers”, the 2018 "Peace Educator of the Year", the 2018 and 2019 “Professor with the Greatest Impact”, and the 2015 and 2017 “My Favorite Professor” award. For five years, she served as Chair of the Board for Eyewitness Palestine / Interfaith Peacebuilders to end the Israel Occupation.

This workshop begins by addressing the impact of violent conflict on the lives of survivors (i.e., victims and victimizers) in a post-conflict environment. Next, it exposes participants to peacebuilding theories and practices to rebuild social cohesion (i.e., sense of living together) after violent conflict, highlighting their gaps.

Then, participants will examine peace education interventions and approaches in light of the current peacebuilding theories and practices to rebuild social cohesion after violent conflict and identify their limitations. Last, participants will explore cultural practices and processes to rebuild social cohesion after violent conflict and consider their implications for peace education in non-Western post-conflict contexts.

Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm is a researcher, trainer, and an educator in peace education, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution studies. He was born in Liberia, endured personal humiliation and torture during the heinous Liberian Civil War, and later fled Liberia to live as a refugee in several West African countries before relocating to the United States in 1997. He enrolled at Florida State University and as a student in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, organized a campus seminar to mitigate tensions between Christian and Muslim students, didactically using his own experiences as a victim of terror.

In recognition of his efforts, he received the Southern Poverty Law Center's Rosa Parks Tolerance Award in 2002. In 2004, he earned a Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. A year later, he returned to Liberia with the World Bank to work on peacebuilding community development projects. In 2008, he established the Center for Peace Education (CPE; www.peaceedu.org), a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping children and youth affected by war, born in conflict-affected societies, and growing up in post-conflict settings acquire the knowledge and tools to peacefully coexist.

For his dedication to peacebuilding, he received a Peacemaker Award from American University’s Peacebuilding and Development Institute in 2005. He earned his MPhil Degree in Education Research from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and his PhD in Education from the George Mason University College of Education and Human Development with a concentration in peacebuilding and conflict resolution that focuses on cultural practices in non-Western cultures to rebuild social cohesion after violent conflict.