Switzerland - The Graduate Institute, Geneva

PLOWSHARES INSTITUTE
Address
Plowshares Institute, Box 243, 809 Hopmeadow
St., Simsbury, CT 06070, UK
Phone (860) 651-4304
Fax (860) 651-4305
Web www.plowsharesinstitute.org
E-Mail plowshares@plowsharesinstitute.org
Category Dialogue
MISSION STATEMENT
Plowshares Institute contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world community through research and education, service
to developing communities, and innovative training in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
Research identifies critical social, economic, and religious issues that threaten the harmony and sustainability of a humane society
and presents possible options for change.
Education exposes the "non-poor" to global interdependence and energizes them to address issues of injustice within their
organizations and individual lifestyles.
Training of local decision makers and leaders equips them to teach their constituencies to use the energy of conflict for positive
structural change and to intervene in the problems that threaten their communities.
Partnerships with international service organizations protect human rights, enhance democratic participation, and expand options
for sustainable development.
Founding year 1981
BACKGROUND AND ACTIVITIES
� Transforming conflicts through peacebuilding initiatives
Conflict transformation training based on moral, spiritual, and cultural values equips community leaders with skills to
constructively address conflicts.
� Developing innovative approaches to conflict and peace education
Plowshares generates new ideas and approaches and disseminates these to others in the peacebuilding and education
fields through research and writing.
� Increasing domestic awareness of global interdependence
Plowshares staff provide speaking, teaching, and preaching opportunities to educate civic and religious groups. Faithbased
approaches emphasize global interdependence, visions for global peace, and training in peacebuilding and the case
method.
� Decision makers in project areas are exposed to new and effective approaches to resolving conflict.
In a group of some 40 participants, almost all significantly widen their community network; most are able to become a
“mediating presence” in their areas of influence, modelling new approaches to conflict transformation and peacebuilding;
and a smaller number from each session will move to dedicate considerable time to teach others the skills and
approaches. Currently, more than 500 community and religious leaders participate in Plowshares-based conflict
transformation seminars each year in the U.S. and overseas, and some 50 voluntarily make major time commitments to
active peacebuilding roles in mediation and/or teaching.
� Southeast Asia: In response to escalating violence and terrorism in Indonesia, Plowshares and the Indonesian Ministry