A Reflection on NARPI’s 2016 Summer Peacebuilding Training

If you would create something, you must be something

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (shared by Hong Soek “Scott” Kim – NARPI Facilitator).

Being a peacebuilder goes beyond what position you have in your organization or in the community. It is important for everyone to understand what peacebuilding means and how each of us must be a peacebuilder.

That opportunity came to me in August of 2016 when I participated in the Summer Peacebuilding Training of the Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI). Forty-nine participants gathered in Taiwan for the training, most of whom came from Japan and Korea.

Because I am new to peacebuilding, I chose Conflict and Peace Framework for the first week. I learned that there are many faces of peace, conflict and violence. The definition of conflict we came up with during our discussions was “conflict is something that happens anytime someone is trying to protect or defend his/her vested interests.” Conflict will result in violence if you will not deal with it or if you will just let yourself be taken over by your emotions. We just need to reflect and put ourselves in other people’s shoes first before reacting to something.

I was really moved when I presented myself as one of the Comfort Women in an activity where we used Ho’o Pono Pono and Samoan Circle Process to discuss what happened during World War II. It was a powerful experience, with each of us giving our different points of views of what happened before, what could have been done to prevent it, and what we can do in the future so it will not happen again.

This course was really an eye-opener for me. I grew up with no knowledge of peacebuilding work and ignored the things happening around me. Now, I can say that I’m aware of what we are going through but still searching for the right way to achieve peace. The biggest question I still have in my mind now is, Can fighting with your own countrymen achieve lasting peace? I hope while I continue to learn about peacebuilding I can find peace.

We are pleased to share with you the pdf Report of the MPI 2016 Annual Peacebuilding Training(5.56 MB) . The report provides an overview of all the activities and events that took place during the three-week training last May 16-June 3, 2016. Here, you will also read some of the reflections, insights and the collective experiences of those who were with us during this year’s Annual Peacebuilding Training.

  pdf Download the MPI 2016 Annual Peacebuilding Training Report here(5.56 MB) .

One important note about the MPI 2016 Report is that this is packaged differently, in an effort to make it more attractive and reader-friendly. We hope that you will enjoy reading this new formatted report. We would greatly appreciate hearing your responses, comments or suggestions on how we could do things better to improve both our reports and future trainings.

If you have not yet done so, take a look at the photos and videos from MPI's 2016 Annual Peacebuilding Training.

On another matter, we are happy to announce that we have already fixed the dates for the MPI 2017 Annual Peacebuilding Training, which will be held from May 8-26, 2017, in Davao City, Philippines. The MPI 2017 Information Packet will be shared with you by the first week of December, when applications will be officially opened. We will be sharing updates and the exciting new courses that we are developing for MPI 2017 in the weeks to come. As always, we ask that you help us disseminate this information to your colleagues, partners, networks, and friends.

Additionally, all updates and announcements about the upcoming 2017 training will be posted here on our website and on our Facebook page. We encourage you to visit these sites from time to time for the latest news and updates about MPI and the training.

We are truly grateful for your continued support to MPI. We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully seeing you next year.

On May 20, 2016, during the closing ceremony of the first week of MPI's 2016 Annual Peacebuilding Training, MPI Director Christine Vertucci and Peter Mae, Undersecretary of the Solomon Islands' Ministry of National Unity Reconciliation and Peace (MNURP), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU "states the intention of cooperation for collaboration on mutually beneficial learning and development opportunities in areas of peacebuilding."

The following press release was authored and made available by Peter Mae:

On 20 May 2016 at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute Foundation (MPI), in Davao City, Philippines the Ministry of National Unity Reconciliation and Peace (MNURP) has secured a long term learning and development empowerment initiative and understanding through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute Foundation. Given the unstoppable occurrences of local and national disputes and the probable flow-on effects from regional and international factors that can have the likelihood to inflate and escalate our local and national disputes into aggravating conflicts, MNURP has taken the learning and development approach to advance peacebuilding in this regard.

Photographs from MPI's 2016 Annual Peacebuilding Training are available on our website. Check them out here.

You will find photos from all the courses and major events, such as opening and closing rituals and cultural night. You can also find the class pictures for each class as full scale photos.

To download a photo, just click on any picture, and it will open up in a popup box. You will see a "DOWNLOAD" button in the bottom, left-hand corner in line with the Facebook like and Tweet buttons. Just click on the button to download the full photo. Photos downloaded this way do not have the MPI watermark.

Contact us if you have any questions or difficulty.