Global
Alliance

Global Alliance

The mission of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace is to enable and facilitate the capacity of its members to share and provide resources, encouragement, and support for existing and new national campaigns for Ministries and Departments of Peace around the world that would reflect and support the emergence of a global culture of peace.

 About

The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace is a worldwide community of civil society campaigns, organisations, committed citizens and elected and appointed government officials from over 30 countries (so far) who;
are calling and working for the establishment, in their governments and in governments around the world, of ministries and departments of peace that reflect and support the emergence of a global culture of peace and non-violence; and subscribe to the organizational and conflict resolution principles stated below

The purpose of the Global Alliance is to enable and facilitate the capacity of its network to share and provide one another with resources, encouragement, and support for existing and new national campaigns for Ministries and Departments of Peace. It also seeks, through the combined activities of the Global Alliance and its broader networks, to increase global understanding amongst civil societies and governments around the world of the need for Ministries and Departments of Peace.

Three countries already have such ministries – the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction in Nepal, the Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation, and Peace in the Solomon Islands, and recently the Ministry of Justice and Peace in Costa Rica.

A principle activity of the Global Alliance is its support for the annual Global Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace. The principal aims of the Global Summit are to build relationships, share experiences, learn from one another, have trainings that expand the bank of knowledge and skills of the community and raise awareness of the movement in the eyes of governments, civil society, and the general public.

The first Global Summit, attended by delegates from a dozen countries, was held in October 2005 in the United Kingdom, where the decision to form the Global Alliance was made. The Second Global Summit, held in June 2006 in Canada, was attended by people from 18 countries. The Third Global Summit took place in Japan in September 2007 with delegates attending from 21 countries. This year’s 2009 Fourth Global Summit is taking place in Costa Rica.

Among the key outcomes of the Summits are an associated global youth movement, which was launched at the Canada Summit and the African Alliance for Peace, which was formed by delegates from Africa to the Japan Summit in order to extend and coordinate the movement for ministries of peace throughout Africa.

Principles

Organizational Principals

As we continue our journey to govern ourselves in a Culture of Peace, we acknowledge that, in order to fulfill our vision and mission, we must live and practice a culture of peace. Therefore, we recognize that conscious process with clearly defined and consistently embodied principles will help us demonstrate what is possible. Healthy relationships are an essential component of our work and our policies, procedures and process reflect that as well.

  • Goodwill: Realizing that without goodwill there can be no lasting peace, the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace practices and advocates the use of goodwill in our relationships with all of Earth’s inhabitants, human and otherwise, and our shared natural systems.
  • Non-violence: The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace upholds the highest level of regard for all individuals and organisations. We commit to operate with integrity, with open communication and with respect for people, environment, and process. We endeavor to communicate our message in ways that do not do violence to the message itself.
  • Cooperation: We maintain an attitude of support and appreciation while working together on behalf of the common good. Our behaviour is consistent with our mission and core values as we strive to participate in a shared responsibility and shared leadership model.
  • Harmlessness: We strive never to compromise our core values and principles and to maintain our nonviolent focus in all things.
  • Clarity & Simplicity: We maintain focus as we keep things simple and work for the practical application of the vision and principles we share;
    • Clear areas of responsibility and accountability are maintained.
    • We keep in mind our objective, even under pressure.
    • Cooperatively developed policies, strategy,and action steps guide our co-working.
    • We establish clear procedures for decision making and effective program management.
    • We are conscious of creating a rhythm in our work together that supports life – individually, as a group, and of the project.
  • Interconnectedness: We acknowledge that we live in a world of interconnected relationships – one world and we take responsibility for the presentation and influence of our work. We do what we can to support one another in our various areas of responsibility. It is our intention that all experience success and be supported in their work.
  • Inclusivity: We endeavour to resolve all questions and challenges by taking a long view and making choices that meet the needs of all concerned to the best of our ability. When faced with a choice of focusing narrowly or expanding, we include all in the process as we choose wisely and strive to create a world that works for everyone and is sustained as well.
  • Understanding: We seek to work with loving understanding and a conscious realisation of how we impact others and our environment, thus making wise choices.
    • Take responsibility for ourselves and our communication with others
    • Communicate in a timely manner
    • Directly communicate with others if we have an issue with them and call for facilitation or other support if necessary
    • Be open and honest with each other, offering feedback directly and kindly and receiving it in the spirit of cooperation rather than taking it personally.
  • Living a Culture of Peace: We strive to be the demonstration of the principles and concepts inherent in Ministries and Departments of Peace, as we live a Culture of Peace based on the principles of nonviolence and cooperation.
  • Shared Responsibility and Shared Leadership: We commit to taking our share of the responsibility of meeting our intentions and fulfilling our goals. At the same time, we realise that our actions influence everyone and everything around us. Therefore, we agree to do our part of this work with an awareness of and communication with all others involved in this endeavour. We also realize that essentially everyone is a leader, and we honour that in ourselves as each one of us leads in our area of responsibility while supporting the leadership of others.
  • Honest Communications: We acknowledge that communication is key to manifesting peace, healthy relationships and effective cooperation. Thus, westrive to:
    • Take responsibility for ourselves and our communication with others
    • Communicate in a timely manner
    • Directly communicate with others if we have an issue with them and call for facilitation or other support if necessary
    • Be open and honest with each other, offering feedback directly and kindly and receiving it in the spirit of cooperation rather than taking it personally.
  • Living a Culture of Peace: We strive to be the demonstration of the principles and concepts inherent in Ministries and Departments of Peace, as we live a Culture of Peace based on the principles of nonviolence and cooperation.
  • Shared Responsibility and Shared Leadership: We commit to taking our share of the responsibility of meeting our intentions and fulfilling our goals. At the same time, we realise that our actions influence everyone and everything around us. Therefore, we agree to do our part of this work with an awareness of and communication with all others involved in this endeavour. We also realize that essentially everyone is a leader, and we honour that in ourselves as each one of us leads in our area of responsibility while supporting the leadership of others.

Principles of Conflict Resolution*

The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace Campaign calls for an approach to resolving conflict, internationally and domestically that is rooted in the understanding that conflict must be addressed from a commitment to meeting the fundamental needs of all humanity for security, mutual respect and justice. Such an approach, which we might call the “peace approach” are founded on the following basic principles:

Bottom-Up: Peace building from below to develop a new architecture of peace based upon the aspirations of civil societies.

Partnership: Civil society working in partnership with governments to reveal possibilities for dialogue and conflict transformation in a given situation – domestic as well as international.

Inclusion: Engaging and empowering all stakeholders in a given conflict transformation.

Listening: Respectfully and empathetically listening to and recognising the legitimacy and needs of all parties.

Root Causes: Responding to the most fundamental human needs of sustenance, identity, security, and recognition.

Creativity: Opening space for the emergence of various possible outcomes to a given conflict and their potential for transformation.

Healing: Recognising mutual healing as a key to conflict transformation.

Modelling: In our attitudes, behaviours, life, and work, modelling the peace we seek in the world and taking responsibility for peaceful outcomes.

* These Peace Approach principles draw heavily from the work of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy and TRANSCEND.

Countries Currently Represented

Australia, Brasil, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Phillipines, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA