Local Peace Committees: global experience for Ukrainian wartime realities

The topics of our events always sound acute and exciting, and this time is no exception: the topic of the seminar on development of Local Peace Committees in a war situation in Ukraine is especially relevant and useful for representatives of Ukrainian communities who host internally displaced persons, are local activists and are involved in peacebuilding issues.

During three days, from September 13 to 15, participants worked intensely, discovering the creation and functioning of Local Peace Committees as one of the newest peacebuilding practices. On the first day of the seminar, each of the participants learned that he/she  affects all the processes in their own community in a certain way, in particular, the processes of peacebuilding and dialogue.

There was a lot of teamwork at the second day of the seminar. Working in small groups, participants had the opportunity to simulate conflict situations and find ways to solve them. Subsequently, each individual case was analysed in a general circle under the guidance of the trainers. Conflicts were overlooked as an integral part of our society, because they are present in all spheres of our lives: in a family, everyday life or occupational activities. Besides, during the seminar our trainers Inna Boiko and Olena Nabokova managed to debunk myths and stereotypes that still surround the topics of violence, discrimination in society and clash of positions.

In general, the seminar was quite eventful: it included role-playing games, interactive exercises, intense discussions and debates, work in small groups, active games, brainstorming and mini-lectures between all activities. All this contributed to the effective assimilation of knowledge on the development and functioning of Local Peace Committees, the formation of the concept of the competencies and resources necessary for this.

In the future, the specific tools mastered by participants of the seminar will help them start peacebuilding processes in their communities, because the peace begins with each one of us.

The event was held in the frames of the "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward" project, implemented with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.