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Where it all Began

By Magdalena Castillo

As I sit here at the Denver International Airport waiting to board my flight to Monterrey, I reflect on my experience with peacebuilding so far. Nerves set in as I worry that I’m not qualified enough to be part of such a prestigious program. I’m only 20 years old, I’ve only taken a handful of classes related to this practice, and I have never been a part of a family that has dealt with war-related trauma (one of the first things that used to come to mind when I thought of the word “conflict”). I’ve always felt like my exposure to conflict has been very limited, as I have been fortunate enough to attend good schools in safe communities and I’ve never had a family member in the military, for example. But after my last course at the University of Colorado Boulder, we observed several different types of conflict and I learned that conflict doesn’t always have to be large-scale violent acts. It can be the more small-scale, invisible, and subtle like what I’ve always known. Like the minorities in my internship at the Center for Inclusion and Social Change on campus who feel like they can’t succeed academically because of the lack of resources and support from school administration. Like roommate disputes over who’s cleaning the apartment which day. Like political elections. Or like the conflict that first made me recognize how important the field of peacebuilding really is.


In the country of my family’s origin, the Dominican Republic, I mostly have beautiful memories there. But the memories that stain my vision are the ones of discrimination and division that the Dominican people press upon the people of Haiti, their neighbors. As a child sitting in a nice car full of Dominican citizens hearing foul things said about the hardworking Haitians selling toys in the middle of the highway, I just couldn’t understand how two countries that share the same island could be so different and I especially couldn’t understand how the Dominican people were so unwilling to help the Haitians (or at least not be so hateful towards them). Ever since I first started realizing this non-violent conflict, I became increasingly interested in the field of peace building. The Haitan-Dominican conflict isn’t always physical violence; it can be invisible violence that nonetheless carries a heavy weight and needs peacebuilding.
Conflict isn’t black and white, it’s a blanket term that covers a widespread array of circumstances. I am eager to find out more about it and discover new ways of resolving conflict on any level, whether it be inter-personal or international. I hope to leave SPP with newfound knowledge and resources to inspire change, but most importantly, I wish to leave here hopeful for the future after meeting several amazing individuals dedicated to peace building.

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Finding my place in Peacebuilding

By: Óscar Cejudo Corbalán

“There are stages and sets of interrelated though very different skills that must be coordinated” – John Paul Lederach

The first memory I have of reading about peacebuilding brings me to a paragraph included in the article Civil Society and Reconciliation, by John Paul Lederach. Less than a year ago, I was assigned to read this piece for our Intro to Conflict Resolution course, and when reading this specific segment, it felt as if the author was talking directly to me.

It was my first semester studying my Master’s Degree in International Policy and Development, and my first theoretical approach to the field of Conflict Resolution (or Conflict Transformation, or Peace and Conflict Studies). Before that, I had completed my studies in Architecture to soon realize that my heart and my head were closer to the fight for Social Justice than it was to the noble and fascinating task of designing and building spaces. For this reason, I walked into a series of volunteering experiences that inevitably lead me to the desire (and need) to know more about the theories behind the practices. I came to study to Middlebury Institute, and I chose to focus on Conflict Resolution and Social Justice: because conflict is the ultimate expression our social struggles, and it is also a window to transformation.

In the article, Lederach proposes a beautiful and very clear metaphor (as usually happens with him) to explain what peacebuilding is. He suggests that peacebuilding could be understood as building a house. A house, he explains, “requires a vision, often contemplated early on in the architectural design, which provides an image and a direction.” However, (and I can testify to this) the initial design will be revised multiple times depending on many factors and specificities that will vary for each different project (terrain, structure, materials, plumbing, water evacuation, electrical engineering, air-conditioning and heating systems, fire protection system, etc.) Moreover, for all these different aspects there will usually be different professionals that will have to coordinate to produce such a complex and interrelated work.

What an elegant and efficient way to bridge my former career path with the one I am trying to get into! And beyond the anecdotic coincidence, what a great way to start understanding what peacebuilding means. In a world so immersed in conflict, Peace becomes an extraordinarily ambitious goal that can only be achieved by the cooperation of practically every component/discipline/system of our society. If we fail to take in to account all the aspects that shape our reality, we will probably fail. It was challenging and inspiring; and it reinforced my decision to start walking this path.

Despite (and probably because of) my limited experience in peacebuilding (that does not go beyond the receiving end of the academic setting), my interest and eager to know more has only increased since then. Summer Peacebuilding Program presents itself as a unique opportunity to keep learning and growing about such a complex field. I am excited to hear from scholars whose articles I have read for my Intro to Conflict Resolution course (such as the one from Lederach), and practitioners from organizations that I have been looking up to in the last year (since I entered this field). I am also eager to absorb as much as possible from the colleagues I will be sharing the experience with. I hope the sessions and activities raise a lot of questions, many answers, and even more questions from those answers that will keep pushing my curiosity for the field. Moreover, I hope to obtain a critical view of peacebuilding, to learn the reasons for skepticism and the potential (or actual) cons of the approach.

In essence, I would love for this experience to help me in the search for my path in the constantly expanding field of conflict resolution. I wrote at the beginning that I felt the author was talking directly to me, this was not (only) referring to the link Lederach establishes between my two realms of studies. When I decided to shift my career path, I was really skeptical on being able to actually contribute significantly to the field. Any discipline that works with/for society (the so called social sciences) has such a complex and ambiguous task in hands, and I had the feeling it might be late for me to step in the field since my foundation was a mix of technology and arts. However, Lederach text was inspiring, it was telling me that I (as anyone else coming from any other background that share the vision of peace) have a place in Peacebuilding, and I want to find my place.

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Peace and Physics

By: Sarah Inskeep

If my experience thus far is anything to go by, I imagine there are some questions lingering about what physics has to do with peace. The simplest answer I can give echoes something written here previously by Kim Chham: that peace is a goal toward which contributions can be made from all fields. Though academically physics and peacebuilding seem quite different, in many ways the subjects they work with are intertwined.

For me, the conceptual connection is that both are about problem solving – about understanding the dynamics of complex systems and seeing how each part relates to the whole. In a more concrete way, however, the connection may be most evident in the various applications of physics research. Oftentimes a discovery has the potential to be both very good for humanity, and also very tragic. So, while I am fascinated by the study of the universe for its own sake, when I look at the things happening in the world I cannot help but feel that in our quest for understanding in the universal scale, we’ve overlooked some very important things on the human scale.

It’s understandable, in a way. Though physics is known for its ability to explain many things, and for the sometimes counter-intuitive truths it reveals to us about the world we live in, most physicists I’ve talked with will candidly admit that the human side of things is the much more difficult. Nevertheless, a significant number of renowned physicists and mathematicians – perhaps most notably, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer – have called for a greater understanding of our relations with each other, and for an end to the use of violence as a means of addressing our problems.

Professor Albert Einstein giving an anti-hydrogen bomb speech for NBC at Princeton University in 1950.

I’ve so often heard it said that peace is an idealistic aim, a dream that is not aligned with the way the world really is. Though I spent much of my childhood thinking of what a more peaceful world would look like – both on the small scale, in my own divided family, and on the big scale, in the stories I heard from veterans returning from deployment – I came to a point where I wondered if those things I heard were true. This, in part, was why I turned to physics. I wanted a more concrete way of understanding. Finding, then, that those who dedicated their lives to studying the world ‘the way it really is’ also called for and believed in peace has inspired me to return to the questions I always asked growing up: what would a peaceful world look like, and what can I do to help make it a reality?

The search for answers to those two questions lead me to join the Summer Peacebuilding Program. During the academic year most of my time is dedicated to physics – in addition to classes, I work as a teaching assistant for the university’s descriptive astronomy class and as a research assistant in a plant ecophysiology lab contributing to the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). While I have taken a number of classes for my minor, conflict analysis and trauma studies, that relate to the field of peacebuilding, I have had little chance thus far to see how the concepts I study apply to the world in a more concrete way. Thus, I am very much looking forward to the experiential aspects of the SPP, and to learning from those who have dedicated their lives to this work.

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Peace: my name and passion

By Diana Garcia

My last name is Paz, which means Peace in Spanish. One will believe that after a lifetime of repeating it, the meaning of the word would be evident and superfluous to define. However, after 20 years of seeking for the definition, I am still unsure of what it is and what it looks like in real life. The only certain thing is that Peace is beyond being my identity, is my lifelong passion. Thankfully, the quest to define this concept has led me to several enjoyable activities, projects and adventures.


I first concretely got involved with peacebuilding, when at 16 years old along with a friend, we created a foundation. It was located in a disfavor zone of Mexico City – my hometown- where organized crime was prominent. The omnipresence of violence in the neighborhood affected negatively the youth of the community; it was dangerous to play outside and often joining these groups seemed like the only option or at least the most profitable one. Thus, we created a safe space where kids and teenagers, could play soccer – our national sport- and get access to educational tools such as talks on conflict resolution and sexual education. Although we did not solve all the problems of the community, we contributed to the construction of a better social cohesion and improved tools for dispute transformation. In June 2016, we received the “Best Realization of a Startup” prize by Numa Institute Mexico and the French Embassy in Mexico.
Later, my passion for peacebuilding was accentuated when I discovered Model of United Nations. I love solving conflicts through debate and negotiation even if they are just a simulation. I was also inspired by the fervor of all the young people that participated and were so invested in the construction of a better world. I went on to create the first MUN conference and team in my high school and nowadays I am the Secretary-General of my college’s team. Ever since I discovered this academic activity, my goal has become to one day work at an international organization to participate in the construction of sustainable inclusive peace.
This same love for conflict resolution and peacebuilding lead me to study Political Science and International Studies with a concentration in Human Rights and Humanitarianism at Macalester College. Saint Paul (MN) and Mexico City are pretty different cities; in Mexico, the biggest threat is organized crime, in Minnesota, the biggest danger is the cold. Nevertheless, my new community is not exempt from conflicts. My experience with peacebuilding in my college community has been in the realm of gender and sexual violence. I am the co-chair of the organization Feminists in Action-Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault and a sexual health peer educator. These two groups work against gender and sexual violence, through the organization of workshops, conferences, and events. It is a way to construct peace on our campus since sexual violence is a problem that gravely affects our community. 
Moreover, ever since last March, I have collaborated with the Institute of Economics and Peace in NYC and Mexico City. Although I have executed several activities for peace construction with them, the two most meaningful ones for me were giving a “positive peace and violence prevention” conference/workshop to sergeants still in military school. As well as creating a study group with different sectors of the civil society for the study and analysis of victims of the current Mexican violent context.
Furthermore, in December 2018, along with a friend I created the initiative Nuestra Paz. It is a project that works to integrate young people in the Mexican peace process. Through a survey, we collect youth’s perception of the general violence situation in Mexico City, and what they imagine peace would look like in their communities. Based on their responses, we develop local solutions in collaborations, multiple actors. I presented this initiative at the 2019 UN Youth Assembly and it was awarded the Live It fund.
I hope that during my time at SPP I will obtain the pertinent tools to create sustainable positive change in my country, Mexico. For the past year, I have been involved in increasing youth participation in the national peace process. In SPP I will be able to enhance my abilities for conflict analysis and management, and thus, make my work more impactful. Moreover, I would love to be part of this program to gain from the incredible faculty, a broader vision of the world and to have a better understanding of how conflict is a vehicle for change. I believe that thanks to this experience I will obtain the materials and skills to use for the construction of impactful comprehensive actions to change the situation of violence and inequality in my home country. Furthermore, I look forward to exchanging ideas with my peers and hopefully engage in a trans-national project for peacebuilding. SPP offers the perfect opportunity for me to continue developing my passion for social justice and my will to change the world.

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Am I Peaceful?

By Megan Salmon

I like to think so. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to work in international human rights and social justice. Yes, it’s a very strange career goal for a first grader, but when I saw a documentary about Martin Luther King Jr., I felt like I had a calling. I’ve always said that I am 100% dedicated to serving anyone and everyone the rights and peace that they deserve. Social justice and peace became an integral part of my identity.

And yet, I guess I’m not so sure. I’ve also been a powerlifter my whole life. I wouldn’t define powerlifting as the opposite of peace, but if you can imagine a gym filled with huge men and women thriving on the idea that they are physically strong enough to win any fight that comes their way, you may not assume it is peaceful either. Further, I am the captain of my rugby team. It’s competitive, impulsive, violent, dirty and overall just a complete mess of people knocking each other as hard as they can to the ground. I think I’m peaceful but at the same time I feel very attached to these aggressive physical outlets in my life. There was a time while I was growing up that I became unsure of my own assertion that I was 100% dedicated to peace. How could someone with such “violent” interests be a peacemaker?

I started to realize, as I’m sure you do reading this, that these are just sports and they are not reality. Sure, I’ve broken a few girls bones in my day. Maybe even a lot of bones. But that doesn’t mean I’m not peaceful since they’re just sports, right? I could still say I was 100% dedicated to peace. This is where I began to have a problem.

If I continued to assert that I was 100% dedicated to peace, I had no evidence as to why. I knew that my aggressive sports history wasn’t evidence as to why not, but I realized that I wasn’t proving myself to be an advocate for peace. A peaceful person brings peace about to others, not just says that they are dedicated to it. I began volunteering, working with Amnesty International, advocating for political causes that served social justice, and local nonprofits that made real connections with people. I learned that this is what being “peaceful” really was, if you could even call it that. It wasn’t because I said I supported peace, but because I stepped out of my house and tried to make someone else’s day better each day. To me, this is the real intention behind peacebuilding, and I think SPP is going to help me discover more effective and larger-scale ways to do just that.

I like to think I’m peaceful, and not just because I support social justice, human rights or peace. I like to think I’m peaceful because I’m finally learning how to extend that support into real change for others.

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My Introduction to Peacebuilding

By Ariana Falco

Peacebuilding is a newer term in my vocabulary. I think when people hear peace they think it is easy, but it is a difficult process. Coming from a military family, I have seen first hand the effects of war and how it affects a person. PTSD affects individuals as well as families. As a kid I did not fully understand what PTSD was, and how it could change a person. As I grew older, I took more of an interest to it and realized that conflict led to this illness; and it encouraged me to look further into peacebuilding in college whether it be large scale international conflict or a small scale personal one. This image is from Carry the Load march supporting troops and honoring them.

  • Carry the Load 2013

When I began my academic career at CU Boulder, I knew I was interested in helping people, as well as learning more about communication. I chose the path of Strategic Communications with a focus in Advertising. My goal is to be a strategist. To further my education in this field, I decided to pursue a certificate in Peace, Conflict, and Security studies. I was introduced to the program through the intro course. I took it as a general education course, fell in love, and decided to pursue it. Thanks to my amazing professor, Michael English, he has made learning about peacebuilding understandable. I especially enjoyed my conflict communication course where we learned about how to interact with others from a personal level. 

This sparked my interest in Restorative Justice. I just recently became a Community Representation for the CU Restorative Justice program where I can sit in on facilitation and help others understand how to rebuild peacefully without a harsh reprimand. This volunteer opportunity will allow me to learn more by seeing the effects first hand. 

When I tell people my academic career and the path I have chosen I generally get the “oh that’s…interesting” reaction, followed by multiple questions about why I chose this, what it is, and what I plan to do with it, because it’s often hard for people to see the correlation between these two vastly different studies. This is the reason why I love learning about peacebuilding and being able to take the knowledge learned and share it with others who are not familiar with it. Education is a vital tool that sparks interest and eagerness. I have experienced this myself and believe that everyone benefits when they are learning with a will and drive behind it. 

From this program I hope to walk away with a more solid knowledge about how to handle conflict and work towards peaceful solutions. Even though I am new to the field of peacebuilding, I plan to bring my different perspective to the table and learn from others. 

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Improvement of treatment of perpetrators after conflict

By Duke Huang

Suspects await their turn in front of a gacaca court Reuters photographer

In the realm of peacebuilding, I think what we need to improve the most is our treatment to the actors or perpetrators of the conflict during post-conflict period. They are often deprived of social, economic opportunities if they were not tried and incarcerated for the actions they have committed during the conflict. Their grievance and sense of powerlessness are often the drive to continue the conflict. I am not condoning their actions during the conflict, nor am I thinking that they shouldn’t be responsible for their actions. However, our current treatment to them has not only proven useless, but also exacerbating the conflict. I don’t have the definitive answer to what we should do with the perpetrators after the conflict, but I believe that we should prioritize the reconciliation and improvement of social and economic situation between the victims and perpetrators. 

I have studied the reconciliation and transitional justice in Rwanda and South Africa. I am not sure if they were the correct route for these two countries to face their own trauma, but they were certainly the best route available at the time. Even though, there are still underlying social, economic and political issues dividing the people to this day, the truth and reconciliation commissions certainly provided a platform for people to discuss their pain and grievances, for both the victims and perpetrators.

It is certainly hard for the victims to accept that the perpetrators might not receive the retribution the victims are expecting. However, we need to consider the fact that retributive justice would not necessarily deter people from committing the atrocity nor would it help the victims to heal their pain. Fearing being incarcerated, the perpetrators might start a coup or continue commit atrocity.

I personally don’t have experience of peacebuilding, but I believe that the SPP at MIIS can provide me the skills and knowledge I need to tackle the issue of the treatment of actors and perpetrators of the conflict. 

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Starting Small

By Terah Clifford

Thus far, my experience of peacebuilding has focused on strengthening the communities I live and interact with on a regular basis. I have worked as a camp counsellor for children in the foster system, striving to create a space of peace and healing they can retreat to for a few days. I also live in a co-op during the school year where the term ‘restorative justice’ is a regular part of our vocabulary when it comes to addressing roommate and house-wide disputes. When I visited my family for Christmas, I went on house calls with the nonprofit my dad overseas that partners with the local police force to provide support to families who have encountered domestic violence. While these things may seem small, I have come to recognize and appreciate the microcosm they represent: examples of human conflict on a small scale that mimic aspects of conflict on a wider scale.

Conflict does not always mean armed conflict. Conflict exists in fractured communities and broken families, many of whom are oppressed by systems that do not give them a chance to know anything different. My initial conceptualization of peacebuilding came from an understanding of its meaning in a broad sense as it relates to nations experiencing turmoil or areas enduring constant violence and upheaval. I connoted peacebuilding with assisting overseas nations emerging from wars and helping them to rebuild and structure a new way of life. But already, my understanding of peacebuilding has begun to evolve and change, expanding  even as it moves closer to home. I believe methods learned through use in local and national situations have a bearing on solving problems on an international scale by applying similar concepts. 

I am reminded of models. Architectural models help us to envision what a proposed housing project, office building, school, or hospital could look like. They help the architect, the builder, the designer, to see where the light comes in, what accents can be added to create a unique space, what parts need to be fortified and where a supportive beam needs to be added. This process involves mistakes, questions, and encouragement, all of which are necessary to get to the finished product. Projects start small and slowly morph from a two-dimensional, theoretical idea into a fragile model, and then into a strong, physical structure. Ideas start small, and gain traction and substance as they move through the various stages. This is similar to how striving to bring peace to the everyday conflicts you see around you can transition into something bigger. 

If a classroom is the blueprint, then family or friends or workplace tension is the first model; community-oriented projects that address areas of need are the next as the lessons learned gain shape. And as these models are built, people learn, and the models grow stronger and bigger, until eventually they are full-sized structures. Starting small allows you to learn how to build peace with the people that you know and trust so you can take those lessons into the world. I view the Peacebuilding Program as the next model, and I look forward to seeing what we build over the next few weeks. 

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My Swat the Switzerland of Pakistan

By Dawood Shah

Swat valley Pakistan

I, Dawood, am a resident of the Swat valley. Swat is locally known as the Switzerland of Pakistan due to its beautiful green mountains, its picturesque valleys, and above all its beautiful people. Situated in the Northwest of Pakistan it has a population of two million people and the most visited tourist destinations of Pakistan till 2005. This beautiful paradise was turned into a conflict zone in 2006, when a local hardline cleric named MolviFazlullah, launched his illegal FM radio station, persuading the valley’s people to join his supporters and wage jihad on the stateof Pakistan for allying with the U.S in the latter’s War on Terror(WoT). Many people believe that Fazlullah was the outcome of the 2001 U.S campaign against the Afghan Taliban regime in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks in the U.S. The insurgencies on the U.S. forces in Afghanistan also spilled over and affected the western regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Swat, which situates in close proximity to the war-torn FATA andAfghanistan was one of them.

Swat was known for its liberal and progressive values and quality educational institutions, a society relatively forward looking than all the districts that exists in the surrounding. Fazlullah targeted these progressive values by hitting at girls education. Obscurantism was preached in which young peoples’sexual and reproductive rights were interpreted as a wrath of God, a strategy to obscure what is scientifically clear, attributing everything to God’s will. HIV/AIDS, for instance, was considered as God’s revenge on bad people. Less educated and unemployed young men joined his militia in their hundreds, swelling its ranks to around 6,000 foot soldiers. The State of Pakistan after huge losses to the social fabric of Swat, launched a military operation in 2008, too late to be effective. By thenFazlullah was already a phenomenon to have reckoned with. Instead of eliminating these militants, such military operations increased militancy, identifying the lack of official will to fight this war. In short, Swat was turned into a hub of Islamic militancy and extremism. Teenagers were turned into suicide bombers. My family, just like the two million Swat population, was the direct victim of this conflict, who suffered huge business and property losses due to Fazlullah extremism.

​I was in college student back then. For me, the classroom was not the only place for education, but to engage people and play my role for my community. This was the basic purpose behind my joining Youth Peace Network (Aware Girls) and later joined a network “Coalition For Peace”.I began to feel from the start that our people were living in a state of denial regarding the slow poisoning of the social fabrics by the wave of religious extremism. The lack of free debate about religion has given birth to a culture in which ignorance has stigmatized our society. 

What I wanted through the platform of Coalition for Peace was to pave a way for discussions which otherwise is not possible. My emphasis on engaging youngsters in group meetings is mainly due to their readiness to engage in free speech. I have found them curious enough to know what are happening around, which opens up a condition of possibility, a room to encourage them to talk, share and contest, if necessary. In this way, Coalition for Piece endeavors to protect and promote young people rights and responsibilities in a militancy-hit Swat, where religious obscurantism is already defeated following the 2009 military operation, but the culture of religious intolerance is still existing and will take much more efforts to be defeated through non-militarized peaceful means.This is what I am eager about, to facilitate these youngsters to live their lives as active and responsible citizens.

Conflict is not a given, natural phenomenon, it is the outcome of human actions, a tragedy with roots in policy level power politics or narrow mindedness at the quotidian (ethnic or tribal) level. The conflict from which my family and I suffered the most and about which I want to write here, qualified to be included in the first category, an example of State duplicity and discrimination. I want to show how this conflict affected my family and me and what I have learned from it.   

While, I am very active on the ground in my activism towards peace through young people, attending SPP, I want to learn from the experiences and approaches of scholars and practitioners who work on some of the most difficult challenges our world faces today, including resolving conflict, ending all forms of violence, providing social justice, and creating more secure and developed societies by transforming the conditions and relationships of conflict.  Through a process of self-reflection, gathering of theoretical and conceptual data and its application to real-world problems, I believe I will be the luckiest to have a chance of improving my approach. 

In all the interactive sessions of the Summer Peacebuilding Program, be it conceptual inputs, visits to on the ground active organizations, or practical sessions of application of the learned knowledge, will serve as not only a self reflection of my mistakes but also help in taking my confidence and perfection to the next level. 

After coming back to Pakistan, I want to strengthen my organization academically and practically to play its role in reviving the peace and tranquility of Swat. My ambition is to help my community and pay back to my Swat Valley and that people start calling it once again as the Switzerland of Pakistan. 

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New to Peacebuilding

By Joseph Hayashi

I have a lot of interest in the idea of Peacebuilding because of the fact that it is such a new concept to me. I had never thought about Peacebuilding until I came to the Middlebury Institute but there are instances in my life where I recognize that Peacebuilding would have had an effect on the lives of people around me.

I never thought there was anything strange about the way I grew up in a small town like Castroville, CA. I thought that being told not to go out at night, having drug dealers live two houses down from the house I grew up in, being taught what to do if a gang member asked me, “where I was from,” and hearing gunshots at night were all normal. There seemed to be nothing different or off about this to me because all of my friends went through this too. It wasn’t till I went to a different state for undergrad that I was told that that was not normal. It dawned on me how lucky I was because I was able to leave that, each night growing up, to go to my “safe” neighborhood.

While working in a jail, right out of undergrad, I remember having a conversation with an inmate about his life growing up. This man had been in and out of jail for violence and drug use. During our conversation, he told me about how he was used to drugs being in his life, growing up, because his mother and all of his friends used meth. He had told me about how he didn’t know what else to do but to use meth to fit in.

Both of these incidents showed me the disadvantages some people have to live with and what could push them to go down certain paths, even violent ones. This is why the idea of Peacebuilding is so interesting to me. I have personally met and known groups of people that could benefit from it.

I hope to learn more about the theories of Peacebuilding and learn how to put them into practice. I want a very hands-on approach to Peacebuilding so that we will be able to implement these techniques as thoroughly as possible.

Sites DOT MIISThe Middlebury Institute site network.