PeaceJam
From Service-Learning Wiki
PeaceJam is an international education program that connects young people with Nobel Peace Laureates to learn about and address root problems in our world today. PeaceJam is built on three core components: education, inspiration and action. PeaceJam was founded during Denver, Colorado’s summer of violence in 1996, and was inspired by one founder’s encounter with Denver gang members. These young people embodied a paradox: the gun-wielding youths lived in a culture of violence, yet they highly regarded Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. The founders envisioned leveraging the power of peacemakers’ stories to transform young people and their communities. They traveled to India and presented their ideas to the Dali Lama, who said he would join their effort if other Nobel Peace Prize winners would also join the cause. Nobel laureates now work with young people internationally on peace-oriented service-learning projects.
Contents |
The PeaceJam Approach to Service-Learning
PeaceJam's service-learning process starts with education as kindergarten through university students are guided through age-appropriate, award-winning curriculum centered around the lives and work of participating Nobel Peace Laureates. Teachers are trained by PeaceJam to facilitate standards-based literacy, civics and geography content; leadership development; conflict resolution; and character development. The lessons all relate back to the work of the Laureates.
Education is followed by inspiration. This inspiration comes through online social networking on the PeaceJam website as students inspire each other by connecting around a shared purpose. In addition, students are inspired at regional PeaceJam conferences, as they interact with and present their work to Laureates. Students get to know each Laureate on a personal level, finding inspiration from their choice to dedicate their lives to peace, equality, justice and a better world.
Only after being properly educated and inspired, students respond to PeaceJam's Global Call to Action, initiating projects designed to address the most pressing issues in our world. Students and teachers follow the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice as they implement widely-varied projects based on both local and global community needs. Students conduct research and seek to deeply understand the issue. They then develop and implement their plan and register their project on the PeaceJam website. The Call to Action comes directly from the participating Nobel Peace Laureates. The movement aims to create and track one billion projects that address ten of the most pressing problems in our world.
Scope of Service-Learning
As of 2010, twelve Nobel Peace Laureates are working with youth around the world through PeaceJam’s global network of affiliate offices. Each year, approximately 15,000 students from around the world participate in PeaceJam with more than 600,000 participating since the organization's inception in 1996. Participating countries have included South Africa, Costa Rica, India, Guatemala, Kenya, Argentina, and Mexico. Programs exist in academic or non-academic settings ranging from traditional classrooms to afterschool programs to faith-based groups. It is often used as a school-wide or district-wide program, integrated into core curriculum and electives.
Intended Outcomes
PeaceJam's goal is to increase students' knowledge, inspiration and action. Academic outcomes include increased knowledge around social studies standards and the geopolitical issues of the Laureates' work. Students better understand patterns and common themes in dealing with complex social justice, human rights, and environmental issues through increased critical thinking skills. Students better understand the roots of violence and strategies to address them. And finally, PeaceJam aims to create a change in behavior—an increase in action. The orgnanization has embraced the academics of service-learning and combined that with movement-building; according to PeaceJam, this is what needs to happen to make it a global movement.
References
- Growing to Greatness (2005). St.Paul: National Youth Leadership Council. PDF
- Growing to Greatness (2010). St.Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
