History of The Peace Foundation

HISTORY OF THE PEACE FOUNDATION
 EDUCATION, INFORMATION and RESEARCH

AIM:

To promote a climate of peace in Aotearoa-New Zealand and beyond, together with a public understanding of the mutual interdependence of all people (and countries). To this end the Foundation works to “provide practical tools for peaceful living” by:

- encouraging peace education as an integral part of both the education system and the wider community:
- encouraging the media to adopt a positive and balanced approach to issues affecting peace:
- providing resources and information for decision-making bodies about peace
education, social justice, foreign affairs, defence and disarmament policies:
- acting as a clearing house for the exchange of ideas and information concerning peace issues.

HISTORY and STRUCTURE:

The Foundation for Peace Studies Aotearoa-New Zealand (The Peace Foundation) was formed in 1975. The initiative came from a small group of people who were concerned about the growing levels violence in the world. Some had experience in overseas posts and were sensitive to world issues. A number of the original group were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) who had followed with interest the establishment of a Chair of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. Many universities around the world now present peace studies courses but in 1975 they were rare.

Valuable advice was given by Dr Norman Alcock, Founder and President of the Canadian Peace Research Institute, who visited New Zealand for the Foundation's inauguration, and gave the first of its Annual Peace Lectures. Patrons over the years have included U Thant, then General Secretary of the United Nations, Sir Guy Powles, New Zealand's first Ombudsman, Archbishop Sir Paul Reeves, Dame Catherine Tizard, Cardinal Thomas Williams, Dame Miraka Szaszy, Judge Mick Brown, and other distinguished New Zealanders. Current patrons are Professor Noam Chomsky, Dr John Hinchcliff, John Pilger, Sir Paul Reeves, Dame Laurie Salas, Susan Satyanand, Jack Shallcrass, Pauline Tangiora and Dr Marilyn Waring.

Presidents over the years have included John Male (founding President), Leslie Clements, Brian Davis, Ron O’Grady, Joan MacDonald, Kim Tay, Peter O’Connor and Alan Webb. The current President, elected at the 2007 Annual General Meeting, is Mayor Bob Harvey.

The Peace Foundation has its head office in Auckland, with a branch in Wellington. The activities of the Foundation are overseen by the Foundation's Council, which meets bi-monthly to deal with governance and policy issues. The Foundation's Auckland office employs 11 staff members and is supported by a number of volunteers. The majority of its work is focussed on delivering programmes in schools, running Schools’ Peace Week, the education resource centre and the Media Peace Awards.  The Wellington branch has two staff, and a number of interns and volunteers. It works mainly in the area of international affairs and youth outreach.

The Peace Foundation’s South Island office was run as a branch, in the home of Kate Dewes, from 1980 until 2004, when it was established as a separate legal entity - The Peace Foundation Disarmament and Security Centre, and is under the management of Kate and her husband Rob Green. Their main focus is international disarmament.  They also mentor a number of young people to work on youth issues and involve them in disarmament work.

The Foundation, in its formative years, received no Government funding, and depended solely on grants, fundraising, subscriptions and donations from its members. From 1988 onwards it has received grants from the Peace and Disarmament Education Trust, which was established with compensation money from the French government following the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985. In more recent years it has been contracted by a number of Government Ministries for work in schools.

An original aim of the Foundation for Peace Studies was to sponsor a Chair of Peace Studies at one of New Zealand's universities. To date, it still holds that such a Chair or Institute attached to one of our Tertiary Institutions is an essential goal. The then Christchurch Co-ordinator, Kate Dewes played a key role in helping to establish a number Peace Studies courses at the University of Canterbury. The Foundation has welcomed and helped support the initiative to establish the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. It has also helped to facilitate the introduction of Conflict Resolution courses at the Auckland University of Technology.

From the outset, the Foundation concentrated on providing resources and stimulus for peace education in educational institutions, as well as servicing community groups and the wider community. It participated in a series of conferences arranged by Russell Marshall, during his term as Minister of Education from 1987-1990, and made a major contribution to the development of the Government's Draft Peace Studies Guidelines for schools in 1988.  It also acted as a catalyst for the formation and/or maintenance of a number of groups including Students and Teachers Educating for Peace (STEP), Media Aware and the World Court Project (see www.disarmsecure.org/ for more information on this project).

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES:

In collaboration with the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), and in consultation with the Curriculum Development Unit of the former Department of Education, the Foundation published a resource book for teachers at the primary and intermediate level entitled Learning Peaceful Relationships. In 1986, as a contribution to the United Nations' International Year of Peace, the Foundation published a similar book for use in secondary schools entitled Extending Peaceful Relationships. In 1994, the first of a series of books for parents and teachers to help children handle their anger in constructive and non-violent ways - A Volcano in My Tummy - was published. Further resources in this series have been produced subsequently - Little Volcanoes, Adolescent Volcanoes and Volcanoes: Handling Anger (CD Rom). In 1989, when the School Charters were being drawn up under “Tomorrow’s Schools”, the Foundation produced a pamphlet for Boards of Trustee members on the implementation of peace education in schools.  In 2000 the Foundation published Thanks not Spanks, a book designed to give parents and caregivers ideas on how to raise children without resorting to violence, and in 2006 it published Happier Parenting, Happier Children.

The Foundation established the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme in 1991, in conjunction with Yvonne Duncan from Students and Teachers Educating for Peace (STEP) and Alyn Ware from the Mobile Peace Van. This outstandingly successful programme has been termed "an idea whose time has come", and Yvonne, as the Cool Schools' National Co-ordinator and Trainer from 1994 to 2006, grew the programme. It has been introduced to over 2000 schools around the country, and is now managed by Christina Barruel and Margot Pakenham. It is supported by the Cool Schools' Parents Programme and the Healthy Families programme which aim to extend the peer mediation and conflict resolution skills into the home and community. A two year trial of Cool Schools in Fiji began in May 2007.

In 2007 the Foundation began a three-year trial in schools of the Canadian programme Roots of Empathy.  Through this very successful programme, children as young as five acquire vital emotional literacy skills and learn how to ‘walk a mile in someone else’s shoes’. It also teaches students about babies’ needs, how to keep them safe and what it is to be a good parent. One of the key lessons is to “Never Shake a Baby”. The programme thus has the potential to break the cycle of intergenerational violence in families. The trial involves 10 schools in Auckland in Year One and by Year Three will be in 60 schools in three different centres.

The Peace Foundation Wellington branch offers schools in the region the Schools Outreach Programme, which aims to 'help youth to learn tolerance, reject violence and solve conflicts peacefully'.  The programme also covers wider issues of peace education and conflict resolution.

BEYOND THE SCHOOLS:

The Foundation's day-to-day activities are based on the provision of peace education material - teaching units, books and booklets, posters and films. It operates New Zealand's largest peace related education resource centres in Auckland and Christchurch. In addition other activities and projects include:

a)    publishing a number of books (see PF Resources).
b)    producing a quarterly newsletter - Peaceworks
c)    organising seminars and conferences.
d)    assisting other like-minded organisations and individuals.
e)    organising the Media Peace Awards since 1984.
f)    arranging speaking tours for overseas lecturers
g)    arranging exhibitions
h)    maintaining regular communication with other peace organisations world-wide.
i)    working to inform MPs and other community leaders on a variety of peace issues
 j) organising the annual Schools’ Peace Week (in August)

SUMMARY:

The Foundation came into being at a time when 'peace' was far from fashionable and its people worked with commitment and enthusiasm to promote peace education, the role of the UN and nuclear disarmament throughout the country. It can pride itself in helping to pioneer a concern for the issue of peace at all levels –  local, national and international. It can, with justification, take some responsibility for the increasing concern for peace in all sectors of the population.

The Foundation's role in providing material resources and information to other groups as they developed during the 1980s was vital. The decision to bring Dr Helen Caldicott to New Zealand, in 1983, can be pinpointed as a crucial turning point in the history of both the peace movement and the country as a whole. She helped spark a tremendous awakening and upsurge in activity that carried through to enable sufficient energy to be focussed on activities that led to New Zealand passing the Nuclear Free Zone Act in 1987.

Such occurrences happen only rarely in the life of any organisation, but it can be fairly claimed that the everyday 'spadework' for over a decade (1975-1987), although less spectacular, played an equally important role in New Zealand's crucial decision to take the stand against nuclear weapons that was hailed by many around the world as a sane step in an insane world, and a beacon of hope.

The Foundation has played a major role in the provision of peace education resources for schools from its inception in 1975 and especially since the directive from the Minister of Education of the then Labour Government in 1985 that 'peace studies' be integrated into the school curriculum. The Foundation has been able to bridge the gap between supply and demand for many teachers and educationalists, and continues to be the only organisation capable of fulfilling this role.

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