Delegation Leader Program

A Coexistence Experience for Adult Educators and Community Leaders

Since 1995, Seeds of Peace has partnered with adult leaders and local organizations in 22 countries as a means of strengthening on-the-ground institutions and efforts to promote cooperation, understanding and coexistence. The mission of the Seeds of Peace Delegation Leaders Program is to create the environment for Seeds to flourish at camp, in schools, in communities and across the lines of conflict, as well as creating the most effective cross-border network of educators dedicated to the mission of Seeds of Peace.

Parents – in Hebron or in Haifa, in Jerusalem, in Cairo, in Amman in Lahore or Mumbai – do not send their children far away, to the shores of Pleasant Lake, to a place called “Maine”, to meet people from the other side under current political conditions, without a substantial level of trust. The Delegation Leaders are living symbols of this trust. DLs represent the parents. They represent the home communities. The camp in Maine would not happen without the circles of support from educators and parents and community leaders. The Delegation Leaders Program grew as a response to the needs of Seeds, to the needs of the parents of Seeds, to the needs of the home communities, where “peace-making” and “peace-building”, are brave actions.

Since the first years of Seeds of Peace, the Delegation Leaders Program has grown and expanded in several ways. Some of this relates to camp. Some of it relates to a specific set of interconnected programs, to expanding circles of educators on the ground dedicated to the mission of Seeds of Peace.

Peace-building work requires trust on the ground and cooperation from people who can open doors. It is not easy to open the doors of a school in a place where conflict has raged for generations, and talk about the work of Seeds of Peace.

Imagine how difficult it is for parents and young people to decide to meet those from “the other side.” Imagine when a Seed returns home from the camp in Maine. How will other students react? How will teachers and other adults react? Often other students and teachers react with intense skepticism or even with extreme negativity. If a Seed returns to a school where there is no support for Seeds of Peace, the Seed will face an extremely difficult situation. If, in contrast, there are teachers, or even a principal, ho supports Seeds of Peace, and other Seesd as well, this makes all of the difference. If there are follow-up programs in the schools, and if the principal and teachers encourage the Seeds to continue, even to reach out to others who never made it to camp, this means an exponentially larger impact at an institutional level.

Seeds are leaders of the future. Seeds of Peace’s work is the work of generations. Delegation Leaders are people with power now. They open doors to schools, community centers and government offices. In recent years, the Delegation Leaders Program has expanded beyond those who go to the camp in Maine. First, as Seeds have become facilitators, they have been welcomed as Seeds of Peace Educators. As SOP Educators, they participate in programs with Delegation Leaders. At the same time, Delegation Leaders and graduates of the Seeds of Peace Arab Educators Program have reached into their communities to train educators in communication, dialogue, cross-cultural understanding, civic engagement and leadership, peaceful learning environments and the peaceful transformation of conflict. By doing this work, SOP Educators – Delegation Leaders, graduate Seeds who are now educators, and those who have been trained by SOP educational programs - are creating the environment for Seeds to flourish.

The objectives of the Delegation Leaders Program are as follows:

• To build and strengthen the institutional and community support that makes Seeds of Peace possible.

•   To improve the experience for Seeds at camp and in the region. Delegation Leaders participate in the selection of Seeds, in the orientation of Seeds and in follow-up programs.

• To do outreach on behalf of Seeds of Peace in schools and communities.

•  To refocus the Delegation Leaders Program by creating new programs that focus on a wider range of educators, including those who have not been to camp.

• To support Seeds of Peace educators in their work with youth. DLs teach the skills of dialogue, tolerance, civic engagement, leadership and the peaceful resolution of conflict. This education reaches Seeds, future Seeds, and those who will never have the chance to go to the camp in Maine.

• To create opportunities for SOP educators to develop themselves, to learn from one another and to learn from and cooperate with other individuals and organizations.

•  To create Cross-Border opportunities for educators, you, schools and communities.

• To make SOP increasingly more effective as a resource for others and for the overall peace-building and peace-education mission.

IF ONE DL BECOMES A COMMITTED SOP EDUCATOR, HE OR SHE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REACH HUNDREDS, EVEN THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS. BY REACHING OTHER EDUCATORS, THE IMPACT MULTIPLIES….

To read about the Delegation Leaders Summer Program click here. [0]