NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace announced a number of new initiatives today that were a direct result of the Action Summit held earlier this month at the Manhattanville College in New York. Thirty Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian Seeds graduates, whose involvement with Seeds of Peace stretches over a decade, spent four days together developing programs and networking initiatives to enable and foster more communication and cooperation between Arabs and Israelis as well as to increase the impact and effectiveness of Seeds of Peace in the Middle East and world communities at large.
“We are pleased with the very clear and tight action plan the Seeds generated,” said Janet Wallach, president of Seeds of Peace. “These programs will be implemented by the Seeds themselves and will offer tremendous opportunities to enhance their leadership skills and to engage each other and their communities personally and professionally.”
Recognizing the need for programs that engage and empower Seeds now involved in professional careers, summit participants developed a series of initiatives to increase the potential of economic cooperation and professional networking opportunities between each other. Highlights include:
Connecting Israeli and Palestinian Schools
Israeli and Palestinian Seeds who received training in professional dialogue facilitation through an Seeds of Peace-sponsored conflict mediation course will engage students in Israeli and Palestinian schools in Jerusalem through regular dialogue sessions and recreational activities. This will enable the Seeds to practice their facilitation skills while also contributing to community outreach projects.
Business Forum
Israeli and Palestinian Seeds will provide local business professionals in both communities with the opportunity to network and engage each other in the service of economic cooperation. Speakers will be invited to address specific topics of interest to both the business community and the Seeds.
Professional Development Seminars
Creating groups of Arab and Israeli Seeds who share professional interests, educational sessions will be held on subjects such as law, education, business, and religion.
Political Educational Seminars
Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian Seeds will design a seminar series in each of their countries to gain in depth understanding of their own political systems, historical peace treaties and critical issues concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict. The culmination of the program will be a multinational event that enables the group to share their learnings and capture their findings in a joint document.
Community Outreach
In order to multiply the impact of Seeds of Peace in the societies of our alumni, Israeli and Arab Seeds will conduct extensive outreach programs to engage their families, friends, and community members. Specific programs include school and college presentations parent dialogue groups, and partnerships with local businesses, and community service organizations.
Mentorship Program
To create strong linkages between Seeds aged 14 to 27, older and younger Seeds will be paired together through a mentorship program emphasizing community involvement.
In addition to the new program initiatives derived from the Action Summit, Seeds of Peace was a participant in the Clinton Global Initiative where they announced the launch of the John P. Wallach Institute for Conflict Resolution, a $1.2 million initiative to provide advanced negotiation and mediation training to university-aged Israeli and Palestinian Seeds. The institute's mission will be to empower an emerging generation of Israeli and Palestinian youth to lead their communities toward peace. Program curriculum will cover human rights, gender issues, religion and democracy, and program participants will do outreach work using Seeds' communication technologies to expand their reach.
About Seeds of Peace
Seeds of Peace empowers leaders of the next generation. Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has graduated over 3,000 teenagers and young adults from several regions of conflict and has reached several thousand more in their communities through initiatives such as the International Camp in Maine, numerous regional workshops, educational and professional courses, and adult educator programs, as well as the extensive Seeds network. Participants develop empathy, respect, and confidence, and gain critical leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution skills. Many are now in positions of influence such as on the team of advisors to President Abbas, assistant to a member of the Knesset, or working at the World Bank, the United Nations and in TV and radio broadcasting.
Founded by the late John Wallach, former Hearst correspondent and author, Seeds of Peace is internationally recognized for its unique model of long-term engagement with its youth participants, its official support and endorsement by the government leadership of its participating delegations, and its ability to operate continuously to bring youth from regions of conflict together to commit to a model of coexistence and a path to peace.
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