In response to the explosion of hate and identity-based violence around the World, the Aegis Trust and Million Peacemakers have come together to launch the Global Partnership for Peace and Humanity. Leveraging the expertise and networks of both organisations, the partnership will establish peace institutes, train a million peace-builders and provide immediate help in hotspots where peace building is most urgent.
“Hate is a global virus,” Aegis Founder and Deputy Chair Dr James Smith says in a short film introducing the partnership’s fundraising campaign. “Today, our Global Partnership for Peace and Humanity – bringing together Million Peacemakers and the Aegis Trust – has vaccines ready for widespread adoption.”
“In Rwanda, Aegis inoculates audiences to the pathogen of hate through stories of people like me who experienced or resisted the virus,” adds Aegis CEO Freddy Mutanguha. “Our vaccine against hate is the only one embedded into a national curriculum. Now other countries are calling for it too.”
Thanking Freddy, Million Peacemakers CEO Stephen Hecht introduces their training programme, and the partnership’s ambition for it in the coming year. “Million Peacemakers is training people in a simple yet powerful three-step methodology called ‘Nonflict’,” he says. “Over 235,000 people in 130 countries have been trained to date, and together, we’ll train a million youth next year.”
“Through creation of peace institutes, through training millions of peacemakers, we, globally, can break the cycles of historic hatred, just as has been done in Rwanda, and we can also help in hotspots that are crucial,” says Yasmeen El-Irani, Youth Leader at Million Peacemakers.
“With the right resources,” James Smith concludes, “our partnership could help hearts and minds of tens of millions to resist the destructive power of hate, protecting generations to come.”
If you would like to support the campaign, please donate here today.
