Merwyn De Mello, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) International Service Worker - Peacebuilder, Afghanistan

Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV) Borderfree Nonviolence Community Centre (Centre) Kabul, Afghanistan

APVs say “#Enough! War, Inequality and Global Warming!”

APV Teachers and Students Afternoon Classes - Street Children School at the Centre

APV with Workers lining up for their duvets Winter Duvet Project 2015

Just Peace: Peacebuilding as a strategy In a conflict context, social, political and economic systems are constantly changing Protracted conflict and post-conflict rebuilding begs for creative peacebuilding responses Locus’ of the peacebuilder on the Peacebuilding Pyramid matters A web-linking strategy provides the momentum for peacebuilders linked with each other to push boundaries, to being change agents

Diagram 1: Actors and Peacebuilding Foci John Paul Lederach

Afghan Women in a Village Community Draw Image and Values of a Peacebuilder

Diagram 2 The Web Strategy - Level 2 of the Pyramid diagram created by the Universitat of Innsbruck

Afghan Men in a Village Community Discuss Strategies for Peacebuilding in their Council

Peacebuilding Strategy Peacebuilding efforts can happen when there is: Willingness to work within the faith and cultural norms to build relationships of respect, trust and inclusion; Investment in research, and understanding historical factors that contribute to intergenerational conflict; Willingness to work in the midst of crisis while not being subsumed by its energy;

Peacebuilding Strategy contd. Peacebuilding efforts can happen when there is: Commitment to being rooted in nitty-gritty day-to-day realities, while motivated by a long-term vision of peace-writ large; Curbing of the ‘otherness’ or ‘enemy’ mentality but readiness to understand and be changed by the other; Foundational principles of peace and nonviolence in Islam grounds for partnership in peacebuilding and the path to reconciliation.

Diagram 3: The Web of Reconciliation John Paul Lederach from Transforming Violence: Linking Local and Global Peacebuilding, ed. Robert Herr and Judy Zimmerman Herr

Integrating Peacebuilding Curriculum Into Hospital Technical Training Program in Kabul

Diagram 4: Peacebuilding in Traumatized Societies Barry Hart