Amr Abdalla | Creating Lasting Peace Through Education

In this episode, Dr. Amr Abdalla, professor emeritus and former vice-rector at the University for Peace, talks with Mirian Vilela about his 25 years of experience teaching peace and conflict resolution. He discusses the importance of participatory, interactive approaches when teaching peace and conflict resolution, and how the University for Peace created a space to develop this. To him, the connections between education for global citizenship, peace, and sustainable development are clear: giving people the tools for peace promotes development and prevents violent conflict. While there will always be conflict, education is crucial to creating long-term peaceful solutions and to prevent violence. Amr believes that learning critical thinking skills is key to creating lasting peace. This involves a 360-degree approach that helps the learner to deconstruct assumptions and embrace universal values.  He talks about the importance of helping people learn how to deal with conflict to avoid violence. In reflecting about changes in education and cultural differences, he relates an anecdote from his son’s Kindergarten show-and-tell that made him confront the conventional education style that he grew up with and tells an example of when a student made him think differently about violence.