The Peace Frequency Podcast

Our guest on today's episode i, Meshack Simati, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Georgia State University. His dissertation is titled, “The False Promise of the Judiciary in Reducing Election Violence among African Countries.”

In this episode we speak with Colette Rausch, Associate Vice President for Global Practice and Innovation at the United States Institute of Peace. For over twenty years, Colette has used her legal expertise to advance human rights and the rule of law in conflict-affected communities. From Libya to Peru, Myanmar to Afghanistan and many other countries around the world, she has been at the forefront of addressing the most serious of crimes, crimes that keep countries embroiled in violence. Colette is coming out with her new book, "Fighting Serious Crimes: Strategies and Tactics for Conflict Affected States" and we spend some time on the show talking about what she and the other contributors to the book have learned through their many years of experiencing addressing crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, and organized crime. We also take a close look at Colette's personal story - how a young federal prosecutor in Reno, Nevada going after telemarketers wound up in Bosnia and began transforming herself into an international peacebuilder with a growing appreciation for the rule of law.

On April 22nd, the world celebrates Earth Day and on today’s show we explore the story of how the first Earth Day in 1970 was created, marking the birth of the modern environmental movement. Whose idea was Earth Day? What was the vision? What kind of organizing power went into making it happen? And how has Earth Day and environmentalism, more broadly, been tied to peacebuilding and nonviolence? Joining me in the studio for today’s show is Dr. Andrew Garling. Andrew is a recently retired primary care physician living here in northern Virginia AND back in the late 1960’s he was one of the original organizers of the very first Earth Day.

In this episode of the Peace Frequency we take you to Memphis, TN and the annual Gandhi-King Conference. This year's theme was "Know Justice, Know Peace" and this episode is dedicated to that theme and the individuals who attend this conference. This recording featured seven individuals talking about their own identities, their own experiences with justice and peace and their understanding of love as the foundation of nonviolence.

In this episode we speak with Gizem Kilinç who is a leading coordinator for the United Network of Young Peacebuilders – a global network strengthening sustainable youth-driven peacebuilding working with 80 organizations across 45 countries. Gizem is in charge on UNOY’s advocacy work and ensuring they work gender sensitively into their work.

In this episode we speak with Nadeem Ghazi, the Founder and Director of the World Learning Grammar School & Institute, which provides support to schools throughout Pakistan that have declared a commitment to creating and maintaining a culture of peace. There are currently over 100 member schools engaged in this effort where students, teachers and community members work together to ensure that everyone feels safe, respected and valued. Nadeem has extensive peace education experience having worked with a variety of organizations including Peaceful Schools International, the United States Institute of Peace, Peace Direct-UK, and the British Council for Sports For Peace. Nadeem's peace education work and trainings were the basis for the 2012 manual, Building a Culture of Peace: A Practical Guide for Schools, a resource supported by the United States Institute of Peace and Peaceful Schools International. Locally in Pakistan, he has trained the staff of CARE International, Shirkat Gah, and more than 80 schools and different NGOs in Pakistan, introducing them to peace education and its implementation with curriculum integration.

In this episode of the Peace Frequency we speak with Aaron Shneyer, the Founder & Executive Director of Heartbeat – an organization that unites Israeli and Palestinian youth musicians to build critical understanding, develop creative nonviolent tools for social change, and amplify their voices to influence the world around them. Heartbeat staff members are trained musicians and dialogue facilitators, entrusted to create and hold a space for participants to build critical consciousness of the complicated world they have inherited and to support participants in developing skills in critical thinking, communication, leadership, and creative nonviolent civic engagement.

In this episode of the Peace Frequency we continue our series focused on the #YouthPeaceEquality 60 Days of Engagement. Our guest is Marc Sommers, who is an internationally recognized youth, conflict, development, gender, and education expert, an experienced evaluator, and an award-winning author. He has conducted research, assessments and evaluations, and provided technical advice, in 21 war-affected countries (15 in Africa) since 1990. His most recent book is entitled, The Outcast Majority: War, Development, and Youth in Africa.

In this show we speak with Kerri Kennedy, Associate General Secretary for International Programs at the American Friends Service Committee. Kerri has 18 years of experience managing international development and emergency response programs in areas of conflict and post conflict environments with a focus on inclusive governance systems, civic education and advocacy campaigns, gender, and rights-based policy development.

In this episode we speak with Saba Ismail, who co-founded with her sister, Aware Girls – a young women-led organisation working for the empowerment of young women and gender equality in Pakistan. Her bravery and activism was acknowledged by Foreign Policy Magazine, which awarded her as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013. She is also on the Steering Committee of UNOY and represents Asia in the World Youth Movement for Democracy. She has done research on the “Role of Young women in Emerging Democracies”. She is the co-founder of South Asian Regional Feminists Forum on Women’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. She has worked as Youth Ambassador for Asia Pacific Youth Network (APYN: 20120-2013).

As part of USIP's 60 days of engagement around the intersections between youth, gender and peace, in this episode of the Peace Frequency we speak with Dr. Illana Lancaster about creating inclusive classrooms. Illana holds a master’s degree in secondary education and a PhD in international education policy. Her 2008 dissertation explored the role of race, class, and gender in school-related violence in secondary schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a senior program officer in the USIP Academy where she specializes in curriculum and training design and delivery, trainer development and university partnerships. Illana discusses her experience as an educator and why inclusive education is critical to building more peaceful societies. She offers techniques and strategies for applying a gender lens in the classroom and answers incoming questions from the audience.

Youth peacebuilder, Gbenga Oni of Nigeria, is a Generation Change and YALI Fellow who implements peacebuilding programs in Northern Nigeria in partnership with Justice, Development and Peace Caritas Advocates. JDPCA envisions a community where justice and promotion of human dignity are held sacred and all citizens are able to realize their full potential in a just, safe and free environment. On the show, Gbenga will discuss the challenges associated with reaching gender equality in Nigeria and what young people are doing to further this goal.

Kicking off 60 days of engagement around youth, gender and peace, this episode of the Peace Frequency speaks with Vweta Chadwick - a human rights champion with over 10 years’ experience working to advance the rights of women and girls. She is the programs director of Project ASHA, an NGO advancing the rights of women and girls in underserved communities across Africa. She, equally, doubles as the secretary of Carrington Youth Fellowship Alumni Network. The 60 days of engagement - #Youth4PeaceandEquality - are bringing awareness and education to three international days of celebration: August 12th is International Youth Day; September 21st is International Peace Day; and October 11th is International Day of the Girl Child.

In this episode we speak with Hamidullah Natiq - Senior Training Officer working for the United States Institute of Peace in Afghanistan. In our conversation Natiq takes us through his journey towards becoming a self-identified peacebuilding trainer. He also sheds light on how he approaches setting up and facilitating a learning experience. He introduces the term, "discovery education," and talks about some of the ways this model of teaching and training aids the peacebuilding process

In this show we speak with Todd Walters – Founder and Executive Director of International Peace Park Expeditions. Walters has adapted Peace & Conflict Impact Assessment methodology to transboundary protected areas, and produced short documentary films in the Transcending Boundaries series which portray multiple stakeholder perspectives concerning environmental peacebuilding in transboundary protected areas. Walters is also a member of the Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature where he is developing a practitioners training curriculum on Transboundary Conservation best practices and is a Fellow at the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security.

In this episode we speak with author, educator, activist, and co-editor of the 2012 book, We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America. Meyer is a long-time leader of the War Resisters League and a founder of the anti-imperialist collective Resistance in Brooklyn (RnB). His solidarity and writing includes co-authorship with Pan-African pacifist Bill Sutherland of Guns and Gandhi in Africa, of which Archbishop Tutu commented: “Sutherland and Meyer have begun to develop a language which looks at the roots of our humanness.” Meyer’s work in education includes a ten-year stint as Multicultural Coordinator for NYC’s Alternative High Schools, and work on the Board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association.

In this episode we speak with Benjamin Naimark-Rowse – a PhD candidate at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His dissertation, in the works, is titled “Dear Friend: Correspondence Across Enemy Lines,” which looks at the relationship Nelson Mandela had with leaders of the Apartheid government during and immediately after his 27 years in prison. Naimark-Rowse uses this story as a foil to better understand the concept of strategic communication and how it applies to nonviolent and mixed method movements.

In this show we speak with Dr. Erica Chenoweth – Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and an Associate Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO). Together with Maria J. Stephan, she won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, which is presented annually in recognition of outstanding proposals for creating a more just and peaceful world order. Their book, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, also won the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award. In December 2013, Foreign Policy named Chenoweth one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of the year “for proving Gandhi right,” noting her work on providing evidence for the efficacy of nonviolent political movements.

Peace Frequency Ep. 29 - Eileen Babbitt 4.28.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 28 - Princeton Lyman 4.21.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 26 - Joyce Neu 04.08.15 by USIP Global Campus

In this episode we discuss mediating violent conflicts with Dr. Chester A. Crocker. Dr. Crocker is James R. Schlesinger professor of strategic studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and serves on the board of its Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Dr. Crocker’s teaching and research focus on international security and conflict management. From 1981 to 1989, Dr. Crocker served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. He developed the strategy and led the diplomacy that produced the treaties signed by Angola, Cuba, and South Africa in New York in December 1988. These agreements resulted in Namibia’s independence (March 1990) and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Namibia and Angola. President Ronald Reagan granted him the President’s Citizens Medal, the country’s second highest civilian award. Dr. Crocker has also served as the Chairman of the USIP Board of Directors from 1992 – 2004.

Peace Frequency Ep. 24 - Julia Roig 3.24.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 20 - Grande Lum 02.26.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 23 - Doug Smith 03.17.15 by USIP Global Campus

In this episode we interview Bidjan Nashat, Director of Programmes and Advocacy at Save the Children Germany. Three of the main questions we explore are: What is evaluative thinking and how does it impact project design? What is a "theory of change?" What does monitoring and evaluation look like when done in conflict-affected communities?

Peace Frequency Ep. 21 - Sandra Melone 03.03.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 19 - Pamela Aall 02.24.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 18 - Jesse Pruett 02.19.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 17 - Steven Donaldson 02.17.15 by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency 2.10.15 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Mission - Slide 2 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Suenalto - 3 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Suenalto - 2 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Suenalto - 1 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Santisa - 3 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Santisa - 2 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S4 - Initial Meeting Santisa - 1 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Mission Suenalto - Yes - Conclusion by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Mission Suenalto - No - Conclusion by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Mission Santisa - Yes - Conclusion by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Mission Santisa - No - Conclusion by USIP Global Campus

Peace Frequency Ep. 16 - Andrea Harrison 02.10.15 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Office Hours - Response to Lying by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Office Hours - Response to Threats by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3.11 - Implementation by USIP Global Campus

Volunteer Job Poor Negotiation 2 by USIP Global Campus

VirtualOfficeHours 2.6.15 by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Office Hours - Dealing with Spoilers by USIP Global Campus

NEG S3 Office Hours - Speaking First by USIP Global Campus