Engaging with Students from Project Common Bond

On July 16, the Director of the Global Peacebuilding Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), Ann-Louise Colgan, traveled to Massachusetts to facilitate a workshop for more than 70 young people from around the world who are part of this summer’s “Project Common Bond” program. Project Common Bond is an initiative of Tuesday’s Children, and brings together young people who share in common the loss of a close family member to an act of terrorism. These young people spend eight days together sharing their experiences and discussing ways in which they can have a positive impact on the futures of their communities and their countries.

Last summer, USIP hosted students from “Project Common Bond” onsite at the Global Peacebuilding Center. This year, the summer camp was held outside Boston, MA, so an offsite program integrated some of the core content of the Global Peacebuilding Center and engaged the young people in activities related to concepts in conflict management. The students hailed from a range of places around the world -- Argentina, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka and the United States.

Last week, USIP had hosted onsite students from another summer camp experience – Seeds of Peace. This organization gathers young people from conflict zones around the world for a three-week camp in Maine that encourages dialogue and understanding and aims to help build the next generation of leaders who can contribute to resolving some of the most challenging international conflicts. On July 9, 43 second-year “Seeds” in their mid-to-late teens visited USIP for a briefing on the Institute's work and to experience some of the content of the Institute’s Global Peacebuilding Center, including the Seeds of PeaceWitnesses to Peacebuilding video.