“We need to make a distinction between peace as a mere
absence of war and peace as a state of tranquillity founded on
the deep sense of security that arises from mutual understanding,
tolerance of others’ points of view and respect for their rights.”

– His Holiness the Dalai Lama

• Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace

The WISCOMP project was set up in 1999 as part of the efforts of the Foundation to build a culture of coexistence and nonviolence that is gender-sensitive and inclusive. Planned as a South Asian initiative, WISCOMP facilitates the leadership of women in areas of peace, security and international affairs. It provides a unique interface between academia and the NGO sector, and positions its works at the confluence of security studies, conflict transformation and peacebuilding. The intersection of these with gender concerns provides the focus of its programs.

The initiative strives to:

• Enhance the role of women as peacebuilders, negotiators and as agents for nonviolent social change.
• Empower a new generation of women and men with the expertise and skills to engage in peace activism through educational and training programs in Conflict Transformation.
• Contribute to an inclusive, people-oriented discourse on issues of security, which respects diversity and which foregrounds the perspectives of women and the hitherto marginalized.
• Facilitate theory-building and innovative research on holistic paradigms that address the resolution and transformation of intra-and inter-state conflicts.
• Build synergy at various levels – between theory, practice and policy; between those working in academia, in the formal structures of foreign policy and diplomacy and those engaged in grassroots peacebuilding.
• Build constituencies of peace through training, research and praxis in areas such as multi-track diplomacy, peace advocacy, active coexistence and cross-border civil society dialogues.
• Work with educational institutions to engender a culture of peace through the development of curricula and innovative pedagogy.

[ Click here to go to WISCOMP website... ]

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• Peacemakers Lecture Series

Peacemakers is a lecture series designed to invigorate the discourse on peacebuilding and nonviolence in South Asia and the world.

This series creates an interactive space for experienced peacemakers to share their insights and lessons learned, for emerging peace scholars to present new methods for building peace and for grassroots peacemakers to illuminate effective strategies being practiced in local contexts. This lecture series seeks to inspire and empower people to participate actively in everyday peacemaking in order to transform the conflicts in local communities, South Asia and the world, into long-term sustainable peace.

Mr. I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, delivers a
lecture on ‘Peacemaking through Track I and Track II: Some
Points of Convergence’.
Justice A.M. Ahmadi, Former Chief Justice
of India, chairs the session

“I am privileged to associate myself with the Foundation for Universal Responsibility that reflects the lofty ideals of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who in his person is a living legend!… I believe his presence amidst us in this country has greatly influenced the ideas and psyche of a large number of our people… His Holiness looks at the world from the lofty heights of spirituality which enables him to project the sufferance of his people in a way that gets the world’s attention”

- I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India

"We need more role models to influence the youth who will determine the future. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is among them. We must join in his program to promote universal responsibility, global peace and nonviolence throughout the global village."

– Justice J.S. Verma, former Chief
Justice of India and Chairperson of the
National Human Rights Commission

Peacemakers Lectures

Shri I.K. Gujral
Justice J.S. Verma
Professor Edy Kaufman
Ms. Ela Gandhi
Dr. Hans - Georg Wieck
Mr. Mel Duncan and
Ms .Mary Lout Ott
Ambassador Philip McDonagh
Ambassador Arundhati Ghose
Teesta Setalvad

The lectures have been published and are available to the public upon request

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