ISSA Sends Envoys to Participate in the International Working Group on Peace Building with Young Children

During ISSA’s Council Meeting in Antalya, June 2009, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, ISSA Board President and director of Early Years - the organisation for young children, invited ISSA to send two envoys to participate in the work of the International Working Group on Peace Building with Young Children. Yuliya Karimova (Center for Innovations in Education, Azerbaijan) and Zorica Trikic (Center for Interactive Pedagogy CIP, Serbia) were selected by the ISSA Board to be ISSA’s representatives.

The Working Group started in Athens in 2001 (under the umbrella of the World Forum) as a result of a presentation around peace building with young children.  Working Team Belfast 2004 saw the initiation of the working group with 13 members.  A further meeting took place in Manizales and then later in Kuala Lumpur where a three year strategic plan was developed.  This piece of work led to this working group joining the Joint Learning Initiative for Children and Ethnic Diversity, recently renamed UNA.  Funding for the Working Group on Peace Building with Young Children had been mixed, and an opportunity to apply for European funding became available.  Early Years was successful in securing Peace 3 funding, which will allows the work of the group to continue for a further three years and support the participation of 20 members to attend two meetings per year.  The work aims to develop a programmatic tool, develop and pilot a Masters Programme, and develop advocacy tools and publications. 

Members of the group are early childhood specialists, teachers, practitioners, and academics from Northern Ireland, Nepal, South Africa, Colombia, Iraq, Serbia, Albania, USA, Palestine, Chad, Rwanda, Philippines, Lebanon, El Salvador, Israel, Azerbaijan, and Papua New Guinea. 

Representing the ISSA network, Ms. Trikic attended a recent meeting of this working group in Cali, Colombia 2-7 November 2009. During the first two days the group developed a plan of action for their work; after that members of the group attended the Conference Foro Mundial de Grupos de Trabaho Primera Infancia - Sociedad Civil - Estado. 

Participation in this working group will be useful for the whole ISSA network, since specific programs implemented by ISSA members will be presented and all materials and resources acquired and developed during the process will be shared among members. The first task to be accomplished by Yuliya Karimova and Zorica Trikic will be to map the programs in the ISSA network which are targeting peace building with young children and develop case studies. The next meeting of this working group is planned for the beginning of 2010 and will be held in Jordan.

For more information about the working group, please contact Zorica Trikic.