PeaceHub Campaign

Your community can become a Peacehub today!

The PeaceHub Campaign is a much-needed public awareness and educational program, uniquely designed for group study in communities. Currently being piloted in many countries, the program is based on the Community-Driven Peacebuilding Series, an interactive program designed to foster understanding, respect, and social cohesion among diverse peoples and communities. It explores the root causes of potential conflict, provides case studies of community-driven peacebuilding along with powerful tools to utilize in attaining a more peaceful society. Universal principles and values that are broadly shared among the world’s faith and wisdom traditions and cultures that demonstrate the shared identity of our common humanity are central to this peacebuilding education. This creates the realization and transformation that we are globally one human family, thus providing the foundation for peace.

This self-directed Study Series is designed for study groups, men’s groups, youth clubs, women’s groups, neighborhood clubs, and faith-based houses of worship. The four sessions underscore our shared human identity and foster an ethical awareness that all people belong to one human family. The study program affirms the natural desire for social connections and belonging, while exploring the dangers of excessive or exclusive identification with a particular group. Just as we value unique qualities among family members, so the diversity of the human family can be an enriching source of strength and a basis for mutual respect and peace.

Once a group or community completes this training, it becomes a “PeaceHub,” a local resource to address sources of conflict and solve problems in the community. PeaceHubs cultivate social cohesion and peace by bringing diverse stakeholders together to collaborate on social innovation and civic projects.

GPF India is actively leading the PeaceHub Campaign throughout the country. Click here to learn more.

A group of people sitting at tables, engaged in a discussion, with a banner overhead reading "PeaceHub Campaign" for a small group study series by the Global Peace Foundation.

Download and print the booklet

Session 1: Understanding Peace in the 21st Century

In our world today there are three main approaches or dimensions of peace. Unlike peacekeeping or peacemaking, which typically involve military and diplomatic efforts to end conflict, peacebuilding is an ongoing process of addressing the root causes of conflict and bringing reconciliation and forgiveness through full acknowledgement of shared human aspirations. Governments, treaties, and diplomacy do not remove resentments, they do not address the final step of establishing lasting peace. How do you remove hatred from the human heart? How does one help those on either side who have been wronged or victimized to forgive? Global Peace Foundation is doing the work of peacebuilding, which is necessary before the breakout of violence as a means of prevention; during the conflict to attempt to contain the violence; and after a conflict to create sustainable social cohesion.

Session one examines the impact of rapid change and globalization, particularly the growing interchange among diverse peoples and cultures over the last century. Most conflicts the world over can be seen from the lens of, “us vs. them” identity conflict. This mentality divides us, keeps us apart, and subsequently directly contributes to war, conflict, and corruption. And by destroying opportunities to share and collaborate, this mindset continues a vicious cycle of underdevelopment, poverty, environmental degradation and more. The most pressing challenge today is finding common ground in our shared “human identity” and developing an ethical awareness that all people belong to one human family.

Session 2: Our Shared Humanity

History has shown that, despite best efforts, political and economic strategies have repeatedly failed to truly resolve identity-based conflicts. A unifying vision is urgently needed that affirms the self-evident, transcendent truths that define our common humanity, grounded in universal principles that support fundamental human rights and the spiritual and moral essence of all people. The ideals implicit in the phrase, “One Family under God” are universal, and hence resonate globally.

Many cultures have similar ethical frameworks, or national philosophies that have served as the underpinning of building inclusive and peaceful societies. These ideals are similarly expressed in the African ethos of “Ubuntu,” the Indonesian ethic of “Pancasila,” and the ancient Korean ideal of “Hongik Ingan” among others and encapsulated in the expression that we are all one family under God.

Religious and wisdom traditions have both unique insights into transcendent truths and shared values and codes of conduct that provide practical guidance on daily life and fostering peace in society. Session II explores the importance of this “civic” mission and finding common ground in shared values as a basic for peace.

Session 3: Successful Models of Community Peacebuilding and the Art of Dialogue

The human family is a group that we all belong to, and just as we value unique characteristics and gifts among immediate family members, so the diversity of the human family can be an enriching source of strength and a basis for mutual respect and peace. The Global Peace Foundation has applied this vision of the human family to reconcile animosities among Christian and Muslim peoples in conflict zones in Nigeria through its One Family under God campaign. This beginning of Session 3 explores what is possible when people come together based on a shared vision, principles and values. The lessons learned in Nigeria have already begun to inform projects and programs from the U.S, India, Indonesia and more.

The remainder of this Session focuses on the art of dialogue as an essential and powerful tool of peacebuilding. Better understanding and practice of the art of dialogue are sorely needed in our world today, if we are to grow into a pluralistic society that is genuinely cohesive.

Interreligious dialogue operates in three areas: the practical, in which we collaborate to serve the greater good of humanity; the spiritual dimension, through which we attempt to experience the another’s religion or personal beliefs from within; and the cognitive, through which we seek understanding and truth. Global Peace Foundation engages in dialogue in the first area, the practical, for the purpose of identifying the universal principles and shared values.

Session 4: The Global Ethic and Service: Powerful Tools for Peacebuilding

Session 4 examines the significance of a Global Ethic as the basis for dialogue and cooperation among religions, communities, and society. How can we encourage a consensus on globally shared values, which is similar in nature to the concept of the “Global Ethic”? The Global Ethic is not a new idea; it has an interesting history and one can easily see how it can be used as a powerful tool to foster peace in a diverse and divided world.

The remainder of this Session focuses on Service and Volunteering. One proven way to become aware of our “shared identity” is through service. Do we naturally feel empathy towards someone who is suffering and who looks very different than we do, speaks a different language, or has different perspectives on real life issues? Doing service and volunteering is a concrete way to grow our emotional sense of belonging to another group and to the larger human family.

How It Works

Diagram illustrating "Communities" at the core, linked to "Churches," "Mosques," "Synagogues," "Neighborhoods," "Academic Departments," and "University Peace Clubs" in surrounding ovals, creating a cohesive series of connections emphasizing peacebuilding.

Introductory meetings and orientations with the leadership of the community.
Introductory presentation to the community to generate involvement.
The community works through the self-directed Study Series education within its own unique approaches, including study groups, men’s groups, youth groups, women’s groups, and full community gatherings.
Designate a “PeaceHub Liaison” for the community to connect with the National National Office.
Training Completion: Presentation of a Certificate for the community to become “Peace Hub,” and presentation of certificate to each participant who finishes the training; “I am a Peacebuilder”
Option to work with a nearby diverse community and repeat the study, completing a “Community Mapping exercise” and designing a service project together.

Learn more about the Community-driven Peacebuilding Study Series and how essential principles and values broadly shared among the world’s faith and wisdom traditions can provide the basis for peace.

The narration of the videos is the educational content of the study series. Please scroll down to play the videos.

Community-driven Peacebuilding Series

Following your Booklet, after introducing the topic, having an “ice-breaker” discussion and reading the quotations, now your group is ready to watch the film together. The film is the educational content. The group will be gathered around the nearest viewable television or computer screen. For a larger group, the video can be projected onto a larger screen. Just click on the arrow and expand to full screen viewing to watch online, or you can download the video prior to the meeting to avoid any possibility of connectivity issues. (The transcripts of the narration are in the back of the booklet for further or individual study.)

Download and print the booklet