Welcome to ACT
The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT), Inc. is dedicated to building peace through innovative education, training, research and practice worldwide. ACT works with educators, youth, community and religious leaders, non-governmental organizations, and governmental agencies to transform social conflicts into opportunities for peaceful and positive change. See ACT in action for a description of our project areas.
ACT also maintains the ACT Forums, one of the leading online resources for information on jobs, scholarships, grants and events in peace and conflict resolution, international development, humanitarian relief, human rights and related fields. In 2007, ACT posted over 4,500 jobs and internships available around the world and hundreds of grant and scholarship opportunities. If you're interested in subscribing or learning more about the Forums, please read the Subscriber Guide Frequently Asked Questions section. If your organization is interested in free posting of jobs, scholarships, funding opportunities and events to the site, please send an email of your announcement, with detailed information and deadlines, to forums(at)conflicttransformation.org. For more information, please go to the Posting Section.
Institute on Peacebuilding & Conflict Resolution (IPCR)
Closed for 2008
ACT has held four very successful IPCR programs, three in Bolivia and one in Indonesia. Each program has included 22-26 participants from 5-7 countries, including the US, the host country and other countries around the world. For information about the Bolivia 2008 program, click here.
 
Recent News
INSPIRING STORIES
This new space will feature inspiring news stories from around the world. With grim headlines facing us each day, some good news is always welcome. Youth worker Nelsa Libertad Curbelo Cora describes the inspiration
behind Barrio de Paz (Peace Town), a non-violent youth movement in
Guyaquil, Ecuador, that brings together street gangs to provide
services to the struggling community. Watch this inspiring 17-minute video below.
A Muslim man jumped to the aid of three Jewish subway riders after they were attacked by a group of young people who objected to one of the Jews saying "Happy Hanukkah," a spokeswoman for the three said Wednesday. (CNN/WABC, December 12, 2007)
Get two free downloadable handbooks on nonviolent organizing brought to you by the folks who brought down Milosevic. Sponsored by the Centre for Applied Nonviolence Action and Strategies (CANVAS).
Israeli Moshe Shenar and Palestinian Munir Darwish have moved beyond resignation -- beyond barriers built to separate people. After 15 years apart, they finally met again at a roadside restaurant near Nablus in the West Bank. View the instructive 20-minute video of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Watch videos about peacemakers at My Hero. Go to Short Films. Click on Films for a list of inspiring short videos. Learn about the Bosna Bakery, a moving essay about a bakery in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, that gives food to the poor. Hear inspiring words from Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu, who won the Peace Prize in 1984. Watch the Breakdancers of Konik City about a crew of Roma (gypsies) breakdancers from a slum outside Podgorica called Konik City, and more.
One Laptop Per Child. The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. For only $200, you can provide a laptop for a child in need. Please learn more about this program on the official Web site.
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Craig Zelizer wrote an inspiring new article, "Integrating Community Arts and Conflict Resolution: Lessons and Challenges from the Field," published by Community Arts Network. Available online now.
Recently released, Conflict Across Cultures: A Unique Experience of Bridging Differences (M. LeBaron & V. Pillay, Eds). ACT Senior Partner, Dr. Nike Carstarphen, helped design and edit this team produced book and wrote the chapter, "A Map Through Rough Terrain: A Guide for Intercultural Conflict Resolution." Order your copy from Amazon today.
“Conflicts across Cultures is a rare breed of work combining theory and practice, real life stories and metaphor, critical analysis and holistic approaches. The end result is a book that is remarkably readable, and even more valuable for its contribution to understanding the problems that underpin virtually every major conflict in the world today." —Ambassador John W. McDonald, Chairman, The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy
LOOKING FOR CAREER ADVICE?
See our publication, Skills, Networks & Knowledge: Developing a Career in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. This report, the first of its kind, is based on a survey and interviews with employers regarding career opportunities in international peace and conflict resolution. To download or order the report go the Publications section. Dr. Craig Zelizer, Senior Partner, ACT, was interviewed on Developing a Career in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. Click here to see the transcript.
ACT ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
On April 28, 2006, Ms. Antonia Young, Chairperson of the cross-border Balkans Peace Park Project (B3P), discussed her work with ACT members. Prior to joining B3P, Ms. Young was an OSCE Supervisor in 6 elections and an OSCE Observer in an additional 10 countries, primarily in the Balkans. To see the transcript click here.
Shop Amazon & Support ACT
 Want to support ACT? Now you can for free!! If you purchase any item (books, electronics, movies, etc.) at Amazon by first clicking through our direct link (click on the logo) a portion of all purchases goes to ACT at no extra cost to you. See ACT's recenty started list of recommend books and movies in conflict resolution (click here). If you have recommendations for books, etc to add to the list, please send your recommendations to info(at)conflicttransformation.org
About ACT
The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT), Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through innovative education, training, research and practice worldwide. ACT was established in February 1999 by an alliance of skilled professional who have conducted conflcit transformation and peacebuilding projects in over 30 countries.
ACT recognizes that conflict is an inseparable part of human interaction. When addressed effectively, it can lead to peaceful and positive change. ACT helps people transform destructive conflicts by addressing underlying needs and concerns, building sustainable relationships, and changing the contexts and conditions that foster violence. ACT works with educators, youth, community and religious leaders, non-governmental organizations, and governmental agencies to transform social conflicts into opportunities for peaceful change.
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RECENT PROJECT
Pro-Active Leadership Program for Cypriot High School Students. Learn more about ACT's 2005 summer program for Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot High School Students by clicking here.
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Latest Job Listings |
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Latest Events |
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Rebuilding Sustainable Communities for Children and their Families after Disasters
Lessons to Learn: Roles of Government, Private Sector and NGOs in Disaster Reconstruction in Fragile States and Impoverished Communities
Current US practice in natural and man-made post-disaster rebuilding compels a dialogue toward policy reforms that revitalize rather than re-fracture communities around the world. Faltering, mis-targeted, and over-centralized strategies and approaches cannot achieve positive results in insecure communities and regions. In spite of, or perhaps because of, an expanded field of institutional players whose interests, resources and methods are often incongruous with those of the disaster-impacted community leaders and members trying to maintain their dignity while rebuilding: lessons are difficult to apply.
Yet, even modest improvements can produce a dramatic and positive impact on destroyed or damaged communities.
To discuss reconstruction, we must embrace the community as a whole, including the ethnic, political, religious and other minority populations with rooted identities there. Like women and children, these groups’ vulnerabilities are typically magnified by a disaster. An urban planner, the author fuses physical, social and political elements to create flexible, integrated planning frameworks for building capacities as well as objects. With a vision of community-led recovery, the author shows how outsiders can play a role to facilitate -- without dominating -- fruitful relations (state-civil society, majority-minority) among adversaries to sustain rebuilding, especially in large-scale disasters. Accepting that we are guests in others’ communities, which ultimately control our shared success, is essential.
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Changing Asia: Forging Partnerships, Building Sustainability - Philippines
Int'l conference hosted by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation in Manila, 29 - 30 August 2008. Over the past 50 years, Asia has produced many inspiring and successful leaders, including over 250 men and women who have been honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award. At the conference, the collective, on-the-ground experiences of Magsaysay laureates, and leaders of business, civil society, media, academe, multilateral institutions, and development assistance organizations will expectedly yield powerful insights on the themes of poverty and inequality, environmental degradation, and social conflict. The Conference seeks to facilitate a dialogue on how participants are successfully addressing these issues; identify how existing solutions can be improved, upscaled, or replicated through partnerships among conference participants and their respective organizations; and present a collective statement on priority policy actions and practical program actions for implementation by public leaders in Asia. For more information and to register see http://www.rmaf.org.ph/index.php?task=
To see videos about the Magsaysay award visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK4ue_9Cn1A and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DEI9fenVo
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Building Cultures of Peace Conf. - Oregon, USA
The Peace & Justice Studies Association (PJSA) annual conference will be at Portland State University in collaboration with the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium from September 11-14, 2008. The conference seeks peace scholars, educators, activists, administrators and students with innovative papers / ideas for creating cultures of peace. ACT Subscribers see Event calendar or Scholarship posting.
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World Youth Congress - Quebec, Canada
The event will bring 600 dynamic young activists in sustainable development to Québec from 120 countries, August 10-21, 2008. ACT Subscribers see Event calendar or Scholarship posting.
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