PROJECTS

2020 - 2023

Cultivating Sustainable Peace Culture in School

This project is funded by Global Grant from Rotary International via Rotary of Bangkok.

Objectives

This three-year project focuses on cultivating prosocial attitudes, values and behavior in a small elementary school in a rural area of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Students are encouraged to develop positive aspects of their character with the support of their parents and teachers. Through the program, a culture of peace will be fostered, where people treat one another with respect and kindness and are ready to help rather than to take advantage of others.

It is highly likely that after three years the values of non-violence and peaceful co-existence will become a strong characteristic of the school. Following final evaluation, scaling up the project to other schools and institutions is forseeable.

Background

Research studies show that human tendency towards violence and aggression is largely ‘learned’ through modeling, witnessing, and being subjected to forms of violence. Children growing up with repeated exposure to violence and aggression tend to absorb such values and pass them on in their relationships and interactions with others. As they enter young adulthood, start their own family, and raise their children the vicious cycle gets perpetuated. This in known among mental health professionals as ‘intergenerational transmission of violence and trauma’.

When enough people in a given community hold such beliefs and values, the dominant culture is one where the use of violence and aggression is viewed as justifiable and accepted. It can be manifest in forms of harsh discipline by parents and teachers, the use of violence to resolve conflicts, bullying behavior, abuse and sexual assault. Violence in society may range from interpersonal violence to collective violence such as war, colonialism, slavery, systematic labor and economic exploitation and human trafficking, ethnic cleansing or genocide, and even violence towards the environment.

Structure

Program initiatives and training programs aim to eliminate violence from the school; cultivate peace culture; and train future leaders. Initiatives include:

  • Baseline assessment of school status quo on violence;

  • Trainings for parents and teachers on eliminating punishment and bullying through positive discipline, interpersonal violence prevention, and bullying prevention;

  • Trainings for students on peer mediation and conflict resolution skills;

  • Establishment of a mediation center in the school;

  • Training workshops on peace building;

  • Trainings for student leaders and teachers to become facilitators to maintain the program beyond the project period;

  • Final evaluation.

Beneficiaries

Students, parents and teachers at a small elementary school in a rural area of Chiang Mai. Most of the students, ranging in age from kindergarten to grade six, are from Shan migrant worker families with low income. As a whole-school program, beneficiary stakeholders include:

  • 180 students

  • 360 parents

  • 14 teachers

  • 10 school board members who are community leaders

  • Community members and local government officials who may learn from the project