4th International Conference of GPENreformation to “Peace Education at Protestant Schools as a contribution to Learning for Sustainability” successfully completed!
From November 05 to 07, 2017 more than 50 members of GPENreformation and the Protestant Council of Rwanda (CPR) from 18 countries came to Kigali, Rwanda to learn about concepts facing Peace Education at Protestant schools as well as to discuss and develop new approaches from a global perspective.
A special focus was set on conflicts in the field of top-quality education. Experiences from South Sudan, DR Congo, Burundi, Cameroon, Poland und Brazil demonstrated the range and diversity of conflicts Protestant schools worldwide are facing. A keynote about the Rwandan Pedagogy of Remembrance and Reconciliation combined with a visit of the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali pointed out initial approaches who were deepened and supplemented by another session about answers and ideas for peace building education in a dialogically oriented christian discourse: After an introduction to the foundations of Peace Education, the participants were led to the Participatory and Active Pedagogy (PAP) in the Great Lake Region in Africa. Examples and experiences from Rwanda, Egypt, DR Congo, Cameroon and Germany proposed solutions of a practical implementation.
Besides the thematic work, the attendants worked on the development of the network structures of GPENreformation: The first Council were mandated! With Dr. Wim Kuiper (the Netherlands), Dr. Jonathan Laabs (USA), Rev. Samuel Mutabazi (Rwanda), Rev. Prof. Dr. Annette Scheunpflug (Germany) and Dr. Birgit Sendler-Koschel (Germany) a multi-national and multi-denominational team will forward and lead the network during the next years. Furthermore, GPENreformation could gain 23 new Ambassadors who will represent and support the network in their regions and countries.