[10][11] By the late 1970s and early 1980s, MCC started work on establishing a better training program focusing on the peace and justice fields at a systematic level.
[17] The tenure of Kraybill and Lederach overlapped a bit, allowing them opportunity to develop a shared vision for a new kind of peace studies program in the world of higher education.
[18]The work of MCS in the late 1980s also coincided with the development of Christian Peacemaker Teams a joint effort by the two largest North American Mennonite denominations and the Church of the Brethren.
Founded after a Mennonite World Conference keynote address by Ronald J. Sider author of the bestselling Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (published and republished in 1977, 1997, 2005) in which he said, We must be prepared to die by the thousands.
are ready to start to die by the thousands in dramatic vigorous new exploits for peace and justice, we should sadly confess that we never really meant what we said, and we dare never whisper another word about pacifism to our sisters and brothers in those desperate lands filled with injustice.
[18] After an exhausting trip Lederach began talking to Mennonite opinion-leaders and conflict workers including Hizkias Assefa, Kraybill, and others about systematically educating people to do the kind of work he was doing.
Five recurring characteristics of these lessons referenced by scholars are:[22][23] Both Sally Engle Merry, who is a Quaker, and Marc Gopin, who is Jewish, say that the Mennonites’ "brand" of Christianity appears to play a crucial role in enabling them and those they train to persist at working at deep, intractable conflicts over many years.
[33] Since its inception, CJP has been aimed at persons with cross-cultural or extensive domestic experience who were already working in conflict resolution, humanitarian assistance, development, or social justice.
[35] CPJ's academic and training concentrations are:[36][37] The Master's program offers a graduate degree in conflict transformation and restorative justice.
[39] Courses vary but can include faith-based peacebuilding, monitoring and evaluation, organizational leadership, playback theater, conflict analysis, program and project management, and reconciliation and restorative justice.
Babu Ayindo, a 1998 master's degree graduate from Kenya who returned to teach in SPI 2011, said: "Through song, dance, poetry, and music, people are finding another language to transcend the conflicts that they are experiencing.
"STAR’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of leaders and organizations to address trauma, break cycles of violence and build resilience at the individual, community and societal levels.
There is, for instance, a STAR for "adults who want practical skills to work with youth in addressing trauma, resolving conflict and preventing violence.
It is part of the curriculum in 57 high schools in Nairobi, Kenya"[48] Other variations are used for war veterans and for dealing with the continuing effects of historical harms, such as slavery.
[1] In 2001, incumbent President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud completed three of the SPI's intensive courses, studying mediation, trauma healing, and designing learner-centered trainings.
People who were affiliated with CJP (or SPI), as students or teachers, in earlier years have gone on to found peacebuilding organizations or programs in a dozen countries.