“If we are to create peace in our world, we must begin with our children.”

Mahatma Gandhi

 

Peace Kids is SWOVA’s exciting new pilot project to take Respectful Relationships education into the elementary school.  The Peace Kids curricula, will provide engaging skill building sessions that increase dialogue about peace and conflict at the personal and community level.  Peace Kids is both culturally relevant and has the capacity to empower youth to think critically about social responsibilities.

The Peace Kids curricula is being developed as we speak and sessions are due to begin in this school year.

Topics covered in the sessions include:

• Empathy
• Accepting difference
• Belonging and connectedness
• Care, kindness, tolerance and appreciation of self and others
• Qualities of leadership
• Conflict resolution
• Critical thinking
• Actively listening
• Self-expression/dealing with emotions
• Cooperation
• Awareness of gender equality
• Awareness about violence and the various forms of bullying

 

SWOVA has received repeated concerns from youth, teachers, parents and school administrators, of a need to provide education and resources for children at the elementary school level. Our community feels that healthy and respectful relationships skill-building and education needs to begin at a younger age, to address bullying and systemic violence occurring with younger students, and to offer students additional social emotional learning (SEL) skills to increase personal and collective community health, safety and well-being.  We know that peace based education is integral to the healthy development of youth.

 

 “Violence and peace issues are like layers of an onion – starting with relationship with self, then relationship with other (family, community, other people), and then relationship within culture. The cultural ethos is one of violence and sex, and is contrary to peace and self knowing/ actualization.  I think it would be really helpful to work with kids on these 3 levels: self; other; community; culture. I believe peace and non-violence starts with self-awareness, and love of self.”
- Parent of a Grade 6 student -

 

 

 

The Peace Kids pilot project was funded by Salt Spring Island Foundation and Vancouver Foundation in 2020/14.
We do not have current funding to carry on the program.