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INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
THE VERBANIA
DECLARATION
SPEAKERS
SPONSORS
& PATRONS
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Nina Lynn
Meyerhof, Ed.D. has made a
career of advocating for children locally and globally. She has served
over fifteen years as a public school administrator in Vermont. Dr.
Meyerhof has two Master of Arts degrees, a Certificate of Advanced
Graduate Studies and holds a Doctorate in Educational Policy, Research,
and Administration. The co-author of Conscious Education: The Bridge
to Freedom, she is recognized as an innovative educator committed to
global responsibility through authentic learning.
Dr. Meyerhof established Children of the Earth, a UN-NGO
recognized organization that gives focus to the potential of the United
Nations and the voice of youth. For over twenty years she operated and
owned a Center at which she gathered young people from around the world
to live and act as a global community committed to the well being of all
of life.
For the past twenty years, Dr. Meyerhof has also served as educational
coordinator and consultant for many international conferences and
programs in countries such as Japan,,Nepal, India, ,Ghana, South Africa,
Brazil, Peru. Bolivia, Costa Rica, China Sweden, Russia, Germany,
Switzerland, and all of Europe. A goal has been to network with other
educators to further peaceful cooperation that empowers young people and
places them at the focal point of education. She has initiated many
global curriculums that further peace, ethics multi-cultural
understanding, and democratic life skills for a sustainable world,
This year, working closely with a representative of the United Nation's
Department of Children and Armed Conflict and a spiritual leader and
Chief of Aburi, Ghana, Dr. Meyerhof developed and conducted an
International Youth Leadership Program in Ghana. This global program
focused on issues and their solutions with committed actions with the
intent towards establishing the first sustainable Children’s Peace
Center in Ghana.
Dr. Meyerhof has now completed working on a We The People's Summit for
Peace. highlighting Congressman Kucinich’s Bill as well as the universal
principles found within the Earth Charter. Her next steps include
developing a model that extends the conceptual understanding of peace
further into the minds of all people.
Nina
Lynn Meyerhof, Ed.D.
Children of the Earth
Vermont Peace Academy
As a result of the “ We The People’s Peace Summit” individuals, NGO’s
and two institutions in Central Vermont – Woodbury College and Goddard
College - plan to form a consortium to create the first United States
Peace Academy based on the concept of the formulation of a Dept of
Peace. This is a proposed institution dedicated to preparing youth and
adults in all walks of life with the peace-making skills and
peace-building knowledge necessary to be successful peacemakers in their
personal lives, in their local communities and for the world at large.
This Academy will work within Vermont to incorporate peace-being
training into the educational system and the community development work
that is done. It will also serve as a clearinghouse for programs and
educational opportunities offered through a wide variety of non-profit
organizations and educational institutions throughout the state. It
will also offer programs to communities and organizations outside of
Vermont, both nationally and internationally, to share our experience
and learn from others.
A core group of individuals are in the process of structuring and
defining the questions that need to be addressed to establish the Peace
Academy. They are considering:
1) To define the terms of the consortium among the core group of
institutions, including the type of educational programs and degrees to
be offered, the credits to be shared among the schools, colleges and
universities, and the tuition arrangements for consortium course
offerings.
2) To develop curriculum materials for the institutions and programs
involved.
3) To incorporate the peace training available from the Academy into the
Vermont Framework of Standards, and to work with the Vermont Department
of Education and the elementary and secondary schools in the state to
offer the training throughout the system.
4) To raise sufficient funds to make the Peace Academy possible.
It will be established as a separate 501(c)(3) organization, the purpose
of which is to provide staff support to the consortium and to the
organizations and schools involved in the Academy.
The Vermont Peace Academy was inspired by two major initiatives.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has proposed legislation at the federal
level to create a Department of Peace, which includes a provision for a
Peace Academy. According to the legislation, the Peace Academy will
bring the ethic of peace into practice by developing educational
curricula that promote peaceful values, by training people in
communicative peace skills, nonviolent conflict resolution skills,
innovative neighborhood strategies that build peace, human rights, and
social and cultural diversity.
At the same time, an international effort has been underway to create
and promote the Earth Charter, the first treaty in history to be drafted
by the people, instead of a governmental body. Thousands of people in
51 countries have contributed their ideas, including indigenous people,
religious leaders, business leaders, and the NGO community. The Earth
Charter offers a vision for a peaceful, just, and sustainable world that
is based on four key principles: 1) respect and care for the community
of life, 2) social and economic justice, 3) ecological integrity, and 4)
democracy, non-violence, and peace. The Earth Charter can help form the
basis for the Vermont Peace Academy by guiding the types of programs and
curriculum to be developed – all of the principles included in the Earth
Charter can serve as a basis for further education. |
