WEA Resources

Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events

2012
Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events was developed in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This booklet provides practical guidance for caregivers—including parents, family members, teachers, clergy, and volunteers—on how to help support children after a traumatic event. This booklet provides readers with an overview of common reactions to violent acts, including a breakdown of common signs and symptoms by age. Concrete steps for caring for children’s emotional and spiritual needs in the wake of a traumatic event are also provided.

by Humanitarian Disaster Institute
Views: 4377

Why Did You Let Me Get Hurt? Conflict and Siege Threaten Gaza’s Young Minds

Feb. 2012
Generations of Gaza’s children have had to face day after day of poverty, insecurity and fear. Boys and girls there view the unfettered access to the basics of life—food, water, sanitation, healthcare, safety—as luxuries. In December 2008, the Israeli Army and Hamas engaged in more than three weeks of intense fighting that intensified the physical and psychological destruction. Hundreds of children were killed and hundreds more injured or disabled. Others were left with the mental distress caused by enduring violence and destruction.

by Ashley Jonathan Clements
Views: 4191

Small feet, deep prints

2005
Small Feet, Deep Prints not only describes how conflicts are affecting youngsters, but documents how children and young people in Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda are working as partners with World Vision in peacebuilding. PDF: 1.14 Mb

by Valarie Vat Kamatsiko
Views: 4347

Grassroots efforts to prevent and resolve violence

2005
Grassroots peacebuilders have proven over and over that conflict is NOT inevitable and that development and peace are complementary, not competitive. From Kosovo to Indonesia to Sierra Leone, ordinary people are building peace by risking their own lives to save others from the curse of conflict. PDF: 662 Kb

by World Vision International Policy and Advocacy
Views: 4392

A Shared Future: Local Capacities for Peace in Community Development

2006
This book chronicles World Vision's groundbreaking experiences and learnings in adapting Local Capacities for Peace methodology for long-term transformational development. PDF: 2.81 Mb

by Michelle Garred and Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Views: 4323

Religion, Conflict & Peacebuilding

Sept. 2009
Conflict is an inherent and legitimate part of social and political life, but in many places conflict turns violent, inflicting grave costs in terms of lost lives, degraded governance, and destroyed livelihoods. The costs and consequences of conflict, crisis, and state failure have become unacceptably high. Violent conflict dramatically disrupts traditional development and it can spill over borders and reduce growth and prosperity across entire regions. Religion is often viewed as a motive for conflict and has emerged as a key component in many current and past conflicts. However, religion does not always drive violence; it is also an integral factor in the peacebuilding and reconciliation process. Development assistance and programming does not always consider this linkage, nor does it fully address the complexity of the relationship between religion and conflict. As a main mobilizing force in many societies, proper engagement of religion and its leaders is crucial.

by United States Agency for International Development
Views: 4397

A World Free of Nuclear Weapons

Jan. 2007

by George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn
Views: 4469

Women’s Peace Building and Human Rights Awareness Training, 2007 Project Report

2008
This report covers the first phase in a two-phase project designed by ALARM to equip 60 women from Uganda, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda and Congo to train a total of 600 women at grassroots level in the areas of peacebuilding and human rights awareness in their communities. Activities in this phase of the project were concluded in December 2007. ALARM designed this project to educate women on human rights, to equip women with negotiation skills that will create a more level playing field as they advocate for their rights, negotiate property matters, participate in business to support their families and improve their personal wellbeing; to equip women with basic skills in communication, conflict management and conflict mediation, and enhance their participation in peace building within their communities through their involvement in community and conflict resolution mediation centers.

by Celestin Musekura, Njoki Wachira
Views: 4271

Reconciliation as the Mission of God

2005
A 2005 Paper from 47 Christian Leaders Across the World

by Reconciliation Network
Views: 4759

The Politics of Gentleness: Random Thoughts for a Conversation with Jean Vanier

Sept. 2006
Gentleness is usually the last thing most of us would associate with the rough and tumble world of politics. Politics, we assume, is about conflict and/or getting your interests satisfied. Gentleness is a characteristic of personal relationships having little to do with questions of power or rule. That is, of course, exactly the dichotomy I want to challenge by calling attention to the role of gentleness in L'Arche.

by Jean Vanier
Views: 4685

The Ethics of Da‘wa and Evangelism: Respecting the Other and Freedom of Religion

June 2008
A Talk given at the World Bank during “A Christian and Muslim Dialogue on Creation Care” Sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals and the Embassy of Morocco in Washington, D.C. June 18-20, 2008

by Rick Love
Views: 5103

The Missing Peace of Evangelical Missiology: Peacemaking and Respectful Witness

June 2008
Christian-Muslim relations comprise one of the momentous challenges of the 21st century. 1 The relationship between Christians and Muslims is supercharged by the “war on terror,” and exacerbated by the fact that western countries are perceived as “Christian” by many Muslims. On top of this, both Christianity and Islam are missionary religions, committed to sharing their faith with all peoples. How then can followers of Christ be agents of peace and respectfully bear witness to their faith in a polarized and globalized world?

by Rick Love
Views: 5015

Religion in Conflict

We live in a world of unimaginable horrors: nuclear weaponry, religious prejudice, and ideological hatred. With such horrors comes a sense of urgency and a moral imperative for us to raise the question, what is the purpose of religious language? Because religious statements are considered truthful by a people; they allow their lives to be shaped by them and project a world they would like to inhabit. At times societies employ religious language to gain moral sanction for the acts of violence. However the Church in its transformational mission is duty bound to encourage and employ the biblical metaphors of reconciliation and blessing. Religious language is meant to do something. This brings us to the question of power, which undeniably shapes our individual and social behaviour. The purpose of religious language is to use all available intellectual and intuitional means to interpret the nature of ultimate reality and to invite the human race to share in the privileges of a personal relationship with God. But religious language has also been used to justify violence.

by Richard Howell
Views: 4630

Recovering Reconciliation as the Mission of God: Ten Theses

by WEA Peace & Reconciliation Initiative
Views: 4684

Human Rights

2008
Thomas K. Johnson was called to become a moral philosopher by means of a shocking confrontation with evil while visiting a concentration camp as a teenager. Written after 36 years of study and reflection, this book is his mature but brief claim that we need the biblical message to understand human dignity and human fallenness. He is convinced the biblical worldview provides significant wisdom and guidance to understand human rights and their protection, far surpassing other religions and philosophies that address these questions. The book includes biblical studies and moral and philosophical analysis and ends with practical steps all should take.

by Thomas K. Johnson
Views: 4911

Implications for the Church in Sudan of the Referendum on Independence for the South

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This brief report has been written in response to a request by a Sudanese Christian leader to facilitate informed prayer concerning the possible implications for the church of the referendum on independence for southern Sudan. The referendum, scheduled for 9th January 2011, was a key part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 which was intended to end a long-running conflict between North and South. Sudan is a large, diverse and complex country. There have been political, ethnic, racial, economic, cultural and religious factors behind the numerous conflicts within the country.

Views: 4651