Costa Rica’s Model of Peace
Costa Rica has chosen to host this Summit because, like many other countries, government and civil society leaders are striving to strengthen the country’s national peace model.  This model includes legislation—slated to pass in the National Legislative Assembly by March 2009—to procure the establishment of a Ministry of Justice and Peace within the national government. The Ministry will work in collaboration with an Academy for Peace, providing valuable peace skills training to national leaders and citizens, as well as throughout the entire public school system, effectively completing a “top-down and bottom-up” national peace system in Costa Rica.

Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Oscar Arias, in extending his support of this national peace model, celebrates its creation as “an inspiring approach propelling our fundamental social transformation and advancing a culture of peace, distancing us from violence and motivating us to become a peaceful society based on mutual understanding, harmony and non-violence.” We look forward to sharing this “two-pronged” addition to Costa Rica’s national peace model and learning about peace efforts in other countries at the Global Alliance Summit.

The Global Alliance Summit, including the BePeace Course
The Summit’s theme this year is Building Bridges of Peace and it will take place September 13 -21, 2009 in San José, Costa Rica. The goal the Summit is to expand the Global Alliance network by involving highly-qualified Summit participants from at least 40 countries, who are motivated to develop peace infrastructure in their home governments. At the Summit, you will have the opportunity to take part in daily plenary sessions and learning activities to integrate the peace building skills and regional/international networking necessary to work with other civil society groups and government officials to increase your campaign’s potential for success.

The Summit program features a special day dedicated to government-civil society cooperation, with the anticipated participation of pro-peace Parliamentarians and Ministers of Education and Justice from around the world, along with representatives from Multilateral and Regional Organizations (e.g. United Nations Peace Building Commission, Organization of American States, European Union, African Union), and Ministers of established Ministries of Peace from the Ivory Coast, Solomon Islands and Nepal. Star-studded evening events include Opening and Closing Ceremonies to celebrate local Costa Rican culture and the International Day of Peace, plus a one-of-a-kind concert featuring local and international performing artists!

The Summit includes an optional 40-hour BePeace Course, taught by the Academy for Peace of Costa Rica. BePeace is an innovative peace skills practice developed by Rita Marie Johnson, founder of the Academy.  BePeace is currently taught in Costa Rican public schools and in a growing number of locations throughout the world. Please see the attached BePeace Course Synopsis for further information.

To ensure the quality and integrity of the Global Alliance Summit, and given the high demand for inclusion, interested participants are invited to submit an application form (available on request - see email address below), to be reviewed and decided by the International Summit Planning Team.

If you are inspired by the work of the Global Alliance and intend to develop your own home country campaign for a Ministry or Department for Peace, we wholeheartedly encourage you to apply to participate in the 2009 Global Alliance Summit. With this level of participation, the momentum for developing governmental peace infrastructure will grow such that Ministries and Departments for Peace aligned with Academies for Peace may be as common as Ministries of Defense with their military academies. 

Building Bridges of Peace Together
In the words of President Oscar Arias:

“Peace is not a dream, it’s an arduous task. We must start by finding peaceful solutions to everyday conflicts with the people around us. Peace does not begin with the other person; it begins within each and every one of us.” 

We hope you will support this unique event, in solidarity with Summit participants from governments and peace organizations around the world, as we work together to develop vital peace skills and establish peace infrastructure.

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