Phone:
877.257.7751, extension 3433
802.258.3433
TTY:
802.258.3388
Fax:
802.258.3320
Mailing Address:
PO Box 676, 1 Kipling Road
Brattleboro, VT 05302 USA
Conflict Transformation Across Cultures - CONTACT
The CONTACT Program is an intense professional development course as well as a celebration of life, a nurturing learning environment, and an experiment in international living and personal transformation.
Now in its 13th year, CONTACT, takes place every June on the peaceful and green rural campus of the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont, USA. An optional distance learning certificate program follows the summer experience.
CONTACT has trained peacebuilders from more than 60 countries around the world. The program engages participants in a powerful process of study, self-reflection, community building, and collaborative problem solving within a multicultural learning environment.
"CONTACT helped me understand the complex issues and dynamics of conflict and the way of approaching and transforming conflict peacefully. Different tools for rebuilding a broken society, steps of holding dialogue, and methods for reconciliation were some of the important lessons that I learned during CONTACT 2008."
- Kesab Prasad Bastola, Office of the Prime Minister, Nepal
The Participants:
Explore the causes and complexities of contemporary conflicts and learn about initiatives that can prevent repeated cycles of hostility, division, and violence.
Study theories of conflict transformation, investigate worldwide endeavors in the field of peacebuilding that heal the wounds of war, and share forgiveness and reconciliation experiences from their own communities and traditions.
Become part of a global community committed to nonviolent methods of resolving conflict and to promoting justice, human rights, and deep respect for the amazing diversity of beliefs and practices in the human family.
Engage in their home communities as peacebuilders with increased confidence, a valuable set of conflict transformation skills and techniques, and inspiration that lasts a lifetime.
The Programs:
CONTACT offers a three-week Peacebuilding Program consisting of a two-week core course and a third week elective. CONTACT also offers a distance learning Graduate certificate in Conflict Transformation program for approximately one third of the participants each year. This consists of online courses, a field-based internship, and a mid-year face-to-face seminar in a post-conflict country, currently Rwanda.
CONTACT faculty bring their rich experiences and diverse backgrounds to the classroom, using creative teaching methods to share their insights and skills. Faculty and students meet in classes and informal settings, forging enduring relationships for the shared task of building peace and promoting justice around the world.
