Delegates at the 2011 Summit in Capetown, South Africa.

Summary of the Fifth Summit of the Global Alliance
for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace

Capetown, South Africa, Sept. 30 – Oct. 6, 2011

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The Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (GAMIP), formerly known as the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, is a worldwide community of civil society campaigns, organisations, committed citizens, and elected and appointed government officials from over 40 countries (so far).

Vision: A world where all people, individually and collectively, embody, promote, and practice a culture of peace for the benefit of all.

Mission: To collaborate with and support governments and civil society around the world working to establish national ministries and departments of peace, and also to support efforts to develop local, regional, and national peace councils, peace academies, and other effective infrastructures for peace.

In carrying out this mission, the Global Alliance enables and facilitates the capacity of its network to share and provide one another with resources, information, encouragement, and support for existing and new national campaigns for Ministries and Departments of Peace as well as efforts to establish peace academies and other peace infrastructure elements in government and civil society. It also seeks, through the combined activities of the Global Alliance and its broader networks, to increase global understanding amongst civil societies and governments around the world of the need for Ministries and Departments of Peace and civil society counterparts at all levels.

The GA began in October 2005 at its First Summit, which was held in London, United Kingdom, and attended by 40 people from 12 countries. The Second Summit took place in June 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with 60 people from 18 countries in attendance. The Third Summit was held in September 2007 in Kisarazu, Japan, with 50 people participating from 21 countries. In September 2009, the Global Alliance held itsFourth Summit in Brasil de Mora, Costa Rica, where over 100 people were in attendance from over 22 countries.

The Fifth Summit took place on September30-October 6, 2011, in Cape Town, South Africa and was attended by 45 delegates from 19 countries representing 5 continents.

Why South Africa?

South Africans still suffer from deep trauma and need to continue the process of healing, as the scarring effects of apartheid wounds run deep. For South Africa to establish a sustainable culture of peace, healing needs to take place. The South African Peace Alliance has called for the South African government to establish a ministry or department of peace, and it is envisaged that a South African Ministry of Peace, headed by a cabinet minister, will build a culture of peace, manage peacekeeping efforts, be involved in peacebuilding where there was once conflict, seek to achieve disarmament and convert military facilities to peaceful purposes, lead peace education and training; and ensure that we celebrate peace.

Hosting the Global Alliance Summit in South Africa brought momentum to this initiative and attracted international support. When asked for his thoughts on the movement to establish Ministries and Departments of Peace in governments worldwide, this is what Archbishop Desmond Tutu had to say:

“It’s an extraordinary idea and, it fills one with a great deal of excitement and exhilaration, and it sounds crazy, but then I think it was crazy when Gandhi said we’re going to work so that eventually India is free. It must have been crazy when Martin Luther King, Jr., also said we’re going to make civil rights a real issue in the United States, and maybe when Nelson Mandela and others said one day apartheid will be no more, that we need those like yourselves who dream dreams and say, ‘It is possible. It is possible for people to know that war is not natural.’”

COMMUNIQUÉ

School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape
Cape Town ~ 6 October 2011

Global Alliance – A Platform for Infrastructures for Peace

The Fifth Summit of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace: Ubuntu in Action was a resounding success, from the Opening Ceremony featuring a keynote address by Sonja Kruse – the Ubuntu Girl, and performances by the Siyazama Cultural Group, to dynamic panel discussions led by expert peace practitioners. The South African Peace Alliance was chosen to host this year’s Summit as a reflection of South Africa’s ability to overcome adversity and civil conflict, an achievement we celebrate as an organization, by which South Africa inspires other nations. With this Summit the Global Alliance expanded its mission to support the establishment of infrastructures for peace at all levels – local to national, regional and global.

The Global Alliance Summit was endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and US Congressman Dennis Kucinich, whose powerful words for peace resounded among those gathered at the Auditorium of the University of the Western Cape.

Representing civil society, academia and government from 19 countries and 5 continents working toward peace infrastructure in their home countries, the Global Alliance Summit delegates and panellists included Ela Ghandi, former member of the Parliament of South Africa and granddaughter of Mohandas Gandhi; Karen Barensché, Executive Director of the South African Peace Alliance; and many other leaders in peacebuilding organisations, peace education, conflict resolution and grassroots activism. Outcomes of the Summit include the formal incorporation of the Global Alliance and the selection of its first Board of Directors – a true turning point in the history of the six-year-old organization. Highlights of the six-day event include a Storytelling for Peacebuilding workshop, meaningful conversations facilitated through World Café methodology provided by Symphonia Leadership Development, the employment of Lekgotla – a traditional form of community dialogue, significant involvement of over 50 inspiring youth, a powerful presentation by the African Alliance for Peace, conversations on peace economics, sharing personal experiences of NGO and government collaboration in peacebuilding, a tour of the Robben Island Mayibuye Archives, and expressions of Ubuntu in action – celebrating local and regional solutions, grounded in traditional ways of dealing with conflict.

The Global Alliance is proud to support the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award presented at the Summit Closing Ceremony to honour Nelson Mandela for his contributions to peace in South Africa, recognizing him as a leader in international peacebuilding.