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Major Christina “Tina” Schweiss is a peace builder.
Major Schweiss began formally studying peacebuilding in her masters program at Columbia University in 2001. Her interest in peacebuilding was originally piqued when she deployed to Haiti in 1994 for a peacekeeping mission. Ten years later, while teaching in the Comparative Politics program at the United States Military Academy (West Point) Department of Social Sciences, Major Schweiss decided to use her training and experience in a highly innovative way to help educate future Army leaders and better equip them for a changing global security context. Through including experts from the USMA, several Army commands, the Department of Defense, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), and the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia, Major Schweiss convened a team to design a “Winning the Peace” course that prepared young Army officers for peace and stability operations. The highlight of this course was a community assessment and interaction exercise in Jersey City, New Jersey, where cadets worked with members of the Muslim, Hindu, and Coptic communities, aided by the Jersey City Police Department. (The curriculum can be found at http://www.dean.usma.edu/.) This course was made possible through generous contributions by the Foreign Military Studies Office, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the USMA Association of Graduates, and the Compton Foundation.) Because “Winning the Peace” was so successful, it and other departmental efforts eventually led to the funding and creation of a Conflict and Human Security Studies program at West Point. In 2005 Major Schweiss was assigned to US Joint Forces Command, where she works on a program called “Unified Action.” The program brings together elements of the US Government, NGOs, IGOs/IOs, allies, and the private sector to improve responses to overseas crises. Such responses range from conflict prevention to crisis management, post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction, and long-term development and peacebuilding. Major Schweiss has positioned herself on the cutting edge by acting as a bridge between those in the peacebuilding field and members of the traditional security community. In doing so she is striving to bring the peacebuilding framework into the lexicon of the Department of Defense. Macaria Barai is a peacebuilder.
The possibility of wide-spread conflict is still a problem in Guinea-Bissau. But with the help of Ms. Barai and many citizens like her, the outlook today is much brighter than before. This innovative work is part of the International Peace and Prosperity Project carried out by Dr. Ben Hoffman with support from Milt Lauenstein and the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Retired corporate executive Milt Lauenstein is a peacebuilder.
Milt Lauenstein puts his head, his heart and his wealth into peacebuilding. He provided the inspiration as well as the funding for the International Peace and Prosperity Project in Guinea-Bissau and for the International Conflict Prevention Consortium. He is an ever-present source of ideas, guidance and support for these and other Alliance for Peacebuilding related initiatives. He also serves on the Alliance Board of Directors. He describes his motivation as follows: “For most of my life, I have believed that mankind had the capacity to reduce the extent to which groups engage in killing each other. Finally, at age 75, I decided to devote my remaining years to trying to do something about it, daunting as the task seemed. Now, after 6 1/2 years of intensive study and work, and having sponsored a successful project to prevent violence, I am convinced that in fact we can prevent violence, and that building on that experience is the most cost-effective opportunity available for us to reduce human suffering.” Michael McCaskey (Chairman of the Chicago Bears), John Garamendi (Lieutenant Governor of California) and Chic Dambach (President, Alliance for Peacebuilding) are Peacebuilders. They are pictured here with Isaias Afwerki (President of Eritrea).
The team was lead by John Garamendi, who is currently the Lt. Governor of California. It included Alliance for Peacebuilding President Chic Dambach as well as Michael McCaskey, Chairman of the Chicago Bears, Ninth Circuit Judge Bill Canby, and Mel Foote of the Constituency for Africa. Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki personally invited team members to witness the treaty-signing ceremony in Algiers, and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi wrote that the team’s contribution was “invaluable for creating the momentum and the spirit which made this historic achievement (the peace treaty) possible.” | |
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Ms. Barai is the Coordinator of a group called “Citizens for Goodwill” which promotes democratic solutions in Guinea-Bissau. During the run-up to the 2005 election in Guinea-Bissau, a time in which tensions were very high and many feared that any instability would throw the country back into a bloody civil war, Ms. Barai met with all of the candidates and urged them to accept the results, no matter what they may be.
He is shown here with military leaders in Guinea-Bissau and Ben Hoffman of the International Peace and Prosperity Project.
A team of returned Peace Corps Volunteers established a trust relationship with the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea and facilitated communication between them, helping lead to a resolution of the border war that claimed over 100,000 lives. The team worked as volunteers over a two-year period while meeting regularly with the leaders of both countries and their representatives in Africa and in the United States. They also worked with leaders in civil society, business, academia, and religion to promote broad-based support for the peace process.