{"id":2536,"date":"2012-11-25T12:49:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-25T17:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/?p=2536"},"modified":"2019-02-09T16:48:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T21:48:08","slug":"2011-2012-presidents-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/?p=2536","title":{"rendered":"2011-2012 President’s Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(Please read below or download the PDF version by clicking here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

A concept I use extensively in my teaching and peacebuilding work is that of peace as a “process-structure”. I learned about this through the work of peacebuilding theorist and practitioner, John-Paul Lederach, who drew on ideas from quantum physics to develop this concept. For Lederach, peace is neither just an endless dynamic process nor a fixed end-state; it is both. <\/span><\/span><\/span>\"photo-3\"<\/span><\/span><\/span>He uses the metaphor of a river to illustrate this. When you stand knee-deep in a flowing river, you see, feel and hear dynamic movement of the water. However, if you view the river from the top of a mountain or an airplane, it appears as a static shape. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Being involved in the day to day work of InterChange is like being in the swiftly flowing river or perhaps a whirlwind: busy, exciting, and often taking us in directions we hadn\u2019t expected. However, at the time of our Annual General Meeting, when we look back to take stock of what we\u2019ve done over the past year, the big picture of the \u201cstructure\u201d side of the concept emerges. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The big picture, the main focus of our work over the year has been peace literacy<\/span>\u2014the idea that peace is not an abstract, unattainable dream, but rather a way of looking at the world involving\u00a0 values, attitudes, concepts and skills that can be learned and put into practice. We\u2019ve promoted this idea within our organization and taken out into our communities, guided always by the notion that \u201cEverybody can be a peacebuilder\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In looking back over the year, we find that this work is foundational to the vision and mission of InterChange, and that this focus has helped us define our niche. It has also given us a solid base on which to build, and we have defined this as the direction we want to take in our Strategic Plan.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another highlight of the year is the further development of our website especially with the expansion into exciting new areas such as the intersection of Food and Peace, and where Health and Peace meet. \u00a0Over the year, we produced a newsletter focused on the theme, \u201cEveryone can be a Peacebuilder\u201d and our Facebook page has been very active. We\u2019ve also produced attractive InterChange promotional brochures, a series of educational postcards, and an InterChange banner, which was unveiled for the first time at our 2012 AGM! <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also been most encouraged by the dedicated hard work of our members around the world and by the new people who have come into the InterChange family over the year.\u00a0 I look forward to the future development of InterChange with excitement and enthusiasm.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anne Goodman, President<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n


<\/em>2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

InterChange\u2019s AGM was held <\/span><\/span><\/span>on June 11, 2011 in a unique <\/span><\/span><\/span>bookstore\/community space in Toronto, Canada, called Accents on Eglinton<\/em>. As is our usual practice, the AGM<\/span><\/span><\/span> was followed by an event of interest to both people in InterChange and the wider public. The 2011 event focused on our project, <\/span><\/span><\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cBuilding a Culture of Peace in Toronto,\u201d and we used a strength-based, Appreciative Inquiry approach to look at what we had achieved to date with the project and where we wanted to go in the future. The approach used 4 D’s: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n