SHIP Peace Practitioners has been founded to further the cause of peace at all levels from the interpersonal to the international.

We have a vision to provide and facilitate the training of practitioners for intervention in areas of conflict resolution and peace practice, at the individual and community level.

Established as a charity in Scotland, charity number SC037628, SHIP seeks to engender, respect for people while maintaining the highest standards of dignity, respect and hospitality among all people regardless of creed, age, gender, ethnicity or diversity.

SHIP aims to provide bespoke peace practitioner training; the practical aspects of conflict resolution, developing peacebuilding and equitable social systems that respect human rights, encouraging citizen participation, as opposed to pure academic research and study. We aim to address the following areas: peace; tolerance; social justice; human rights; sustainable development and nonviolent conflict resolution and reconciliation.  

THIS NEEDS A WELL RESOURCED CENTRE, AND SUPPORT FROM EDUCATIONAL, CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENT SOURCES.

SHIP has three broad aims for it's future:

1. To promote and raise awareness of the role of peacemaking and conflict recovery organisations.


2. To provide education, training  and projects for peace practitioners.


3. To provide training on conflict crisis resolution, mediation and negotiation.

These can be achieved through:

• Working collaboratively with established links with University Peace Studies departments and other European and Global peace organisations in disseminating information, research and in hosting conferences

• The establishment of a training facility; delivering courses and workshops on peace practitioner methods and approaches to conflict resolution.

• Facilitating and encouraging civil society projects home and abroad.

WHAT IS A PEACE PRACTITIONER?

A peace practitioner is a non-state actor who undertakes activities aimed at ending violent conflict or even non-violent conflict, ultimately to establish the conditions for lasting, positive peace.

The number of peace practitioners has increased exponentially since the end of the Cold War, mainly because the end of the superpower rivalry allowed NGOs to dominate post-conflict scenarios. This gave rise to the 'civil society' concept, i.e. allowing peace practitioners to promote sustainable societies that resolve differences in a non-violent manner. This in turn led to a range of terms being coined, such as conflict management, peacebuilding, conflict transformation, conflict resolution, conflict prevention, peacemaking, or reconciliation. A peace practitioner can work in any one of these areas, often working incredibly hard with few resources for little recognition. Nevertheless, peace practitioners have a vital role in post-conflict societies as recent events clearly illustrate that the end of violent conflict does not result in a peaceful society..

BUILDING PEACE AND JUSTICE

Organisations dedicated to creating peace are required in order to develop approaches and training that address fears and the nonviolent options for handling conflict, at both family, community and international levels.

Peace cannot exist without justice, so peace practitioners assist in developing and building equitable social systems that respect human rights, encourage citizen participation and enable sustainable development. This requires education, formal and informal, to nourish tolerance, respect for human rights and peaceful values and behaviour.

A number of Universities in the UK offer a wide range of  academic development undergraduate and post graduate courses in International Relations, Peace Studies, International Politics, and War Studies. In the future, SHIP aims to offer/provide peace practitioner training; the practical aspects of conflict resolution.

SUSTAINABLE PEACE THROUGH ACTION

This excellent video from Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams exemplifies our philosophy of peace.

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