The Positive Peace training was held by the Positive Peace Society of Hiroshima University (core members: Vrajesh Rawal, Bezhan, Wulan, Yoga, Alfa, and others) in partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) on March 4 and 5 2024. Taking place at the Central Library Hall of the Hiroshima University, the two-day training was attended by participants coming from more than fifteen countries including Brazil, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Malawi, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Ukraine. Besides Hiroshima University students and faculty members, some presenters of the 3rd NERPS Conference 2024 from outside Hiroshima also took part in the training, making the academic backgrounds of the participants even more diverse. During the two-day training, participants learned the concept of the Positive Peace framework, the 8 pillars of Positive Peace, IEP’s data-based research, and global trends of peace, IEP’s methodology and resources as well as fun and engaging activities such as Pillar Island, Privilege Walk, Pillar Connections game showing IEP’s approach of systems thinking, and group discussion to design peace and development projects. Among these activities, Pillar Island was the most helpful and interesting for the majority of participants while the Privilege Walk came as the runner-up. Despite really enjoying Pillar Island, the participants also wished that the allocated time for it could be extended so they could get an even better understanding of the real-life circumstances in our world depicted by the exercise.
The group discussion activity was no less interesting since thought-provoking ideas and projects on important issues were raised by the participants. It was truly impressive how they were able to deliver their designs in a well-structured presentation, showcasing their comprehensive understanding on what they had learned during the two days of training. By the end of the training, participants shared their thoughts and experiences where some of them said the training had strengthen their sense of belonging, enlightened them through the power of collaboration, and made them realise that peace is complex yet measurable. They realised that peace is about interconnectedness and highly related to global sustainability and inclusiveness, they were encouraged to put peace into practice starting with themselves and then to build peace with their communities. Others also add that peace is relative as it is based on our respective experiences, and therefore it is necessary . All participants are confident to lead discussions on problem solving in their community and designing peace interventions upon completing the training and most of them found the experience to be extremely positive. Overall, they were also satisfied with the quality of training in terms of the trainer (Patricia Garcia AO), the activities, the materials and resources, as well as the overall organisation.