partnerships
National Peace Academy works with and through several like-minded organizations that have aligned missions with the intention of increasing impact and visibility of peace. NPA currently maintains three strategic partnerships.
Biosophical Institute (BI)
The Biosophical Institute, headquartered in Bath, Maine, is a non-profit private foundation. The Center for P.E.A.C.E. and Community is the public physical presence that provides space for the institute to fulfill its mission through programming, workshops and grants.
What is Biosophy?
In the endeavor to work with others on character improvement and spiritual self-education, Dr. Frederick Kettner developed “Biosophy”, Bios=Life and Sophia=Wisdom, based on the works of Spinoza.
Biosophy is the science and art of intelligent living based on the awareness and practice of spiritual values, ethical-social principles and character qualities essential to individual freedom and social harmony.
Our Mission
To cultivate a community and culture of peace encompassing life wisdom and deep relationships through character and peace education.
International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE)
The International Institute on Peace Education is a weeklong residential experience for educators hosted in a different country every other summer. The Institute facilitates exchanges of theory and practical experiences in teaching peace education and serves to grow the field. In serving the field, the IIPE operates as an applied peace education laboratory that provides a space for pedagogical experimentation; cooperative, deep inquiry into shared issues; and advancing theoretical, practical and pedagogical applications.
Since its inauguration at Teachers College Columbia University in 1982, the IIPE has brought together experienced and aspiring educators, academics, professional workers, and activists in the field of peace education from around the world to exchange knowledge and experiences and learn with and from each other in its intensive residentially based learning community. The IIPE is held annually at various universities and peace centers throughout the world.
Also an opportunity for networking and community building, the IIPE has spawned a variety of collaborative research projects and peace education initiatives at the local, regional, and international levels.
Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE)
The Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE) is a global movement of individual peace educators and education NGOs committed to fostering cultures of peace through peace education. Campaign members work in their respective contexts, and through their respective capacities, toward the achievement of the goals of the campaign. Members seek to disseminate and advance peace education in their own localities while engaging, when possible, in transnational cooperation toward addressing global threats to peace.
Campaign Goals
The Global Campaign for Peace Education seeks to foster a culture of peace in communities around the world. It has two goals:
- to build public awareness and political support for the introduction of peace education into all spheres of education, including non-formal education, in all schools throughout the world
- to promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace
Vision: No Peace without Peace Education
The GCPE was called for by participants of the Hague Appeal for Peace Civil Society Conference in May 1999 with this founding vision:
A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. Such learning cannot be achieved without intentional, sustained and systematic education for peace.