Peace Entrepreneurs: Ashoka launches new program

 

"True peace building has no enemies." The quote stems from an Ashoka Fellow from India's conflict-ridden north where he works as a social entrepreneur trying to resolve societal problems through entrepreneurial projects. Ashoka, the world?s largest and best known association of social entrepreneurs, has now founded a network of Peace Fellows. It includes such figures as Imam Mohammed Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye of Nigeria. They work together in the country's north, where there are recurring violent confrontations between Muslim and Christian groups, organizing training sessions on nonviolence and interfaith dialogue.

The Sri Lankan peacebuilder P.N. Singham is also a member of the network, whose aim is to adapt methods and strategies that succeed in one conflict region for use in others. The program also provides peacebuilders facing particular risks with security training, free legal advice, and trauma therapy. Should Ashoka fellows be threatened directly, an international network is placed on alarm.