Nonviolent Peaceforce

My 4-year membership with NP has been enlightening. Having attended NP Cafe Zoom meetings and viewed podcasts led by NP staff, I've seen and heard the dogged and compassionate efforts steering this organization.

As well, words cannot describe the admiration I hold for the courageous and ongoing peacekeeping efforts of NP field workers, who literally risk their lives to make a better world for everyone on this planet. Our local chapter has hosted some of these workers. Listening to their heartfelt stories of hope, rescue and resolution using nonviolent means has reinforced for me the possibility of a world with less violence and more unity.

Our enthusiastic and active local chapter stays engaged with community peacemaking. Along with hosting NP leaders and field workers to educate us on national and international efforts, we have a teaching team that, for several years, shared conflict resolution lessons in elementary and middle school classrooms. We hope to be invited back into schools next year. Another local highlight; four leaders in our local chapter have taken on an initiative to hopefully have our city, Midland, Michigan, designated as an International City of Peace.

Nonviolent Peaceforce holds a critical role in creating a more peaceful existence both locally and worldwide for all of us. Thank you, NP!

Jeannie Dellar
Member, NPMC

Non Violent Peaceforce has been a beacon of hope for countless people facing violence in their homes and countries. The famous resolution of a children's hostage situation in Sri Lanka has placed NP on the map for many people wanting to see peaceful resolutions to potentially grave situations, where NP has been able to step in and help at the request of a threatened community.

I have watched the positive evolution of NP over the years, and would like to see its pattern of community involvement and assistance emulated far more widely throughout the world.

Thank you, Nonviolent Peaceforce, for remaining one of the most effective strategies for peace that can be offered a chaotic and challenged world.

I have been a member for a number of years and have met a number of people in the organization - both local and international. The volunteers in areas of much violence are people of great courage and dedication to make their communities safer for the civilians in those areas. Locally, the volunteers take time to teach intervention and communication skills to convert threats and violence to discussions and peaceful argument. This is provides in sessions in schools and with organizations providing social services to the public in areas prone to violence in the past. The local organization also provides financial support supporting global operations.

Nonviolent Peaceforce is a leader in one of the most exciting and transformative fields to emerge in recent years: Unarmed Civilian Protection. This model of nonviolent grassroots protection of communities and individuals is an idea whose time has come, and Nonviolent Peaceforce is leading. Wonderful group!!

I met and heard Tiffany Easthom share her experiences as Nonviolent Peaceforce director in South Sudan nine years ago. She shared how the highly trained local and international members intervened to de-escalate tension and provide security for unarmed civilians resulting in a ceasefire, reached after 110 interventions. I was impressed by this non-profit doing the challenging work of peace and joined the local chapter of Nonviolent Peaceforce. I and fellow volunteers have been active in local schools teaching conflict resolution.

Last year after George Floyd’s death and subsequent protests for racial justice and anti-racist actions, I was impressed with NP with its U.S. headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, collaborating with community members to maintain space for civic engagement and protest, as well as equip community members and safety professionals in the skills of violence prevention and nonviolent resolution. They were “taking the lessons of the global South and applying them to situations in the global North.”

“Conflict is inevitable. Violence is not.” This mantra of Non-violence Peaceforce encourages me to continue to support them financially and continue my volunteer work with our local chapter.

I am proud to say I have been a part of this organization for approximately 10 years through our local chapter. I so admire the work they do around the world bringing about peace in a nonviolent way. Their tactics and training are proven to work to bring about peace as they patiently teach others how to resolve conflicts without the use of weapons and the killing of so many unarmed civilians. They are always responsive to our requests for speakers and we have had the privilege of hosting yearly events to bring awareness of the incredibly important work they do to our local community. We gladly help to raise awareness and funds to support their efforts. My dream is that more and more nonviolent unarmed methods will bring about a time in my life that realizes this approach to dealing with conflicts around the world as the norm and we will have no more armed conflicts.

I've been associated with them for years, reading about and contributing to their work in other countries. They have done SO much to empower people to stand nonviolently against those who would enslave and cripple countries with few resources to fight back. Their website and newsletters tell stories that give hope.

I was thrilled to learn that Nonviolent Peaceforce was going to bring their training to the United States, to enable people to stand nonviolently with those who experience brutality and injustice from our civic police forces. Since early 2021 I have been involved with the planning committee for Nonviolent Peaceforce in Chicago and we're workiing along with others in bringing nonviolent protection to our own beleaguered streets, especially on the brutal South side.

Nonviolent Peaceforce does incredible work around the world providing unarmed peacekeeping for populations in crisis. Their team members work with local people on the ground to make agreements that limit violence as well as providing unarmed civilian accompaniment to groups and individuals (mainly women and children) who are at risk while going about their daily activities.

In a world where military action is both expensive and often ineffectual, Nonviolent Peaceforce has a proven record of helping people in the midst of violence overcome conflict in a cost efficient manner.

I recently took a class offered by the Nonviolent Peaceforce. It was instructive and inspiring.

Nonviolent Peaceforce is an absolutely amazing organization. Their work in the field of unarmed civilian peacekeeping is not only changing peoples lives for the better but also the paradigm of how conflicts can be effectively managed through nonviolent means. They protect and give hope all across the world by not only providing unarmed protection but also training and guidance to the vulnerable to empower them to help protect themselves. They are truly a light in times of darkness, just an outstanding organization!

Nonviolent Peaceforce's commitment to civilian protection through a non-violence approach is not only a personal inspiration but has universally valuable lessons that the world desperately needs.