News

Student engagement is an important part of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement’s mission to advance expansive and innovative understandings and practices of peace. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, youth have continued to be a resilient, driving force in community change. With an increased willingness to challenge the status quo and keenness to consider fresh perspectives, students have a distinct and important role to play in social innovation.

War terminology is commonplace in the way the media and governments describe perceived threats: war on poverty, war on drugs, war on terror, and now, war on COVID-19. Aspenia Online, The Guardian, the University of Nottingham, and Higher Education Strategy Associates have all published blog posts or articles that explore the appropriateness of using this comparison, but have neglected to provide alternative language.

How do we prevent nuclear war? Ban autonomous weapons? Champion climate action, or effectively regulate the effects of technology and warfare? Sometimes hard questions are best left alone, and sometimes we need to dig in.

Project Ploughshares is addressing these concerns by choosing dialogue as a method for understanding through cross-country policy labs. To conduct these conversations, Ploughshares is leveraging its passion, perspective and position to create space for Canadians to voice their concerns.

On Monday, December 9, the Centre for Peace Advancement helped kick off Kindred Credit Union’s 12 Days 4 Good social media campaign for 2019. 12 Days 4 Good is engaging partners across Waterloo Region by having each of them to designate a day for an act of good that aligns with one of the central themes of this year’s campaign: affordable housing, climate action, or food security.

As a PeaceTech Peer Leader, I am excited to share what I have learned about inclusion and diversity in the last few weeks.

For those of us who work and study in universities, there are distinct rhythms to each semester, and right now we are entering a time of endings. Classes are wrapping up, major projects are coming due, and exams are looming. Meetings and publication deadlines that some of us have managed to put off are starting to pile up. And, right on cue, the University of Waterloo is providing a dizzying array of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to test and showcase their efforts.

Earlier this month, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) hosted supporters from all across North America in Tucson, Arizona for their annual convention. MEDA’s work across the globe in sustainable development and international investment attracts a wide range of stakeholders interested in business solutions to poverty.

One of the most exciting times of the year in the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement is when a new exhibit is installed in the Grebel Gallery. In addition to inspiring reflection and conversations among members of our campus and surrounding community, these exhibits also contribute to the creative energy of participants in the Centre. The view outside my office door is always interesting, but our latest exhibit is particularly provocative.

The short answer to this questions is: Lots of people! One of the points of this blog is to highlight various news items and events that demonstrate the growing interest in reflecting critically on technology, and in applying technology to peacebuilding.

What is space security? To most of us, the concept of space itself is foreign, not to mention broader discussions of the security or governance of space. For Jessica West of Project Ploughshares, space security is anything but abstract. In fact, it is a crucial and urgent conversation for the fields of peacebuilding and international policy.