If we want peace on earth, we have to empower youth as peacebuilders. CryPeace's "Are We Together?" peacebuilding course does just that. This free, certified resource teaches universal values and conflict resolution skills in a fun an engaging way. Co-developed by international peacebuilders, so far it has equipped over 7,500 teenagers in Uganda with essential life skills. We're building on its success by training more partners to deliver it, in schools, churches, organizations and communities.
The real heroes are the peacebuilders.
The program was created by the late Canadian peace educator, Marg Huber. Marg collaborated on the course with war orphans from Uganda, incorporating Ugandan folk stories, the African concept of Ubuntu, and universal values, communication and conflict resolution skills. Marg trained the senior members of the African Children's Choir to train secondary students in peace and conflict resolution. As schools became safe havens and youth adopted the motto, "the real heroes are the peacebuilders," more and more schools requested the program. In just seven years, the team taught the two-year program to over 7,500 students in 18 schools in Uganda. The impact was transformative.
Let's raise a generation for peace.
Marg shared her knowledge and materials with CryPeace to teach even more children essential life skills, including positive communication, anger management, equality, love, respect, and peaceful conflict resolution methods. Our first first peace class started in Buliisa in March 2024. These young people are initiating ways to practice what they've learned in service to their communities. Our second class started at a home for disadvantaged children in Kampala in May 2024. If anyone needs peace, it's these precious children, most of whom had only had a stable roof over their heads for 18 months at that time. One of the teenagers, Joshua, told me that no one ever taught him about peace before, but now he wants to share it with his friends, and become a peacebuilder when he grows up.
Since then, we started teaching peace in more schools and churches. By the end of 2024, approximately 300 children were learning peacebuilding skills every week, and we're growing!
In one of our training workshops, Reverend Kisitu crossed religious barriers to make his first Muslim friend. They are both eager to bring peace training to their communities. We encourage you to listen Reverend Kisitu's testimony, and hear how it's nurturing a generation for peace in the school he founded with his wife, Milicah.
The peace course is suitable for schools, churches, mosques, and youth organizations. It has been certified by Uganda's National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) as a much-needed and recommended resource. In 2025, NCDC invited us to share the importance of integrating peace and social and emotional learning into the national curriculum. Our dream is that by demonstrating the impact of this program, the Ministry of Education will recommend peace education for every child in Uganda.
It will take the one global family to accomplish this dream, but as the children at the children's home say, "Together we are better!" Together, let's raise a generation for peace!
Learn more:
- Review the "Are We Together?" Facilitator's Manual
- Ways to get involved
- Email CryPeace to become a partner in the program