Socially Engaged Buddhist Peacebuilding

and Social Development Course

for Women Activists in South and Southeast Asia

September 10 –30, 2010

Chiang Mai, Thailand
International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP)

IWP announces our fourth annual Socially Engaged Buddhist Peacebuilding and Social
Development Course for Women Activists in South and Southeast Asia. The course is
designed for Buddhist women activists who are active in community organizations and
NGOs that would like to integrate engaged Buddhist teachings into their community work
and deepen their own personal Buddhist practice.

The course is three weeks long and participants are expected to implement action plans based
on their learning upon return to their home communities. The course will be held at IWP’s
training center, outside Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

Course Objectives:
1. Link engaged Buddhist philosophy and practice to active non-violence, peace
building and justice in their community organizing work.
2. Increase participants’ knowledge of the main Buddhist teachings and use them to
analyze structural violence particularly on the issues of gender, violence against
women, political and racial oppression.
3. Help participants unlearn harmful notions on karma at the personal and structural
levels and relearn more empowering interpretations with the teaching tools to work
with their community on this issue.
4. Provide an opportunity for participants to learn Buddhist teachings and practices
about peace building, conflict transformation, and non-violent actions.
5. Develop achievable and realistic plans of actions that participants will undertake upon
return to their communities; and provide necessary follow-up support for effective
implementation.
6. Establish a network of grassroots Buddhist women activists in the region who are
committed to cultivating spiritual practice as a foundation for their feminist activism.

All of IWP’s training courses are highly participatory in nature, focused on personal
transformation that leads to awareness and confidence to take action for social change.

PO Box 3, Mae Rim Post Office, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180 Thailand
(66) 6184 1323 or (66 53) 376 103; info@womenforpeaceandjustice.org
www.womenforpeaceandjustice.org
The teaching methodology
Buddhism emphasizes experience as a basis for learning and transformation. Different forms
of daily mindfulness practices and meditation are designed to help participants form the
foundation for their peace work. The teaching methodology will combine learning through
lecture, experiential learning activities, skills building and spiritual training. Experiential
learning activities help participants go beyond the intellectual and information and
incorporates a holistic model, in which participants use head, heart, hands, and spirit
(intellectual, emotional, kinesthetic, and spiritual modalities) in the learning process.
Learning methods will include small group discussion, role-plays, group challenges, audio-
video and visual aids, exposure trips to witness from real situations, and a meditation retreat.
This approach incorporates Buddhist perspectives as well as practice.

The course content

 Introduction to Buddhism, brief history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia.
 Learning the main Buddhist teachings, primarily the Four Noble Truths and the eightfold
noble paths to analyze different social problems such as women's oppression, poverty,
gender- based violence conflict at different levels (personal, community and global) and
use them a guide for solutions.
 Deconstructing and challenging Buddhist misinterpretations such as the notion of karma
that are promoting and sustaining oppression and violence particularly on women and
issue of gender and diversity.
 Using the Four Abiding Abodes (Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity) as
guidance for action on building peaceful and healthy relationships and community.
 The intersections of Buddhism and Feminism; the role of Women in Buddhism; and
Buddhism and violence against women.
 Buddhism and Non-Violent Action.
 Challenging ourselves as Buddhist activists -- how to create balance to avoid burnout,
and how to be driven by compassion and joy instead of anger and despair.
 Daily Mindfulness practice and meditation.
 Community work.

Core Skills for Participants

We have identified core skills that we expect participants can develop or foster through the
curriculum which integrates personal mindfulness practice, concepts for social change and
community building. These skills will support participants’ process of personal
transformation leading to take action for social change. These core skills include:

 Building peace within: working with fear, stress, despair, and anger from a Buddhist
methodology and practice.
 Cultivating mindfulness, awareness, and inner peace
 Mindful/deep listening and Buddhist feminist counseling skills
 Collective, power sharing leadership for social change
 Non-violent action for social change, conflict transformation and peace building
 Giving and receiving constructive feedback
 Social problems analysis skill based upon the Buddhist teachings.
 Diversity and anti-oppression work (understanding privilege and power)/working across
differences
 Stress reduction, dealing with anger and despair.
 Inner transformation work

Plans of Action
The last part of the course is focused on Plans of Action – ways that participants plan to take
their learning and experience back to their communities. The plans of action reflect the most
relevant learning of the participants and the ways they can apply that learning in their home
context. Participants from each country/area are encouraged to develop action plans together
to support the process of developing local networks and alliances.

IWP staff work with participants individually (or country groups) to develop realistic plans,
and then discuss together about what kind of follow up support participants will need to put
the plans into action. In the past, IWP staff has offered support through co-facilitating
trainings with participants in their home communities, offering advice and suggestions about
curriculum development and training design, providing other appropriate resource people for
trainings/workshops in their home communities, and providing financial support for
translation/publication of useful materials. Follow-up is tailored very specifically to each
context to ensure that the participants have sufficient support to apply the core skills acquired
during the training in their home communities.

Participants:

The three week training workshop is designed for 16-18 grassroots women activists from the
South and Southeast Asia region. The course will be conducted in English, and participants
need to be able to express their ideas and opinions in English. There will be time devoted for
participants to form study groups to assist each other with language and comprehension.

Participants and their organizations are expected to fundraise their own travel
expenses. The fees for the course are $250 USD. Participants from organizations that
are not able to pay the fees should contact us.

Implementing Organization:

International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP) is a spiritual based feminist
organization working to support grassroots activism in South and Southeast Asia. IWP leads
workshops, retreats and training courses which share in common the integration of feminism,
social action and spirituality for sustainability and transformation at the personal, community
and society levels. Our goal is to work systematically and strategically with grassroots
groups over a sustained period of time, practicing a partnership culture that has spirituality as
a core foundation of social activism. This is our effort to offer
alternatives to the hierarchical systems that dominate mainstream
institutions and even progressive social movements. Please see our
website: www.womenforpeaceandjustice.org for more information.
If you are interested to attend this course, please fill out the following application and return
it to IWP before July 1, 2010.

Please send by email if possible: ginger@womenforpeaceandjustice.org;

or by mail: PO Box 3, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180 Thailand

Name:

Nationality or ethnicity:

Age:

Contact Information (the easiest way for us to contact you: email, phone, mail, etc):

Organization contact information:

How did you find out about this course?

What is your current work/study (area of focus)?

What are your expectations from this course?

How do you think a course on Buddhism and Peacebuilding can support your
work/study/lifestyle now and your vision for the future?

What, if any, links do you see between spiritual practice and your activism/social change
work?

What are 3 personal strengths you have that you will contribute to this course and
community?

What are 3 skills/areas that you would like to develop in this course and community?

A name and contact information (email if possible) of someone who can serve as a reference
for you:

Anything else you’d like us to know about you?