Newsletters and Updates

Current Articles New Program Manager (June 2009) China Update (June 2009) Evans Honorary Doctorate (March 2009) Obama Recommendations (January 2009) Emerging China Program (January 2009) Little Rock Peace Network (January 2009) Tallberg Forum (October 2008) Seeking Peace in Colombia (October 2008) Papua Peace Update (July 2008) Evans Reflections on CTF (July 2008) Courant Plowshares Article (July 2008) Interfaith Dialogue Initiative (February 2008) Restorative Justice Work (February 2008)

International Workshops Update 

Australia: The full program at United Theological College began with a two-day intensive workshop for members of the faculty and pastoral leaders in Australia.  Some thirty-five additional seminary participants, who were also part of the first two days of training, then launched a new peace studies curriculum for the College of Divinity at the University of Sydney.

One result of the course was the creation of several task forces to apply course learnings to issues in Australia such as human rights violations of Aborigine people, detention of refugees from the Middle East and Asia, and Australia’s participation in the Iraq war.

Brazil: During December, 2002, Plowshares staff members Bob and Alice Evans and Heidi Hadsell, President of Hartford Seminary and a Plowshares Board member, worked with ITEBA (Instituto de Educacao Teologica da Bahia) in Salvador, Brazil.   ITEBA is a creative ecumenical center focused on self development of women and theological preparation of church leaders, teachers, counselors and community workers for social justice. A Plowshares partner for many years, ITEBA has hosted a number of Plowshares traveling seminars to Brazil, including one proposed for 2004.  Contact Plowshares for further information.

Cambodia: Thirty area directors of emergency relief and development in the Asian-Pacific section of World Vision International gathered in Phnom Penh for a week of intensive training in case writing, conflict transformation and peace-building. The program helped participants integrate conflict transformation and peacebuilding into their emergency aid programs in order to rebuild fractured relationships in war-torn areas, extend temporary peace settlements, and sustain the long-term development programs which are at the core of their work.  Participants were individually coached to develop a number of new case studies based on their field work to be used for documentation and as analytical tools for more effective delivery of services.    

Cuba:  In April Bob Evans conducted two workshops in Cuba.  The first was at the Ecumenical Seminary in Matanzas  for faculty and students and the second at the Cuban Council of Churches in Havana for Cuban religious leaders.   These seminars build on earlier consultations and a brief workshop in support of a new initiative on reconciliation between Cubans and Cuban Americans and the future of Cuban-American relations.  These workshops inaugurated the Spanish translation of the Peace Skills curriculum.