FALL 2017
IN ACTION NEWSLETTER American Seeds hosted by Israeli, Palestinian peers JERUSALEM | For American Seeds, the Seeds of Peace Camp often represents their first opportunity to learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict directly from their peers in the Middle East. Using these relationships between American, Israeli, and Palestinian Seeds as a starting point, nine American Seeds were able to gain even deeper insight with this summer’s “Bayti” trip to Israel and Palestine. Bayti, which means “my home” in both Arabic and Hebrew, is an immersive, experiential-learning trip that exposes American Seeds to locations, people, perspectives, and ideas they would not normally encounter as tourists. This is the fifth such trip organized by Seeds of Peace in the last eight years. Seeds use the experience to examine the
role of Americans in the region, reflect on how they would like to engage with it in the future, and scrutinize what changes Americans are making and could make to further peace. To see and learn as much as possible, this summer’s trip made stops in Hebron, Jaffa,
Sderot, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, Haifa, and Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. Participants met with heads of local peace organizations, representatives of settler groups, and diplomats, as well as Israeli and Palestinian Seeds involved in human rights, politics, and other types of social change work. Dialogue was an integral part of the trip, providing Seeds with opportunities to process and analyze their encounters. This year’s Bayti participants report having a significantly increased understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an amplified desire to contribute to conflict transformation either abroad or at home, and an deeper understanding of the role Americans and others are playing in the conflict.
Celebrating 25th anniversary with Accelerating impact of GATHER Fellows Joe Scarborough and their unique social change ventures & Mika Brzezinski JERUSALEM | In 2016-2017, Seeds of Peace executed its second full iteration of the GATHER Fellowship, providing a platform for 15 accomplished leaders from across the Seeds of Peace network to connect with each other, learn the tools of social entrepreneurship, and move their unique social ventures forward. The Fellowship was administered in collaboration with partners at Brown University’s Swearer Center Social Innovation Initiative. The program consisted of the following elements for each participant: • A six-day accelerator in London in November 2016 that provided Fellows with professional development workshops, opportunities to network with local industry leaders, and a chance to present their work to a large audience of Seeds of Peace supporters. • Regional meetings in Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, United States, and Afghanistan that allowed Fellows to receive feedback on their work from the local Seeds community, in addition to an opportunity to receive further professional training. • Online skill-building workshops, trainings and presentations on topics including developing a sound business model and long-term financial sustainability; marketing Fellows’ personal and professional stories; and scaling their ventures. • Access to seed funding through a small venture grants pool. • A closing group convening in Jordan focused on peer learning, reflection, and
project sustainability moving forward. Leading into 2018, Seeds of Peace is evolving the GATHER Fellowship Program for its next class. The major adaptation involves the GATHER Challenge: a “big question” theme that will run through every event and activity, as well as guide the Fellow recruitment process. The first GATHER Challenge is being crowdsourced across Seeds of Peace’s international community of social innovators throughout September 2017. As the new Fellowship cohort is being recruited, selection priority will be given to candidates whose work has relevance to “the Challenge.” Though the substantive activities of the Fellowship will not change markedly, Seeds of Peace anticipates being able to make trainings and other events more relevant by being more specific. Additionally, the GATHER Challenge will provide a unifying theme for the spaces created as alumni convene across the globe through site-visits, workshops, networking events, and lectures. As with the Fellowship, Seeds of Peace will take a broad interpretation of the question and reserve space for boundary-pushing work. But the agreed upon framework will ensure that participants are having a cohesive conversation on a discrete challenge. The next Fellowship will convene in March, and Seeds of Peace looks forward to introducing you to the next class of Fellows.
ARUNDEL, MAINE | Seeds of Peace supporters in Maine celebrated the organization’s 25th anniversary with MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski at the Vinegar Hill Music Theatre on August 25. The evening, organized by Seeds of Peace supporter Tim Harrington, included a concert by Scarborough’s band, as well as reflections from Seeds of Peace alumni. “After living in a camp where enemies become friends I understood that peace is made by people,” said Israeli Seed Inbal. “For people to want peace, you need to inspire peace.” “Seeds of Peace encouraged me to bring my authentic self,” said Maine Seed Abukar. “For three weeks, I ate, slept, played and engaged in meaningful discussions with people with very different backgrounds and perspectives. I learned to lean into difficult conversations, to meet people where they are and to hold multiple truths.” Both Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski shared their reflections on the current state of US politics and their hopes for Seeds of Peace alumni. “We need their leadership. We need their leadership here in Maine, here in the United States, and around the world,” said Mika. “We have seen too much division these past few days, weeks, months. The work that Seeds alumni do—their willingness to lead, stand up, speak out and build relationships that might otherwise be impossible—gives us all a reason to remain hopeful.”