Type of Organization: Non-governmental - Non-Profit

Home Country: Costa Rica

Overview

Description of organization: The Academy for Peace of Costa Rica is a non-profit non-governmental organization (supported by the Rasur Foundation) located in Costa Rica working with local communities and the Costa Rican national government to create a culture of peace. Our two-pronged approach includes the establishment of peace infrastructure in government and the dissemination of the BePeace practice (synergistic combination of HeartMath, founded by the Institute of HeartMath, and Marshall B. Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication) in the local school system to pass this peace skill from generation to generation.

Number of staff members: Office Staff: 5; plus school trainers and facilitators: 8 = 13 total

Publications: The Return of Rasur, written by Rita Marie Johnson; BePeace 40-Hour Course Manual; BePeace Facilitator’s Guidebook; periodic newsletters available on website www.academyforpeacecr.org

Description of Organization’s work in Conflict Resolution Education/ Peace Education:
Within Higher Education (university/college; ages 18 and higher):
Lead informational workshops with the United Nations’ chartered University for Peace; recruit university students in the Psychology field from Universidad Latina and Universidad Nacional to work with us in our school program.

Within Early childhood to pre-university (K-12, youth ages 0-18):
The BePeace practice is currently taught in 13 schools in the Costa Rican county of Santa Ana, following an extensive and ongoing training process for teachers, students and parents. Utilizing our original BePeace curriculum, Academy for Peace trainers teach a 1-hour session per week to the 5th grade classes in each school, in addition to refresher courses for teachers who have previously received the 40-hour BePeace training, and a separate 9-hour course for parents. Supported by Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Education, we are currently in the planning stages to extend BePeace methodology throughout the national public school system in Costa Rica.

Contact Information