Delia Mamon - Biography and motivation
Delia Mamon set up Graines de Paix in 2005, convinced of the need for an organization to foster violence prevention and peace through education. She first focused on the key life skills that needed to be taught in classrooms throughout schooling (ie what to teach). To this, she added the major changes required in teacher postures and in teaching methods (ie how to teach effectively). And most importantly, she has put the emphasis on the societal purpose of these education components - for improved learning results and fuller development of each student, for preventing violence and radicalization, and for developing a culture of peace with persons and planet. So what started as a peace education concept in 2005 developed into a full education transformation program between 2012 and 2015. Today her work merges SDG 3, 4, 5 and 16, ie mental health, education, gender equity, violence prevention and peace.
Education is in full transition : progressively, around the world, education authorities are choosing to go beyond passive instruction and to bring about active participation, knowledge of self, the ability to develop relationships with others and critical thinking.
Education will need to do yet more to reverse the growing rifts in society. It will need to value each student, including those labeled as weak, so that they can reveal and give the best of themselves. It will need to make the leap to encompass psychosocial skills and emotional learning, not least because fear and anger kindle violence.Furthermore, the world is becoming aware of the necessity to propose a culture based on values, values that can federate between cultures - human values, values leading to a culture of peace. Education is the only means to reach virtually all children of a country, and it is the most effective means for tackling the challenge of wide-spreading multiculturalism. Education will need to inspire."
