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Peace X Peace is a nonprofit women's organization founded in 2002 that promotes building peace through online communications.

History

Peace X Peace was founded in 2002 by Patricia Smith Melton. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Smith Melton gathered six experts in peace and women's rights from around the world (including Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...

, the Chilean novelist; Susan Collin Marks, the Australian-born co-founder of Search for Common Ground
Search for Common Ground
Search for Common Ground is an international non-profit organization operating in nearly 30 countries whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial approaches toward cooperative solutions. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with the majority of...

; and Fatima Gailani, the Afghan head of the Red Crescent) to discern a women's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

. They agreed that women are the key to peace, and that women must stand together to claim their full power. Later in 2002 Smith Melton incorporated the organization and took a film crew around the world to interview extraordinary women. The award-winning documentary that resulted, Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines, premiered at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 on International Women's Day
International Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...

 in 2003. It was also aired around the world and on PBS in the United States. Also in 2003, the organization launched a website, www.peacexpeace.org, and an online women’s news service, and began connecting women for virtual conversations across geographic and cultural divides.

Organizational Philosophy

Peace X Peace is governed and informed by "Circle Principles." These principles are:

• Communicate honestly and thoughtfully.

• Listen actively without judgment.

• Invite silence when in doubt.

• Affirm one another.

• Offer experience, not advice.

• Share leadership and resources.

• Build consensus.

• Maintain confidentiality.


The organization also strives to achieve what it calls, "Pillars of Peace." They identify these pillars as essential to creating thriving communities. The Pillars of Peace are:

• Conflict Transformation

• Cross-cultural Understanding

• Economic Empowerment

• Education

• Environmental Sustainability

• Health and Well-being

• Interfaith Dialogue

• Justice and Good Governance

Peace X Peace today

In fall of 2008 Dr. Pat Morris took office as Executive Director of Peace X Peace, and in 2010 Kim Weichel took the helm as CEO. As of June, 2011 the organization had six staff members.
Peace X Peace advocates for effective, sustained policies and programs that support and advance women. They are part of a civil society coalition that offers recommendations into a US Government National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security.
Peace X Peace operates almost entirely online, hosting a private online community, as well as regularly publishing original and re-posted material on their blogs. These blogs include Voices from the Frontlines, Be the Change (which has postings by founder Patricia Smith Melton), and Connection Point. The organization also puts out a monthly newsletter, PeaceTimes, and sends the Weekly Blog Digest each Friday. The Peace X Peace community now numbers some 18,000 women (and a few men) in more than 100 countries.
Peace X Peace collaborates on UN initiatives for women, including the Commission on the Status of Women, Millennium Development Goals, and UN Women, advocates on behalf of UN conventions, and participates in UN programs in the Washington DC area.
In February 2011, Peace X Peace launched a new project, called "Connection Point." The goal of this project is to "link Arab and Muslim women with women from Western countries in a vibrant online community." It works to achieve this goal by regularly posting articles and interviews with women from the Arab world and Muslim women, as well as collecting and posting resources pertinent to Arab and Muslim women, and their relations with women in the west.
Every November, Peace X Peace hosts the Women, Power, and Peace Awards. Award categories include Peace Media, Peace Philanthropy, the Patricia Smith Melton Peacebuilder award, and the Community Peacebuilder award. Every other year these awards are given out in a ceremony held in Washington, DC.

Awards

  • In 2002 the Isabel Allende Foundation honored Peace X Peace with the Espiritu Award for the Pursuit of Peace.
  • The documentary PEACE BY PEACE: Women on the Frontlines won the Golden Eagle Cine Award
    CINE
    CINE is a consortium formulated to depict American life and thought realistically for a global audience. CINE recognizes and fosters the highest quality of non-theatrical film and video production through its semi-annual film competitions....

     in 2004 and the Best Documentary Aurora Award in 2006.
  • In 2005, Religious Science International (RSI), a nonprofit based in Seattle, recognized Peace X Peace with its Golden Works Award for activities that exemplify the RSI mission, "awakening humanity to its spiritual magnificence."
  • In 2006, Working Mother Magazine named it one of the 25 Best Places for Women to Work.
  • In 2007, Peace X Peace won the ePhilanthropy Foundation's Best Community Building/Activism Award, in a field that included Oxfam, the Humane Society, and the American Cancer Society.
  • In November 2008, Peace X Peace won the Technology Innovation Award from NPower Greater DC and Accenture.
  • In December 2008, Peace X Peace Founder Patricia Smith Melton received The RUMI Peace and Dialogue Peace Award and was selected as one OneWorld's People of 2008.

External links

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