Photos/Marilee Frazier

Imagine a trip to the mall could transform your life, forever. Movie matinees or trendy boutiques provide alluring temptations for ordinary teenagers, but those teenagers who gathered around a conference table are not your typical mall-goers. Instead, they have assembled at their local shopping mall to learn restraint, good judgement and important life skills. This select group is joining the chorus of others around the world, amplifying their message of peace and tolerance through the Peacemaker Corps Association (PCA).

At a time when conflict has overtaken conversation, and destruction has decimated public dialogue, PCA is intensifying its efforts to engineer "peace-building". The programme empowers teenagers in the United States and globally, from diverse racial, ethnic, religious, socio-economic and gender backgrounds, to learn the art of making peace. As an antidote to universal scourges, the Peacemaker Corps is designed to equip young people with tools to foster tolerance, engage in non-violent communication, learn anger management, and practise mediation techniques and community-building strategies. More than just an instructional programme, PCA provides the ingredients for a life-long regimen that fuels the dreams and ambitions of young people and enables them to take an active role in seeking solutions for societal change.

In 1997, Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the UN General Assembly to designate 16 November the International Day of Tolerance as part of a long-term plan for world peace. Carole Krechman, who from 1995 to 2001 served as Chair of the Friends of the United Nations (FOTUN), a well-established non-governmental organization (NGO), saw the creation of a peacemaking movement as critical to Mr. Annan's vision. She designed and implemented a four-step programme to bring peacemaking skills to teenagers, and important alliances were created to implement it.

A public-private partnership was established in 1999 between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Simon Youth Foundation, a non-profit arm of the Simon Property Company, the largest owner and operator of shopping malls in the United States. By inviting the industry to participate as a founding partner and a host of the trainings, the programme could find a venue anywhere in the world virtually free of charge.

Established in 2002 as an independent non-profit organization, PCA gained NGO status with the United Nations Department of Public Information in January 2003. The inspiration for the organization, however, germinated for over twenty years through Carole and Sheldon Krechman's professional experience in the family retail entertainment business. The couple owned and operated roller-skating, ice-skating and bowling centres in several shopping malls across the United States. Quickly, they recognized that their business interests created opportunities to interact with countless teenagers from all walks of life who enjoyed their facilities. They visualized the mall, considered by conflict resolution professionals as a "safe space", as a place where at-risk children could hang out and leave their gang affiliations and community biases at the door.

"We knew, even then", explains Carole, "that we wanted to create a teaching programme that could bring kids together in a safe, pleasant environment like a shopping mall and help show this group another way to live their lives." Through their tireless efforts and personal dedication, the Krechmans advocated for and were awarded a $1-million grant from HUD in 1999. According to Nancy Kirshner Rodriguez, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at HUD: "When the Peacemaker Corps concept was presented, we immediately recognized the programme's potential. We were proud to be one of the venture capitalists for an initiative that helps to create strong, independent and tolerant individuals."

In bold fashion, PCA attracted talented educators and experts in conflict resolution to develop an empowering and inspiring curriculum to teach local 12- to 17-year-old youth leaders ethics, anger management, conflict resolution, mediation, youth violence prevention and tolerance skills. In just one year, it enlisted the support of businesses, government agencies, public housing developments, schools and community groups in 12 cities in 11 States to host a series of workshops and train 250 pioneer peacemakers.

The PCA facilitators are drawn from the local community-volunteers who wish to acquire life skills that can tangibly benefit their lives and those they touch. Once trained, they are paired with an educator to run sessions for local teenagers. The facilitators intimately understand the risk factors common to all forms of interpersonal violence, as outlined in the 2002 "World Report on Violence and Health" by the World Health Organization (WHO). These factors include: growing up in violent or broken homes; substance abuse; social isolation; rigid gender roles; poverty and income inequality; and personal characteristics, such as poor behavioural control and low self-esteem. According to WHO, violence claims the lives of 1.6 million people worldwide annually. Far greater than AIDS, smoking and diseases, it is the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 44 years old. The report also extols the importance of coordinated community intervention programmes and an increase in global prevention efforts.

Youth participants are selected from local schools and community centres based on their leadership abilities, demonstrated commitment to overcome violence in their environment, and overall willingness to apply their skills in future conflict situations. "These kids are like reservoirs, just waiting to be filled with life-changing energy that will nourish their self-esteem and give them focus", says Bo Taylor, Director of Amer-I-Can/Unity One, a life-management skills training programme taught by ex-convicts and reformed gang leaders.

The lasting imprint of PCA has been its ability to transform the lives of youth from all walks of life-from Seattle to Buffalo, and someday from Sarajevo to Beirut. As one participant from Youngstown, Ohio, pointed out: "I can use [my training skills] when I go out and people want to start problems. I can just talk through whatever the situation is."

The intensive workshops take place over two days with trainers and youths engaging in team-building exercises, reflective workshops and intensive examination of personal fears and prejudices, as well as techniques to overcome them.

The first day consists of mini-town hall meetings about diversity, terrorism, conflict and youth violence. Students then participate in awareness activities to identify their own reactions to conflict. The second day includes discussions and interactive exercises in mentoring and a concluding workshop with local community officials to present the youths' plan for community-organizing.

Bob Burley, senior facilitator for PCA, succinctly describes the goal of the two-day training: "Our programme challenges these young men and women to think, act and feel positively. They need to feel good about themselves and the choices they make, in order to have the courage to transcend their environments and find hope among their peers." With all of the pomp and circumstance of an Olympic-style ceremony, the Peacemaker graduates are awarded a certificate of achievement, an ornate multicoloured medal of honour and a T-shirt identifying them as members of the Peacemaker Corps. The commencements are staged in the centre court of the shopping malls as a public acknowledgment of the youths' commitment to become peacemakers for the community.

Deana Gregory, from the Simon Property Group's Circle Center Mall in Indianapolis, emphasizes how important the public recognition is for the youth: "Not only do the skills taught by the programme affect the youth positively, but the renewed self-esteem, sense of purpose and heartfelt appreciation for efforts undertaken on their behalf, such as an elaborate graduation ceremony, impact their lives as they progress toward adulthood. Since the launch of this programme, it has touched the lives of hundreds of young people and their families."

The cooperation and generous support of private enterprises, such as large shopping complexes, have been a shot in the arm at a time when public monies for such programmes have dwindled. "It is easy to see that the Peacemaker Corps is reaching these kids when they walk right past the shops in the mall to the training room. They don't want to miss even a single second of the programme because they are riveted by what they are learning. We are proud to be the backdrop for such a great experience in these young adults' lives", says Susan Valentine, Senior Vice-President of Marketing for the Macerich Company.

The PCA Board of Directors is comprised of selfless social entrepreneurs who share the Krechmans' vision of utilizing youth to become agents for change in their neighbourhoods.

For over thirty years, "Sweet" Alice Harris has tried to improve conditions for those who live among drug and gang warfare in the streets of Watts in Los Angeles.

As the founder of Parents of Watts in 1979, she was aware of the festering levels of tension between the African-American and Latino communities, years before the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Suzanne Harvey is a highly sought-after consultant who has worked all over the world, but her dedication to the Peacemaker Corps gives her confidence that lasting economic prosperity and peace will be orchestrated by youth, similar to those who are enrolled in the Peacemaker programme.

The programme's global impact was established with the United Nations immediately after its initial trainings. In November 1999, ten youths representing each of the States that hosted the original workshops, travelled to UN Headquarters in New York, where they participated in the UN Tolerance Day luncheon hosted by FOTUN, and then met and interacted with seven international youths who were being honoured in conjunction with the UN Global Tolerance Award. The group also toured the UN Secretariat building and learned about United Nations peacemaking activities.

As the programme expands globally, PCA envisions several future youth summits, where trained participants from all corners of the globe will convene at UN Headquarters and share their achievements with one another and with UN agency representatives. "We intend to create a cadre of peacemakers who collectively and individually reduce the threat of violence and provide culturally sensitive and linguistically competent instruction through local networks", adds Ms. Krechman.

Through the support of other NGOs and UN agencies, PCA is poised to export its uplifting programme to nations that are rife with conflict. Explains Mohammed Khan, UN representative for the group Small Kindness: "International expansion is a natural extension of the Peacemaker Corps programme. While working as an advisor to Unity One in Los Angeles and helping broker a peace agreement between the Bloods and the Crips, it struck me that the peace process used to settle differences between rival gangs can be used to establish peace in regions like the Balkans."

These achievements in conflict resolution have earned accolades for PCA from a number of United States Congressional members and attention from worldwide leaders. The universal themes of the Peacemaker training, such as eradication of prejudice, building of self-esteem for youth, and grass-roots community-building, make the programme an attractive model for educators, trainers and youth across the globe-from the war-ravaged villages of Bosnia to reconstructed schools in Kabul.

During a Voice of America broadcast in 1951, Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed: "It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." The staff and trainers of the Peacemaker Corps are firmly dedicated to this unwavering belief, even in today's ever changing world.