Current Programs

MIDDLE EAST: The initial success of Young Social Entrepreneurs Program of 2009 has led the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding and Search for Common Ground to continue their partnership in 2010 with a similarly structured program bringing Israeli and Palestinian political leaders together. The  program will launch with a 10-day Outward Bound expedition  planned for spring 2010.

The 2010 program participants will be Israeli and Palestinian political leaders in mid- and senior level positions in government, civil service and political party posts. The twelve participants are being recruited by Search for Common Ground with input from Outward Bound, and final selection is scheduled for late November 2009. Outward Bound will provide the catalyst experience for the combined group, building trust, constructive relationships and leadership skills with a 10-day expedition using the natural environment as a neutral playing field for discourse and challenge. Search for Common Ground will mentor the participants throughout the 9-month program and facilitate ongoing contact and communication with them. The Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding and Search for Common Ground will jointly reconvene the group twice during the 9-month period for 4-day refresher programs that include Outward Bound's experiential methodology and Search for Common Ground's Leadership Wisdom Initiative training and coaching. 

The 2010 program aims to empower the participants to strengthen their skills and personal capacities, inspire positive change and development of the local communities they represent, and to establish positive working relationships and ventures that reach across the Israeli-Palestinian divide. 

 

Past Programs

 MIDDLE EAST: In 2009, the Young Social Entrepreneurs Program brought twelve young social entrepreneurs from Israel and Palestine together on a shared experiential learning and leadership development program spanning one year. The program was delived in partnership with Search for Common Ground, an organization with more than 25 years of working experience in conflict mitigation internationally. Outward Bound provided the catalyst experience for the combined group, building trust, constructive relationships and leadership skills with a 9-day expedition on the Rio Grande River in Texas. Search for Common Ground selectively recruited the participants, mentored them and facilitated ongoing contact and communication, and with the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding, reconvened the group twice during the following year in Cyprus and in Turkey for 4-day refresher programs that included training and coaching.

The Young Social Entrepreneurs Program aims to empower the young social entrepreneurs in launching initiatives that improve their local communities and in establishing ventures that reach across the Israeli-Palestinian divide. The initial success of Young Social Entrepreneurs Program has led the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding and Search for Common Ground to continue their partnership in 2010 with a similarly structured program bringing Israeli and Palestinian political leaders together. The one year program will launch with a 10-day Outward Bound expedition  planned for spring 2010.

SRI LANKA: The Sri Lanka Journalist Leadership Program partnered Outward Bound Sri Lanka with the Sri Lanka Press Institute's College of Journalism. The program brought 60 young journalists and SLPI staff from Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim backgrounds on an intensive outdoor-based experiential program. The program aims to develop participants’ leadership skills, build personal and professional capacity, and promote relationships of trust and compassion. It aims to strengthen individual leadership skills as well as engender in participants a sense of service and civic responsibility that crosses ethnic and religious identities and recognizes the value of diversity, building the foundation for strong cross-community relationships that will persist over time and manifest in more fair, unbiased and peace-oriented media coverage of the conflict and prospects for its peaceful resolution.

The core expedition of the program was successfully delivered in early October, 2008. A baseline evaluation was conducted in August, and the first year post-program evaluation is being administered, with an initial report on achievements and results expected by the end of 2009.

RWANDA: The Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding was joined by Outward Bound International, Outward Bound Australia, Outward Bound South Africa and other Outward Bound schools and individual supporters in providing services and resources to strengthen Outward Bound Rwanda as it established and built capacity in 2008, its first year of exploratory status as granted by Outward Bound International. The Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding provided consultation and quarterly seed funding grants to Outward Bound Rwanda in 2008 based on specific developmental milestones.

OUTWARD BOUND INSTRUCTOR TRAININGS: As part of its service to the Outward Bound network of schools, and in support of Outward Bound Peacebuilding programs, the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding offers specialized trainings to experienced Outward Bound instructors to develop and strengthen their diversity awareness, dialogue facilitation, conflict resolution and management skills. The trainings provide instructors with journey-based, on-site experiences that mirror the peacebuilding programs the instructors themselves will be delivering to Outward Bound Peacebuilding program participants.

In October 2008, fourteen instructors from Outward Bound Sri Lanka along with several members of the management and leadership of the organization participated in a training and exchange of best practices at Outward Bound Sri Lanka’s base camp in Dumbulla, Sri Lanka. The training was led by Ian Randall and Paul Louis, seasoned instructors who have worked with Outward Bound and other wilderness and leadership training programs over the years, and who have expertise in facilitating conflict-related issues.

The 2009 Middle East program was similarly preceded by an intensive peacebuilding training of twelve Outward Bound instructors, including two instructors from Sri Lanka. These same instructors form an initial cadre equipped to deliver peacebuilding programs and offer trainings to other Outward Bound instructors throughout the world. 

The curriculum used for the Outward Bound trainings is based on the experience of Outward Bound North Carolina’s Unity Program, Outward Bound International’s Global Leadership Program, and input from partners and experts in the field. These resources continue to inform the activities and methodology intrinsic to Outward Bound Peacebuilding's philosophy and approach to building character and cohesive groups. It is grounded in the current social psychology theory of how contact based programs work most effectively, and within a framework that supports sustainable results.

 

Future Programs

MIDDLE EAST: We are continuing the successful relationship developed with Search for Common Ground on the jointly developed and implemented Young Social Entrepreneurs Program in 2009 with a Middle East program in 2010, including Israeli and Palestinian political leaders. We anticipate expanding our partnership with Search for Common Ground in the future to include leadership training programs for other influential figures in the region, including business and religious leaders, thus forming a network of significant actors who are invested in creating a peaceful society that inspires and sustains development, respect, cooperation, and peace. 

ISLAM-WEST: Programs for 2010 and the future addressing the need for better communication, understanding and dialogue between Western and Islamic societies are in development.

For more detailed information about these programs, please contact us.

Copyright 2009.