Office of the President of the Republic of Ecuador PROGRAMME DOCUMENT CULTURE OF PEACE OFFICE

Purpose of the project: To carry out the initial activities of the Culture of Peace Office (OCP) by implementing projects for the formulation of policies and activities from the perspective of a culture of peace which may have an impact on the development and/or consolidation of values, attitudes and behaviours that promote the exercise of peace as a basis for human development in dignity.

Purpose of the project: To coordinate initiatives that foster exchanges among civil society and its involvement in processes of multisectoral and intercultural dialogue.

Purpose of the project: To formulate policies with a culture of peace Focus, constituting transverse themes in all State policies.

Context: The solution to the border conflict permits peace-building based on: Political decisions by the governments concerned A border integration process The promotion of free trade Joint management of natural resources

Context: This new stage requires the coordination of domestic efforts to build a CULTURE OF PEACE, which would strengthen national unity in diversity and promote democratic coexistence in order to arrive at a State Policy conducive to long-term action and Management.

Context: The Culture of Peace Office is established as a body under public law, with legal status and its own assets and administrative system, Attached to the Office of the President of the Republic, with headquarters in the city of Quito and national jurisdiction, and authority to set up local or regional representative offices.

Context: It is established under the patronage of and with technical advice from the UNESCO Office in Ecuador and UNESCO Headquarters in Paris

Context: It coordinates its activities in general with all government authorities, in particular with the Ministry of External Relations, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.

Justification: OCP, as an arm of the Executive, seeks to generate values, attitudes and behaviours based on the principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance and solidarity as the foundation of the process of national development.

Justification: Its policies fall within the context of the International Year for the Culture of Peace.

Justification: It is part of a strategy aimed at the strengthening of democracy, respect for human rights and the elimination of discriminatory attitudes.

The first phase of the project aims: To develop a set of guidelines on culture of peace policies and projects To provide mechanisms and instruments conducive to the process of strengthening the institutional capacity of OCP To secure institutional support to carry out activities designed to ensure coordination, complementarity and impact, from the perspective of the culture of peace

Implementation criteria: Identifying sectors that have the capacity and will to help bring about changes in values, behaviours and attitudes Seeking synergies that enable project results to be enhanced or readjusted Calling upon and securing the willingness of government institutions, the media, business, social organizations and international organizations to cooperate

Approaches: Promoting and developing forums for multisectoral and intercultural dialogue Attaining peace objective in the perspective of the economic, social and cultural development of the nation Promoting and enhancing the components of a culture of peace between man and nature Developing bilateral and multilateral relations and links Plural and open participation

Strategic criteria: Strong political will that promotes the culture of peace perspective advocated by the Office of the President of the Republic as a transverse theme of State policies Simple efficient structure with operational capacity Capacity to make proposals for the preparation and conclusion of agreements and for the identification of synergies Availability of economic resources as seed capital for making substantial long-term investments with a strong impact

Operational criteria: Avoiding duplication with ongoing activities and seeking possible ways of securing complementarity and/or support Concentrating efforts on the coordination of initiatives Promoting institutional, social, corporate and group participation Disseminating all activities, experience and studies Supporting local, national, regional and international initiatives Establishing a network of relations

Project profiles Educating for peace Communication for peace Human development

EDUCATING FOR PEACE Objectives To identify, in the organization of the education system, forms and levels of discrimination and inequity which generate violence To determine and propose reforms within the new national education structure To design curricula by means of appropriate methodological strategies to provide systematic education from the perspective of a culture of peace To design participatory campaigns in the education system from the perspective of a culture of peace To design educational and training programmes from the perspective of a culture of peace for teachers and parents

COMMUNICATING FOR PEACE Objectives To determine and propose communication guidelines from the perspective of and in line with the objectives of the culture of peace To identify, in the main media, the forms and types of treatment of the theme of violence and the main sources of violence at the societal and State levels To disseminate and promote at different levels the factors conducive to a culture of peace, seeking to achieve concensus on ways of generating attitudes and values of respect, tolerance and non-violence in Ecuadorian society Continued …

COMMUNICATING FOR PEACE Objectives To promote opportunities for dialogue among the various actors representing the State, the private sector and civil society in order to identify and carry out joint initiatives which, from the perspective of peace, foster new forms and models of communication To promote the commitment of a wide range of actors to the definition of codes of ethics and/or conduct To encourage promotional and educational campaigns relating to culture of peace issues in the media

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Objectives To promote peace as a prerequisite for the cultural, economic and social development of peoples and nations To encourage ethnic, environmental and cultural particularities as factors which, in the quest for unity amid diversity, contribute to the development of the culture of peace To encourage the ethnic, age and gender perspectives as basic factors for eradicating various forms of exclusion and social disqualification Continued …

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Objectives To promote the values as factors of investment in human development To promote specific culture of peace projects involving indigenous peoples and local border communities To promote and develop the components of a culture of peace between man and nature

We are a people who love peace, freedom, democracy, who know how to laugh, seek the truth and behave honourably Jamil Mahuad

Office of the President of the Republic of Ecuador Culture of Peace Office Dr Ramon Torres Galarza Principal Adviser. Author of the document Julio Bueno Director of OCP With the support of: UNESCO – Ecuador Dr Arvelop Garcia Rivas, Representative Mission to UNESCO Paris Dr Gonzalo Abad Ministry of External Relations Dr Benjamin Ortiz and Dr Francisco Carrion Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Recreation Ms Rosangela Adoum Jaramillo Quito, August 1999 Document disseminated in the context of the first official visit of the President of the Ecuador to Peru