Welcome
Peace Power is the power that comes through practicing nonviolence to bring about or work towards peace.
To do so, we need to increase the awareness of alternatives to violence and learn nonviolent conflict resolution and nonviolent ways that can create social change. Only through peaceful means will we reach peaceful outcomes. This requires changing our way of thinking and acting and building the collective power, peace power, that we need to succeed.
Moving towards a nonviolent world (the previous name of this website) means moving from a world where physical violence, violence inside social structures and violence in our culture (habits, stories, norms and values) are normal to a world where emotional awareness, empathy, equity and solidarity are encouraged on a personal, social and cultural level. Another important aspect of such a culture is to respect differences without attempts for domination, thus moving away from power-over to practice power-with. (Like the people that are forming a dove in the logo). The underpinning of a peaceful culture is the recognition of inter-being on this Earth: when humans see that all is connected, they will start to relate to each other in compassionate ways, both in their daily lives, as societies and as one planet.
I, Nina Koevoets, am holding workshops to help build people’s peace power and move towards a nonviolent peaceful world. Several trainings were implemented with the support of a Dutch NGO, “Foundation for Active Nonviolence”, that has been active since 1966 and the European “Erasmus+” fund for youth education. (See the menu for past and future training courses.)
If you want to know more about nonviolence and my work and you can read Dutch, you can have a look at this interview with me.
Training: In eight to ten days, people get an intense introduction that gives a great start to become a Peace Builder. The ‘power’ of these trainings is that they both explore violence (the problems) and nonviolence (creative solutions). Generally each training has three elements: 1. Increasing awareness of conflict and violence, 2. practicing conflict navigation and 3. developing future plans and networking for a peaceful world.
The Erasmus+ program has supported five trainings for youth workers across Europe from 2015-2018. You can find out more on the website, or download the one page description.
Workshops: I offer single workshops, lasting at least 3 hours. In these workshops I tap from the longer training program. They can be customized to the needs of the group. For example, one group may want to focus on Conflict Resolution Strategies, while another group may want to start a campaign. When I was at the Global Eco-village Conference in July 2017 (photo) I focused on community-building, while also introducing a few “classic” tools like the Two Hands of Nonviolence.
If you want to request a workshop have a look at this overview.
Webinars: In 2017 I hosted a few webinars with Rivera Sun, an author and activist from the USA. In 2018 I offered a series of webinars with the following titles: 1. Violence and Nonviolence, 2. Responding to Conflict, 3. Heroes and Everyday Life, 4. Privilege and Power. The first few minutes can be viewed here.
Study Guide: After more than 2 years of work, the Study Guide “Engaging Nonviolence: Activating Nonviolent Change in Our Lives and Our World”, by Pace e Bene Press was published in October 2019! It has three parts: 1. Exploring Nonviolent Power, 2. Nonviolence in Practice, 3. Planning and Strategy. Read more on the designated page.
If you want to contribute to my work you can follow the link or use the QR code or Paypal button.
On the International day for Peace, 21st of September, 2018, I received a prize at a Peace Symposium Invest in Peace: Young and Disarming (“Investeer in Vrede: jong en ontwapenend”). It was organized by a coalition* of Dutch peace organizations called “Peace missions without weapons” that is lobbying for civilian missions, instead of military ones.
