Assessing the Long-Term Impact of 'Peace Camps' on Youth Attitudes and Behaviors: The Case of Ethno-political Conflict in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Across various international and intra-national conflict arenas in the world, institutions dedicated to promoting and reconciliation have emerged. In particular, a number of Non-Governmental Organizations have begun to sponsor peace workshops that invite children and young adults from the warring communities to participate in peace geared towards creating greater trust and empathy between the two sides of the conflict. Our study was designed to answer the question: do these camps have any effect in the long run? Specifically, we evaluated one particular peace program organized in Sri Lanka that brings together Sinhalese and Tamil students of high-school age for a 4-day workshop. The results of our study indicate that those who had participated in the camp showed greater empathy (than did non-participants) for members of the ethnicity - even one year after they had attended the camp. There was no effect of participation on attitudes related to trust or social distance. Furthermore, consistent with the attitudinal data, when given an opportunity to anonymously donate money (with which they were endowed) to help poor children of the other ethnicity, participants donated a higher percentage than those who had not participated in the camp. The results and some implications are discussed.