CSOs working for peace through education in conflict‐affected areas: The case of Cyprus

Abstract

AbstractThis article discusses the results of a qualitative study examining the ways civil society organisations (CSOs) may better support grass‐roots initiatives for everyday peacebuilding via education in conflict‐affected societies, where official state processes have failed. Our research is set in the Cyprus context, where the conflict between the Greek‐Cypriot and Turkish‐Cypriot communities that has led to the division of the island seems rather ‘intractable’ and ‘frozen’. From the process of the analysis, three thematic categories emerged: (a) cultivating citizen empowerment and civil initiatives; (b) enhancing children's and youth's voices; and (c) launching partnerships with state and societal actors. We discuss our findings under the framework of intercultural education and change. It is argued that for peacebuilding to flourish, CSOs should use education to cultivate social and sympathetic imagination by enabling people from both communities to imagine other, more socially just, but also socio‐economically better, alternatives to the current status quo, through everyday peace and education initiatives.