November 16, 2016

Boiler Bytes highlights Purdue Peace Project, international initiatives

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new Purdue Boiler Byte segment offers a glimpse into the Purdue Peace Project, which helps convene local citizens in countries around the world to find and enact ways to reach peaceful resolutions on issues facing their regions.

"The Purdue Peace Project is a locally-led political violence prevention initiative," said Stacey Connaughton, director of the Purdue Peace Project and an associate professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication. "We were fortunate a few years ago to receive support to launch this amazing initiative that convenes local citizens in West Africa and Central America to design and implement projects that they believe will lead to the prevention of political violence."

The Boiler Bytes segment, which can be viewed here, details how the project helped motorcycle taxi drivers in Liberia, known as pen-pen drivers, forge a peaceful relationship with the Liberian National Police. They created the Pen-Pen Peace Network made up of drivers, community members, the Ministry of Transport and Liberian National Police to encourage the groups to work harmoniously and peacefully together toward a common goal.

"About 10 years ago, if somebody suggested that that was a possibility, many people would've rolled their eyes and said, 'That's not a possibility.' But I think through the work that we’ve been able to do, providing the space for those groups to come together and to work on projects that both of them care about together, those relationships have started to be repaired," Connaughton said.

Purdue Peace Project currently has projects in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and El Salvador. The program is housed in the Brian Lamb School of Communication.

Boiler Bytes is a video news series that highlights programs, researchers and students at Purdue. The video series draws attention to Purdue organizations and accomplishments. 

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders, kschnied@purdue.edu

Media contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu 

Source: Stacey Connaughton, sconnaug@purdue.edu 

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