October 2025 Newsletter

In case you missed it:

UPEACE at UNGA 80

This year’s UNGA opens with music. A youth choir singing out for peace. Despite all the violence and defunding peacework, the message has been clear: the UN matters.

As the President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, put it: “for 80 years, this building has stood as a monument to our shared hopes for a better future.” UPEACE Permanent Observer Mission to the UN Special Advisor Melissa Wild was in attendance, representing for her and for UPEACE Permanent Observer Ambassador

Ramu Damodaran. UPEACE reconnected with the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Ambassador Maritza Chan, General of UNCTAD, to be the next UN Secretary-General. Her candidacy reflects what has echoed throughout

UNGA 80 — a call for inclusive leadership.

Building Bridges for Peace at UNGA 80

This year’s UNGA 80 was full of energy and purpose. As investment in warfare increases, peacebuilders are creating stronger bridges than ever with a cross-sectoral community devoted to innovative ways of investing in peace. UPEACE NY’s Melissa Wild spent time with colleagues in the peacetech and peace innovation space discussing

how to strengthen tech literacy for peacebuilders and peace literacy for those in tech, impact investing, and climate financing. First stop was the Tata Consultancy Services session on digital empowerment, facilitated by UPEACE Alumn Nick Martin. Artur Kluz’s annual PeaceTech Awards Ceremony followed, filled with new and old friends, including colleagues Megan Jeans and Christine Keung. Grateful as always to connect with partners and colleagues including the Baha’i International Community, the Institute for Economics and Peace, and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, reaffirming the power of

collaboration to advance peace through innovation.

UPEACE NY is now on LinkedIn!

Peace is a practice, and we are bringing that practice online. UPEACE NY is now on LinkedIn, creating a space to share stories, updates, and opportunities that connect our global community of peacebuilders. We will be posting

about our initiatives and updates, inviting you to join the growing network of individuals and organizations committed to making peace understandable, accessible, and actionable every day.

Amplifier Art Campaign

Amplifier Art & UPEACE NY officially have our seed funding to launch the Global Arts Campaign: Peace is a Practice! In a world increasingly marked by conflict, division, and ecological crisis, the need for peace building has never been more urgent. As communities across the globe grapple with rising polarization and instability, peace is not just an aspiration but a collective practice essential to our survival. This campaign will make engaging open-source peace education trainings and lessons, reaching 10+ million students around the world. We invite you to be a part

of this moment in our intergenerational campaign - seeking additional funders, strategy partners and campaign ambassadors!

To learn more reach out to Melissa Wild at mwild@upeaceny.org

KAICIID and UPEACE Renew Strategic Partnership.

Within the framework of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80), the International Center for Dialogue (KAICIID), represented by its Acting Secretary General, Ambassador António de Almeida Ribeiro, and the University for Peace, represented by Permanent Observer to the UN, Ambassador Ramu Damodaran, renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This renewal reaffirms both institutions' shared commitment to peace education, intercultural understanding, and interreligious dialogue—fundamental pillars for building just and cohesive societies.

UPEACE Alumni Mixer in New York City

From the campus in Costa Rica to the heart of New York City, our UPEACE community came together once again. Organized by UPEACE NY’s Melissa Wild and Krista Smith, and UPEACE’s Mariateresa Garrido, the Alumni Mixer gathered graduates, students, friends, and colleagues to reminisce about the magical days on campus and share how we continue to carry our work for peace forward.

Young Leaders for Peace 2025

Save the Date! We are so excited to announce the call for our 2026 Young Leaders for Peace cohort is opening soon. Applications for this incredible two-week summer experience at UPEACE Headquarters in Costa Rica will be live on November 1st.

Reach out to Krista Smith with questions at ksmith@upeaceny.org

Reflections on peace:

Recently, Executive Directors Cleo Barnett, of Amplifier Art, and Melissa Wild, of UPEACE NY, gathered a group of women, parents and their children, to learn about the Peace is a Practice Global Arts Campaign. College Prep 360 Founder & CEO Joie Jager-Hyman (a friend and supporter of UPEACE NY) said it best: art embraces complexity! This is what makes art such a perfect vehicle for sharing and expressing the skills and knowledge of peace. For this month's reflection, UPEACE NY invites two University for Peace students to share with us their thoughts on the following: If you could share a set of skills/knowledge you learned in your time at UPEACE with the rest of the world, what would they be? How can this be applied to help others build their own practice of peace? Here's

what they have to say:

Dhvani Rajen Thakkar, Peace Education

For me, peace is how we show up every day — in how we listen, move, and care for each other. It’s not an abstract ideal, but a daily practice of slowing down and choosing curiosity over reaction. My practice of peace led me to create DialogTM, a card game that invites people to sit together, listen deeply, and have conversations that matter.

Because peace begins in relationship — with ourselves, with others, and with the earth (& beyond). I believe the most radical skill we can practice today is deep listening. The next time someone says something that makes you uncomfortable, or someone bumps into you on the street — pause. Breathe before reacting. Notice what’s happening in your body. Center yourself, then de-center from being the only perspective in the room. That

small moment of awareness is peace in practice — a reminder that transformation starts small: in how we relate, respond, and return to one another.

Nancy Candel, Environment, Development and Peace.

I’ve learned that peace and environmental governance are always connected and shaped by social, political, and cultural factors, as the intersectionality theory reminds us. In my field, the humanitarian–development–peace triple nexus has completely changed how I see climate change adaptation, showing that every process of resilience and

recovery is also one of peacebuilding. Inclusive dialogue and respect for traditional knowledge are at the heart of real solutions, because the climate crisis and daily injustices can only be addressed when people feel seen, heard, and part of the process. That’s why

I find UPEACE NY’s initiatives, like Young Leaders for Peace, so meaningful, as they help youth build the skills to practice peace in their everyday lives and to see themselves as part of something bigger. I have no doubt that the Global Arts Campaign will inspire students worldwide to connect creativity with empathy and to practice peace right now.