October 2025 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.