PeaceJam

PeaceJam was launched in 1996 by co-founders Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff to provide the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with a vehicle for working together to teach young people the art of peace. The idea of connecting Peace Laureates with youth came from young gang members in Ivan's neighborhood. They were carrying guns yet raved about Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu and how this small man stood up to the guns of apparthied in South Africa - and how they would love to meet him. The first PeaceJam conferences took place two years later in the United States with the Dalai Lama and Betty Williams. Soon after, Desmond Tutu hosted the first international PeaceJam Conference in South Africa with black and white youth who had never interacted with one another before and grew to see each other as allies with shared purpose.