Professional / Volonteer PBI

Your fields of action.

Nonviolence

PBI is committed to giving the highest consideration to human life and its defence. It respects everyone's basic human rights, democratic values and freedoms.

PBI is convinced that enduring peace and lasting solutions of conflicts between and within nations cannot be achieved by violent means and therefore it rejects violence of any kind and from any source. PBI aims to support the processes of building a peaceful society by encouraging cooperation between groups working in democratic ways and striving to find political solutions to conflicts by nonviolent means.

International
PBI is a global organisation. It represents the concerns of the international community in relation to conflicts and crises which affect all, and to peace which benefits everyone.

Non-Partisanship
According to its Vedchhi Declaration non-partisanship implies:

dealing with all parties with an open mind
reporting as objectively as possible
refraining from judgemental responses
voicing concerns to those responsible without being accusative

Horizontality
PBI uses a non-hierarchical model of organising and decision-making, which places importance on relationships and processes and not just on outcomes.

Your competences.

nonviolence - a clear understanding of and commitment to nonviolence. Experience of working with nonviolence in your own community is a prerequisite for applying nonviolence to other parts of the world.
foreign language skills - fluent Spanish is essential for working in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. The Nepal Project functions internally in English.
discretion and diplomacy
maturity – the recommended minimum age for volunteers is 25
resilience - the ability to work effectively under pressure and stress.
knowledge and understanding of the history, politics and culture of the country where you are working .
cross-cultural skills and sensitivity - the ability to work with people of different cultures, demonstrated through previous intercultural experience.
flexibility - the ability to change tactics, work and opinions.
experience of working in groups - familiarity with consensus decision-making and the ability to work easily and cooperatively as part of a team.
previous experience of work with NGOs in the fields of peace, human rights or social justice.

PBI welcomes the services of people from all the cultures, languages, religions, beliefs and geographical regions to cooperate with and serve in the local, national, regional and transnational Peace Brigades.

The project.

Peace Brigades International (PBI) was founded in 1981 to undertake the task of peace-keeping, peace-making and peace-building under the discipline of nonviolence. It draws inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy and experience in the field of nonviolent social change, strengthened by similar movements throughout the world. As a third-party force it applies methods of nonviolent intervention in situations of conflict to establish peace and justice.

The mandate of PBI is to create space for peace and the defence of human rights. The central focus of PBI's work is that of protection and support to Human Rights Defenders through international presence defined as one or more of the following: physical presence, physical accompaniment, advocacy, observing, reporting, capacity development and building local, regional and international support networks.

Working together for justice.

Since 1960, more than 7,000 professionals have supported partner organisations of Bread for the World in around 120 countries worldwide and shared their lives with people from another culture. DÜ selects these ecumenically and developmentally committed professionals according to standardised procedures, trains them in intensive preparation for service lasting several weeks and accompanies them during their time abroad and after their return.

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Further information.