How to get Involved

To win the peace in the long term is a matter of education rather than propaganda. It is led by teachers and is, therefore, academically informed but it is meant to be of practical benefit for everyone. Both experts and laypersons are encouraged to participate.

 
So to get involved you could consider any or all of these options:

• Understand what the ‘peace game’ means;
• Decide if you would like to register as a subscriber to receive future briefings
• Perhaps, also decide whether you wish to offer to contribute a chapter to a future briefing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (or another conflict area). 

• On the content (comprehensiveness or any major gaps; quality of contributors’ analysis or scope for improvement; political neutrality or any bias)
• On the style (readability and comprehensibility of the three chapters and six appendices of Briefing No. 1);
• On the relevance to current events (is the course of history in Israel and the Palestinian territories tending to confirm or refute the contributors’ analyses?).
• On the value of holding seminars in London, New York or Jerusalem to discuss the issues raised in Briefing No. 1. (This would also depend on funding being available.)
• On other conflict areas that IPP should address in future peace games. 

• Unlike national taxation, which is enforced by law on all who are required to pay it, those who wish to support the peace games are invited to pay an IPP ‘peace tax’ voluntarily. IPP currently receives no direct funding from governments and is independent. So the peace tax is one option the Trustees are considering to raise income from individuals around the world over three years, 2007 to 2010, to fund further peace games during this period. A Core Funding Document is available which outlines the provisional plans of the Trust.
• An IPP peace tax would be intended to complement national taxation, which pays for military means of promoting national security, by providing additional resources for education to promote the benefits of peaceful means of resolving international disputes. IPP does not, though, promote militarism or pacifism or any particular political policies. Funds raised via a peace tax would be used exclusively for IPP’s peace games.
• What would be involved? To keep it simple, peace taxpayers would be asked to commit to pay a fixed sum, in units of £100 per year, for three years – the minimum being £100 per annum or less than £2 per week. The decision as to how much is up to you. The money can be raised by groups and paid by one leader or it can be done individually. (In the UK individual donations can be made under Gift Aid so that IPP can reclaim the tax.) That way the Trustees know how much money is coming in and can plan accordingly. For their part, peace taxpayers would be able to review progress after three years before deciding on a possible longer term commitment.

(ii) Make a Peace Offering 

Our UK fundraising model from 2016 is based on the IPP-SIPD educational project in Zimbabwe but is adaptable to any country or conflict area of the world:

 
*   To seek a voluntary donation from each Zimbabwean adult of at least GB£1.00 per annum and each Zimbabwean child of GB£0.10 p.a. towards the ‘Peace and the Constitution of Zimbabwe’ educational project.

*   For this purpose any Zimbabwean (or friend of Zimbabwe) who is trusted by their extended family, work colleagues, school mates or local community can apply to register as an ‘agent for peace’ with IPP (contact details below). The Hon Secretary will ask for two referees and their contact details and, subject to those checks on trustworthiness being satisfactory, an IPP peace agent ID card will be issued.

 *   Peace agents promise to abide by a Code of Conduct as they will be responsible for collecting and banking significant sums in cash each year:

-   They collect once a year normally between Independence Day (18 April) and Africa Day (25 May). 

-   They only collect amongst Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe who are known to them, i.e. your extended family; your school (with the permission of the head teacher); your workplace (with the permission of your employer); your local community organisations (but only amongst those you know personally).

-   They do NOT collect and must not collect in the street, by knocking on doors or by any other means – mailings, telephone calls etc., - that solicit strangers and/or require a licence.

-   Peace agents obtain (at cost) ‘peace banks’ (also called piggy banks) from IPP, or buy their own, to collect the ‘peace offerings’. It is a position of trust in the family, workplace, school or community.

*   IPP Trustees, who are in overall control of the process, will put in place strict systems of monitoring and control to ensure transparency and accountability to donors and the public.

*  SIPD, our local Zimbabwean partners, will, in their turn, provide full accountability to IPP on how the peace offerings are used in Zimbabwe, which will be published annually.

IPP seeks to act in conformity with the Code of Fundraising Practice of the (UK) Fundraising Regulator.

Your small annual contributions to the ‘Peace and the Constitution’ educational project would help secure a peaceful and prosperous future for Zimbabwe.

… or a peaceful and prosperous future anywhere else in the world.

The Trustees would like to hear from you. Please email the Honorary Secretary at: hon.secretary@ipp2000.org or write to:

 
Peter Southwood
Advisor and Hon. Secretary to the Trustees

International Peace Project
(charity no. 1101966)
34 Horward Close
Headington
Oxford OX3 7RF
England