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Peace Boat ‘Project Teams’ are
an ongoing framework through which participants and volunteers
can gain experience in a specific peace-building activity
by working in cooperation with partner organizations and individuals
around the world. Our current project teams began as the result
of participants being motivated to act upon an inspiring experience
while in a port of call.
Onboard, Project Teams focus on planned activities within
selected ports of call, while in Japan, volunteers and staff
organize and prepare activities for upcoming voyages. Through
cooperation with our partners across the world, the Project
Teams aim to effect positive change. Additionally, through
participation in a Project Team, young Peace Boat participants
can gain skills and experience to continue NGO advocacy and
peace building activities after returning to Japan. |
| Support
Goods for Sustainability: UPA |
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| The United
People’s Alliance (UPA) team gathers computers, school
supplies, bikes and other support goods from across Japan.
Contributions reflect the actual needs of local communities,
as determined through consultation with Peace Boat’s
partner organizations, and UPA members personally deliver
the goods. Together we are implementing sustainability projects
in 15-20 countries around the world. UPA’s goals are
1) a meaningful contribution to the projects of our partners
and 2) an education-through-action experience for Peace Boat
participants, who are often involved in volunteer work before
a voyage departs right through to the final delivery and evaluation
stage. |
| Peace
Boat Mine Abolition Campaign: P-MAC |
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| Peace Boat’s landmine clearance campaign began in 1997 with a ‘100 Yen
Campaign’ to raise money for the clearance of landmines in order to
build a school in Cambodia. In the time since then, a total of 350,000
people have joined this campaign - both in Japan, onboard Peace Boat and
in countries visited throughout the voyages. As a result, by the end of
2008 a total of over 400 landmines and unexploded ordnances have been
cleared from an area of 890,000m2. This land is now being used by the
local community as the site for a primary school and health centre.
P-MAC also organizes educational study tours to Cambodia, and project
members undertake awareness-raising campaigns throughout Japan. |
| Peace
through Sports: Peace Ball |
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| Through
friendly soccer matches between Peace Boat participants and
teams from local communities, the Peace Ball project utilizes
the positive power of the world’s most popular sport
to foster friendship across cultural and language barriers.
Before departing on a global voyage, Peace Ball participants
gather soccer balls and related supplies for donation in some
of the communities Peace Boat visits. Peace Ball began when
a group of participants, while visiting Eritrea, noticed some
local children kicking around plastic bottles for lack of
soccer balls, and resolved to support less privileged children
by donating sports goods. Peace Ball has since evolved into
a project to help participants on all sides overcome language
and cultural barriers and form new friendships. |
| Fair
Trade |
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| The Fair
Trade project directly supports our partner NGOs’ efforts
to sell locally produced textiles, food products and other
goods for a fair price by using the ship as a retail space.
Onboard and on land, participants learn about fair trade as
an alternative economic model. Revenue earned from selling
goods to Peace Boat at fair prices supports the sustainability
of our counter-partners’ main activities, whether working
on environmental issues, independence, development for women
or other issues. Examples of products include hand-dyed and
woven traditional clothing and bags from the Philippines,
vanilla beans and coconut oil from Tahiti, and handicrafts
from Croatia. Any profits from onboard sales of fair trade
goods are redirected into Peace Boat’s cooperative activities
and campaigns. |
| Peace
through the Arts: SPACE |
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Art is a powerful medium to communicate the
theme of peace where people do not share a common language.
Focusing mainly on dance, song and performance, the SPACE
(Share Peace Art Culture Energy) team comprises participants
who devote much of their time onboard and in port to practicing
a variety of performances that often convey messages with
themes of unity and peace, both for and with their local
audiences. |
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