This year, the International Day of Peace has as its theme “Actions for peace: our ambition for the #GlobalGoals”, which seeks to call for individual and collective responsibility to promote peace. Echoing this message for several years, the Latin American and Caribbean Church has made great efforts that seek to create a culture of peace for all, among which the Community of Practice “Walking towards Peace” stands out.

In 2020, faith-based organizations in the region created the Community of Practice in Peace Building, under the name of “Walking towards Peace”, a space where collectively, learning, skills, and methodologies are built and shared to mitigate various modalities of violence, manage and transform conflicts, promote dialogue and strengthen intra-family and community relationships.

Currently, the community is made up of: Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean, The Community of San Óscar Arnulfo Romero (COAR), the Good Shepherd International Foundation, CIAS for Peace, Pax Christi International, Cáritas de Honduras, Cáritas de El Salvador, Centro Zonal de Pastoral Social (CEZOPAS), Pastoral Social Cáritas Colombiana, Foundation Institute for the Construction of Peace (FICONPAZ), Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric of Guatemala (ODHAG), Cáritas Acapulco and Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Space of hope

Among the methodologies promoted in the community of practice is GAM (Women's Support Group), which consists of serving women in the context of violence through healing links of conversation and emotional support between them. So far, the impact of this project, promoted mainly by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), is more than 6 thousand women who formed more than 500 women's support groups, in countries such as: Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

«Now, after living the experience of GAM, I feel free, alive! Because I was dead for a long time. I am being reborn, I have struggles, fears, but I like to be me, to think that I am going to do something for myself. I feel authentic, free, capable of doing many things. I always depended on someone, not myself. I feel more confident, I can see myself in the mirror, I can analyze myself and work on what I don't like in myself; I have goals. The most relevant change in me is that I now assert my voice as a beneficiary of GAM, Mexico.

If you would like to learn more about these methodologies, we invite you to visit their website: https://www.caminandohacialapaz.com/