Seeds of Peace Impact Report

30YearsofImpact Our purpose, power, and potential IMPACT REPORT

Leadership for an increasingly interconnected world

Our alumni are open thinkers with the skills needed

to meet the challenges of today.

Seeds often tell us how their Seeds of Peace

Seeds of Peace alumni are leading in

experience affects not just what they do, but

countless human rights, civil society, media,

how they do it. Empathy, inclusion, and a

educational, and political organizations and

commitment to dialogue across differences—

businesses, including these institutions:

skills too often missing from today’s leaders.

MAINE SEED Educator

”My experience at Seeds of Peace kicked off a lifetime of political awareness and interest in civic duty [and] influenced my college major

in political science. I am now heavily committed

to social justice.”

ANNA 1995 Israeli Seed & global public affairs, business diplomacy,

and social impact leader

”Skills of empathy, dialogue, cross-cultural understanding, embracing and celebrating differences are instilled in teens in Seeds of Peace programs ... These skills are as relevant in classrooms as they are in boardrooms, political offices, arts and culture and media today. These skills help us build a more resilient, equitable, and just future.”

PALESTINIAN SEED Journalist

”It was a turning point in my life, Seeds of Peace expanded my thinking processes to include and feel all sides of any story, influenced me to prioritize human beings over anything else regardless of my culture, beliefs, religion and tradition.”

Impact report - 2024

AMERICAN SEED

“Seeds of Peace was the most important, formative experience of my adolescence, and as a result, of my educational and career paths …

It was the catapult that set me on a life's path of service-oriented work that puts people at the center, seeking to build bridges where otherwise there are none, or few.”

Impact report - 2024

Mission 01.

Seeds of Peace develops courageous leaders who work in solidarity across differences to create more just and inclusive societies.

Impact report - 2024

MISSION

We bridge people. We bridge communities. We bridge ideas.

What is Seeds of Peace?

We exist to help grow new generations of leaders in communities divided by conflict.

Creating spaces for young people to meet face to face, across lines of difference, has given rise to a network of more than 8,000 open thinkers throughout the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and the United States with the skills and relationships to catalyze change.

Our model is both dialogue-rooted and action-oriented. We don’t just talk the talk: we expect and enable our alumni to contribute to effectively addressing local and global issues. And they are.

How do we define and measure our impact?

Governments sign treaties, but only people can make peace. We go after the roots of conflict by focusing on transformational, rather than transactional, peacebuilding.

Our approach supports personal growth and develops interpersonal relationships, bridging lines of difference, as first steps towards creating a community of global leaders who can effectively lead waves of wider societal change.

To understand the true potential and power of this community, we document the ripples of change that our alumni create— individually and collectively, through economic, social, and political systems—and conservatively estimate they have reached over 10 million people and counting.

Bridging: closing physical and ideological gaps as a first step towards peace.

We partnered with behavioral science researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and together, have over a decade of data that demonstrates that relationships across lines of conflict are the key to transformative impact: they change attitudes, inspire hope, increase commitment to action, and make it possible to imagine a different future.

Impact report - 2024

OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY

Over 8,000 of our alumni helping to bridge the world.

5,000+ change-minded leaders in the Middle East.

Seeds of Peace began by bringing together 46 Palestinians, Israelis, and Egyptians in 1993. They have since been joined by campers from Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Yemen, and there are now 5,000 youth and educators from the Middle East who have graduated from the Seeds of Peace Camp.

1,000+

Israeli and Palestinian educators trained in crosscultural understanding

Camp is just the start, however. Local, yearround staff and leadership programs support alumni in planting their ideas back home, in their schools and communities, so their work takes root where it is needed most.

BY THE NUMBERS

650+

schools attended by alumni throughout the Middle East

135+

Israeli and Palestinian professionals trained in dialogue facilitation

40+

local Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations staffed by alumni

YOUSEF

2005 Palestinian Seed, diplomat and author

“[Camp] became a way of life for me, and a reason to be hopeful and optimistic. I came to believe that as long as Seeds of Peace lives on, Israelis and Palestinians have a chance to live in a true, lasting peace …. There has to be a way to meet the needs of both Palestinians and Israelis, without compromising the well-being of either.”

Wael

Shira

1995 Israeli Seed, musician

“I sing, speak, and shout about what is whispered, censored, and suppressed … I think the fact that I want to do stuff, even if it’s just a tiny bit, it’s definitely inspired by the Seed in me —it’s that part of me that was supported ever since. ”

Iddo

1993 Egyptian Seed, mediamaker

1997 Israeli Seed, teacher

“I coexist with the people in my building, but we don’t know each other. We don’t have these warm, neighborly relations. We don’t share a story. And that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to take the world into that warmth, that warmth of community.”

“Seeds of Peace has made me a better teacher. I bring my experiences throughout the years into my classrooms. My students get to hear about a variety of narratives and voices ... But most important of all, I try to pass from Seeds of Peace to my classrooms a sense of hope and commitment to that hope.”

Impact report - 2024

SOUTH ASIA

600+ young leaders in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan In South Asia, youth have been attending the Seeds of Peace Camp and bridging religious and ethnic tensions within their countries and across their borders since 2001. At Camp, they build skills to turn their communities around through dialogue.

Once home, they ripple change throughout their countries by organizing and leading camps that bring hundreds more into dialogue and action to deal with local violence and injustice.

In 2022, we launched the Dialogue Academy in Pakistan, an online platform that stands to bring hundreds of thousands across the region into compassionate and critical conversations.

Whether as journalists at major national newspapers, as lawyers fighting for gender justice, or as founders of schools and nonprofits, our alumni in South Asia are leading local economic, social, and political change.

Behishta 2009 Afghan Seed

“I lived my whole life in a patriarchal community where women are kept silent and discriminated against. In a community where almost 90% of women have experienced violence and sexual abuse, the biggest need would be fighting against violence and reducing it … At Camp, I learned how to change the world for the better. We aim to act as a bridge between victims and justice.”

IRA 2003 Indian Seed

“I think everything—ranging from my decision to do law to my belief in solving gender discrimination in India—have been initiated through Camp. Camp made me see the personal as political and the political as personal. I never saw the world the same again and was convinced that my life would be dedicated to working towards change— however small or big.”

Ahmed 2004 Pakistani Seed

“I founded the Lincoln School System to address gender inequity in Pakistan because I firmly believe that we cannot build a peaceful and prosperous future without giving girls access to affordable, high quality education ... As a Seed, I believe in the power that each of us has to change our societies from within.”

Impact report - 2024

US and UK

2,000+ young leaders in US and UK While youth from the US have been part of our International Camp since the very beginning, our first US-focused program was born in 2000—right in our home state of Maine.

Today, our alumni in the US and UK are taking on the systems and beliefs fueling conflict and discrimination based on racial, religious, political, and geographical difference.

When recent immigrants and refugees, primarily from Africa and Southeast Asia, started settling in Maine, one of the whitest states in the country, friction began to surface. Camp was the perfect space for youth to build transformative relationships and leadership skills that could bridge their communities.

Seeds have stepped up to advise state policymakers on education, lead dialogue programs for students and faculty in their schools, organize walkouts for gun control, act in solidarity for gender equity and Black liberation, and publish op-eds advocating for their future.

In 2006, youth from the UK joined to help shift rifts existing within their communities.

American and UK Seeds have studied at more than 350 high schools across their countries.

ZAMZAM 2017 American Seed

Filmmaker

“As a documentary filmmaker, my goal is to build trusting relationships with people so that their personal narratives can be uncovered and selfreflection encouraged. It has been my greatest pleasure to work to make a difference in my community through my art.”

Danielle 2019 American Seed

Student, activist

“Seeds of Peace was where we turned our whispers for change into shouts. It empowered us to see that we are radiant, that our voices were revolutionary, and that revolution is now.”

Joey 2004 American Seed

Coaching and leadership specialist

“Camp taught me about relationships and storytelling. It is only through the forging of strong relationships and a genuine appreciation for the stories of others that we can hope to bring peace to the world. Both insights are key to cultivating empathy, the foundation of my personal and professional life.”

Impact report - 2024

europe

500+ young leaders in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans In 1998, Seeds of Peace expanded to a new region for the first time. bringing together Greek and Turkish Cypriots, living on opposite sides of the Green Line, along with smaller delegations from Greece and Turkey.

Our alumni from these countries have become diplomats, news anchors, social entrepreneurs, educators, and founders of peace organizations.

Two years later, we adapted our model to take on conflict between religious and ethnic groups in the Balkans. Youth from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia met in the Olympic Village, site of Greece’s historic games.

ZANA

“As an Ambassador of Kosovo, I proudly represent one of the newest countries in the world ...

Having been part of Seeds of Peace at an early age, I believe I was uniquely positioned to succeed and build ties of friendship and cooperation that last forever.”

MARIOS 1998 Cypriot Seed, Peace Educator & Author

”Camp was my life-changing moment, when I first understood the conflict from the other side. From there, I decided to study education. I believe that education should be used to end the conflict, not to regenerate it.”

Dijana 2001 Kosovo Seed & Civil Affairs Officer,

United Nations Mission in Kosovo

“At the first UN Kosovo Assembly, I said that when I was 16, I was part of Seeds of Peace and awarded an Ambassador of Peace certificate, and now after receiving so many degrees and certificates, [it] is still the most significant. No matter what we are professionally, we have a bigger role: to serve and act in a way that will contribute to peace. This is what I always have in mind.”

Impact report - 2024

02.

Impact The programs we run, connections we make, the eyes we open—these ripple across the world and into the future.

We are a community rippling change: 8,000 alumni;

10 million+ lives impacted.

IMPACT

30 years rippling

change across the world.

For over 30 years, we’ve been bridging communities in conflict.

Our leadership programs equip both young minds and educators with what it takes to turn the world around.

Impact report - 2024

OUR IMPACT

Shaping people ...

8,000+ global

community

6,500+

We develop change-minded leaders at the Seeds of Peace Camp.

In a 2017 study, alumni shared the most significant change they experienced through Seeds of Peace. Their most common responses, whether it had been two years or 20 since attending Camp, speak to the life-altering effects—and invaluable leadership skills—that can come from an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and reach across lines of conflict:

ALUMNI over

age 18

27

COUNTRIES

REPRESENTED

90%

Camp enabled understanding or acceptance of others across lines of conflict.

59% 44%

Broadened perspectives or developed a more open mind.

Empowerment and personal development.

28% 21%

form POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS LINES OF DIFFERENCE

Shaped life decision or path.

250+

The strength of our impact rests on the strength of our relationships.

trained in mediation and negotation by harvard law faculty

Researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business have spent more than a decade studying the impact of Camp. While most Seeds have no cross-conflict relationships beforehand, more than 90% consistently form at least one strong connection at Camp. This type of relationship has proven to correlate with key indicators of transformative impact: it changes how they see each other, grows their trust and empathy, builds solidarity, activates hope, mobilizes action, and makes it possible to imagine a different future.

OUR ALUMNI

... who shape the world.

Seeds are at the heart of peacebuilding around the world.

Research on 800+ Palestinian and Israeli Seeds from the first decade of Seeds of Peace found that 17.5%—nearly one in five —were professionally involved in joint peace efforts, working

76% of alumni actively and intentionally take action to

for more than 40 local organizations. The vast majority of

transform conflict through

active alumni credited their experience with Seeds of Peace as

economic, social, and or

the inspiration for their activism as adults.** Beyond direct

political change

/

peacebuilding efforts, Seeds are working in a number of fields to bridge communities and impact peace, including politics,

100+

education, business, media, and the arts.

Fellows leading high impact ventures through TOP SECTORS

the arts, social enterprise, and civil society

29% Business *

16%

29%

16%

GOVT,

TECH

NGO,

POLICY, LAW

CIVIL SOCIETY

1,700+ engaged through GATHER, dedicated to alumni and others taking

* Based on a 2017 randomized, represented study of the Seeds of Peace alumni community.

action on critical issues at the heart of conflict

More than two-thirds of Seeds actively work to transform conflict.

100+ aim to or already hold political office.

76% of Seeds report to be intentionally and actively working to transform conflict through economic, social, and political change—as elected officials, educators, economists, entrepreneurs, journalists, community organizers, artists.* For so many, Seeds of Peace put them on the path and continues to inform how they do their work.

** Lazarus, N. (2011). Evaluating peace education in the Oslo-Intifada generation: A long-term impact study of Seeds of Peace 1993-2010 (Doctoral dissertation).

Impact report - 2024

ISRAELI SEED

“I have a better understanding of the conflict, and it made my perspective a lot more complicated. Having said that, I try my best to hear out different opinions and bridge across differences in whatever it is I'm doing.”

Our alumni create ripples of change in social, economic, and political spheres around the world.

Our alumni are creating greater economic development and shared prosperity in their countries, through initiatives that create jobs and food security through agritech in Jordan create new impact innovation, impact investing, and ESG strategies in Israel address unemployment in India that help people—no matter their gender, caste, class or income—get the skills and opportunities to join the workforce and lead a more secure life.

They are founding and leading civil society organizations for social change, such as Project Amal ou Salam, which provides educational opportunities for Syrians who have been displaced as a result of war Shalom Acshav, Israel’s oldest and largest peace organization Aadeh, which engages Palestinian women in intergenerational, interreligious dialogue CivilTEA, a dialogue model to enable civil discourse in American high schools.

WHAT OUR SEEDS SAY

70% stay involved with our programs following their time at Camp.

89% describe themselves as active supporters of Seeds of Peace.

In politics and law, our alumni are serving as ambassadors, diplomats, elected officials, advisors to prime ministers and foreign ministers in Palestine, Israel, Kosovo, United States, and the United Nations human rights legal scholars supporting refugees and immigrants access their legal rights.

48% have given back to

Seeds of Peace by donating time, money, or services.

99% recommend Seeds of Peace to others.

Our network of more than 1,000 educators is creating waves through classrooms, schools, and educational systems, including: establishing the first conflict resolution and diplomacy program in a Palestinian university founding a school for refugees in Greece creating bicommunal camps in Cyprus.

Impact report - 2024

“Slowly but surely, more and more of us will be in key positions and places where we can influence others.”

- Lior, 1999 Israeli Seed

8,000 Seeds.

10 million+ lives impacted.

We know that our impact is not limited to those that directly participate in our programs. Our alumni working to transform conflict reportedly reach nearly 2,000 people on average. As leaders of schools and organizations, news anchors and aid workers, they are impacting and improving the lives of the people around them.

Conservatively, this puts the broader reach of our community north of 10 million people.

We know that through often difficult conversations with family and friends, and through common interactions of every day life, they are influencing even more. It is through these ever-expanding circles that our impact grows.

pious ali

Portland City Council & Seeds of Peace Board Member

“Seeds of Peace has shaped the leadership capacity of many young people globally, especially the ones in my community who are working to improve our city, state, and the world.”

Tiziana sousou

Seeds of Peace Board Member

“My support for Seeds comes from having seen the transformation Camp had on my two older children. They connected with their Palestinian heritage and came to acknowledge the need for empathy in order to achieve a lasting peace.”

Tom etzel

Founder & President

Global Peace Building Foundation & Seeds of Peace Supporter

“We believe in the power of dialogue in [Seeds of Peace’s] peace building processes. We have witnessed the transformation of the participants as they begin to see the human faces of those they were raised to hate, build relationships around mutual trust and respect, and go out into the world and become leaders and advocates for peace in their home communities.”

Impact report - 2024

SuPpoRters

Our supporters are a vital

part of sparking change.

Each of us play a meaningful role in this work. Some are strategists, some are frontline protesters; some are researchers, others storytellers; some are negotiators, healers, funders. Every day, in countries all around the world, this community is doing their part to realize a more just and peaceful world.

To our generous community of supporters: thank you. We see you and are grateful to the choice you make to help resource this work, at whatever level you are able.

You are an integral part of making change possible.

BY THE NUMBERS

36,451 donors over 30 years

48%

of alumni have donated time, money, or services to Seeds of Peace

4

members of our Board of Directors are alumni

OUR donors

We are grateful to the following donors who have contributed $5OO,000 or more over the last 30 years.

Alan Ginsburg Arn Tellem and Nancy Reiss Tellem Carlson Wagonlit Travel Eugene and Carolyn Mercy ExxonMobil Corporation Fredric H. and Helaine B. Gould Gilbert Silverman James M. and Nora Orphanides Janet Wallach John & Linda MacDonald Foundation Jordan L. and Julie B. Solomon Kathryn W. Davis Leila & Mickey Straus Family Charitable Trust Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden Moses and Susan Feldman

Paul P. and Margaret Bernstein

Peggy and David Tanner

Robert B. Menschel

Robert De Courcy Samuel P. and Wendy M. Frieder Sandra Wijnberg and Hugh Freund Seven Turns Fund, Inc. Shaiza Rizavi and Jon Friedland Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc. Steven B. and Elizabeth S. Gruber Stuart Miller The John C. & Karyl Kay Hughes Foundation The Moses Feldman Family Foundation The Robert and Jane Toll Foundation Tiziana and Ramez Sousou USAID Vital Projects Fund, Inc.

OUR PARTNERS

We deeply value the partnerships we have built over the last 30 years with institutions like these.

We have partnered with a vast network of schools across the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States to recruit program participants. Meanwhile, corporations and philanthropic organizations have stepped up over the years and provided in-kind donations, financial support, and other resources to strengthen the organization and our mission.

Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program

Harman Family F o u n d a t i o n

Impact report - 2024

30 YEARS OF IMPACT

Thank you for being part of our community.

We are grateful for you.

“We now refuse to accept what is when we know what can be.”

— Seeds of Peace alumni in their

Charter on Uprooting Hatred & Terror

370 Lexington Ave, Suite 201, New York, NY 10017

T. 212 573 8040 | info@seedsofpeace.org

www.seedsofpeace.org