Peace is a journey and not a destination.

The Chronicles of Peace project seeks to record and share the stories of those individuals working in the field of Peace and Conflict Resolution.

These individuals have different approaches and reasons behind their commitment to Peace. Family, history, curiosity or a combination of all three, have moved these people to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of a more peaceful world.

Originally from Acapulco, a beautiful tourist port in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, Carlos Juarez has seen how organized crime and violence have brought the city to its knees.

Carlos wants to go back home to deploy development policies and OpenGov initiatives from strategic government positions and citizen spaces because he is convinced that violence in Mexico has roots in poverty and corruption.

A passionate human-rights advocate and activist, Barbara Santibañez is working to bring together education and human rights. Barbara is originally from Chile, a country with a dark past of human rights violations, but has been living for the past 10 years in France, where she has worked with Amnesty International (France) and the Inter-American Development Bank (USA), and grassroots organizations such as Generation Europe Foundation, Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l’Europe (AEGEE), and Preparing Global Leaders Foundation.

Born in Uruguay, Gonzalo Pertile, had an entrepreneurial spirit from a very early age. As he grew up an got himself more immerse in the world of international development, Gonzalo saw an opportunity to put together two of his biggest passion: Helping people and entrepreneurship. He moved to Guatemala where he co-founded “The Mayan Store” a social enterprise that provides sustainable job opportunities for more than 550 artisans around Guatemala.

A South-African Human-rights lawyer, Romi Brammer, has provided legal assistance to indigent individuals and refugees. She worked as a researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. One of the things that has struck her in her work, is the number of different aspects that play a role in fueling political instability and human rights abuses.

Siddarth Dixit is a mechanical engineer and graduate of the Manipal Institute of Technology. As a pragmatic, assertive and dedicated professional, Siddarth’s approach to International development is through making systems that already exists, more efficient. Siddharth is passionate about reducing rural poverty and increasing the incomes of rural poor and small farmers. He wants to work with international organizations and government agencies to influence policies in the agriculture sector, particularly for making farming economically viable for marginalized farmers.

Natsuko is passionate about Maternal and child health policy. While her country of origin, Japan, has set and example in reducing maternal and child mortality rates, the experiences she had traveling around several countries in Africa has shown her that there is still much to do be done. Natsuko is currently gaining skills and experience in emergency preparedness, especially in responding to the needs of pregnant women, mothers, babies and young children during outbreaks of disease, refugee and migrant movements, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

A nurse and Mid-wife from Australia, Rebbecah Bartlet work tirelessly for the promotion of a more humane and equal world. Throughout the last decade, Rebeccah has volunteered her time with various community programs that focus on the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.

She is passionate about reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and gender-based violence in developing countries and is working towards closing the gap of indigenous maternal health in her own country through mHealth technology and program innovations.

Born in Pucallpa, a city in the Peruvian Amazon, Elohim Monard grew up surrounded by beautiful landscapes and extreme inequality. A contrast that moved him to study communication for development and later on become a candidate for congress in Peru. He wants to design and implement public policies with a conflict prevention and transformation approach, as well as being involved in political affairs, to enhance democratic dialogue and institutional stability.

As part of the National Office for Disaster Risk Management, Divina Sabino, has witnessed the extent of human resilience when disasters hit. She also developed and managed the Disaster Risk Management Information System, which had a tremendous impact in improving effectiveness of communication, documentation and reporting within all emergency first responder organizations.

Vanessa Uriarte is passionate about providing every child with the same opportunities for development. She has over five years of experience in Social Development, Fundraising and Advocacy for children and youth from vulnerable communities in the Metropolitan Urban Area of Guadalajara.

Ignacio Asis is an experienced negotiator from Argentina. He worked as a program coordinator at Fundación Cambio Democrático, where he developed and implemented projects oriented to the transformation of social conflicts, designed and facilitated multi-sectorial dialogues, and developed collaborative processes and trainings for public policy advocacy.

He also worked as an Assistant Professor for the Development of Negotiation Drills in International Economy for the Political Sciences and International Relations degrees at Universidad Católica Argentina.

The experiences Maja Muminagic had as a child had a big influence in her decision of working in the Peace and Conflict resolution field. She is interested in researching conflicts, ethnic segregation, nationalism, and especially in linking the psychological concepts and explanations of human behavior to hatred, exclusion, intolerance and other social dynamics that help perpetuate resentment and discordance.

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Lambert Chalachala, grew up surrounded by war and violence in his country. Nonetheless, he became a doctor and decided to stay and help make the DRC a safe place again for his children to grow up in. He believes that Africa and elsewhere in the world, where war and conflict are present, will only have lasting peace, when people are in good health and have the ability to rebuild their lives beyond the traumatic events they have been through.

A field practitioner and project management on issues related to water and sanitation, Osborn Kwena, from Kenya, developed his passion in the public health field after working in rural areas and understanding that basic information and innovations in health matters can greatly make a difference in rural populations, which in turn promotes peace in communities.

With a background on International Relations, Gabriel’s passion for storytelling as a tool for peace building was born after an Internship at Search for Common Ground. He wants to use traditional and new media platforms to showcase stories about Peace, Conflict and reconciliation around the world.