Shaping a Peaceful Future by Learning Lessons From the Past: The Peace And Values Education Programs of Aegis Trust in Rwanda1

Educating for peace should be informed by lessons learned from the past. The Peace and Values Education programs of Aegis Trust in Rwanda apply lessons learned from the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and its aftermath to shape a peaceful future. In this article, we present the Aegis Trust approach to educating for peace, focused on promoting critical thinking, empathy, and personal responsibility. We describe the Aegis Trust storytelling approach that emphasizes listening and dialogue with empathy and forgiveness. We discuss how Aegis Trust also works to adapt its approach to be relevant to promoting peace across diverse national and cultural contexts. We conclude by introducing a researcher-practitioner partnership between Tufts University and Aegis Trust, aimed at evaluating and scaling the Aegis Trust programs, aligning with the 30th commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi and the launch of a global peace institute from Aegis Trust.