The Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace

Breaking Down Stereotypes

In 1986, Israeli peace activist Emil Greenzweig was murdered while marching in a demonstration against the war in Lebanon. In the wake of this tragedy, a group of Israeli educators and concerned citizens rallied together to seek ways of ensuring that such an event would never happen again and established the Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace. The Adam Institute focuses on developing and implementing educational projects to teach the fundamental principles of democracy.

The Adam Institute aims at breaking down stereotypes and teaching non-violent methods of conflict resolution. Each year, it reaches over 16,000 Arabs and Jews, Israelis, Palestinians and international participants, schoolchildren of all ages, new immigrants, and veteran Israelis, soldiers and police officers. Its trained facilitators use an innovative curriculum of games and work-shop discussions, in programs ranging from one-day seminars to three-year projects.

The organizational structure of the Adam Institute reflects the principles it teaches. Its staff of approximately one hundred people comes from every part of the multicultural mosaic of Israel: women and men, observant and non-observant, Jews and Arabs, native-born and new immigrants, city-dwellers and people in rural areas. This microcosm of Israeli society provides an opportunity for organic coexistence and interaction based on mutual respect, in the day-to-day workings of the Institute.

The Adam Institute’s Methodology

In over ten years of experience in informal education, the Adam Institute has developed a unique educational method aimed at heightening participants' awareness of the meaning of equality and of the concepts which form the foundation of life in a democracy.

Adam Institute’s facilitators use games and other participatory activities to high-light the competing tendencies which exist within each of us, both for and against democratic principles. Rather than attempt to replace participants' values with "more democratic” ones, the workshop presents them with an external conflict that they may convert into an internal dilemma.

For example: what may begin as an external conflict between the right to freedom of information and the right to privacy, is internalized in such a way that the participant expresses opinions both for and against each of these rights, and gains a better understanding of how different rights may come into conflict in a democracy.

By converting a conflict into a dilemma participants learn to apply democratic principles to the search for solutions to day-to-day issues.

The International Center for Education for Democracy

The Adam Institute’s International Center for Democracy promotes education for demorcracy worldwide, adapts its democracy education curriculum to other settings, and creates a context in which communities from all over the world can share information, research and experiences related to education for democracy.

Established in 1993 with the help of the Bertelsmann Foundation the International Center aims to promote networking among educators in Israel and in other countries.

The center organizes meetings to teach the Adam Institute’s methods and to organize a deeper exchange of research and firsthand experience. The International Center offers:

• Interdisciplinary meetings of policymakers, researchers and teachers to coordinate efforts and discuss basic problems in democracy education.

• Exchanges and gatherings of educators and facilitators involved in theory and practice of democracy education in various parts of the world. In recent years, the Adam Institute has also worked in conjunction with eight Palestinian partner-organizations to develop and operate shared programs.

• Ongoing development of theories, techniques and materials on democracy education.

• Workshops and training seminars for international delegations, using the Adam Institute's unique method, adapted to the participants' areas of interest and expertise. The Adam Institute has hosted numerous groups of educators from outside Israel, and has also sent facilitators to countries such as Poland, Germany and Switzerland to conduct courses.

• Conferences centering on democracy education in multicultural societies.

Target groups of the Adam Institute’s programmes are schools, universities, youth movements, community centers, social organizations, police, army and the Civil Guard.

Prizes Awarded

• 1998: The Adam Institute was awarded with the prestigious Speaker of the Israeli Parliament Prize in the category of deepening understanding and enhancing coexistence between Jews and Arabs.

• 1997: Uki Maroshek-Klarman, Educational Director of the Adam Institute, was awarded the Jerusalem Foundation Prize for Tolerance and Democratic Values in Jerusalem for the development of numerous educational programs relating to equal rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

• 1990: Language and Politics, an Adam Institute publication, was printed as a teacher's manual, aimed at teaching students to be conscious of and responsible in their political use of language. The program was awarded the "Kahal" Prize by the New Israel Fund.

Workshop Programs

The Adam Institute has developed twelve different work-shop programs. Among these are:

• Together
  Together is a program designed to teach students the meaning and immediate relevance of democratic principles, equality, and such notions as fair agreements, rights and obligations, and majority-minority relations.

• Building Blocks
  Building Blocks offers young children, from kindergarten through third grade, a hands-on opportunity to learn about the basic principles of democracy, equality and the right to be different. The program uses play-acting, arts and crafts, storytelling, music and movement, and is adapted to the children's emotional and cognitive development.

• Language, Politics and Freedom of Expression
  Language, Politics and Freedom of Expression is aimed at promoting an understanding of the difference between free expression and incitement, and enhancing awareness of the political connotations of language use.

• Encounters
  Encounter programs give students and teachers from different, often polarized parts of Israeli society a chance to spend time together and to discover how democratic principles and procedures may serve as an effective basis for coexistence and for settling disputes. The program proceeds in three stages: each group meets separately to discuss perceptions and expectations in anticipation of the joint gathering; the groups meet and spend time together; each group reassembles separately to discuss and evaluate the experience.

• Peace Education
  The Peace Education program demonstrates methods of conflict resolution based on recognizing the equal rights of all people. These methods are applied in the context of three different situations: a conflict that exists within the program (e.g. between groups with-in the community, such as men or religious and secular); conflicts within the school, and conflicts between Jews and Arabs.

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