Peacebuilding and conflict management are at the core of CSI programs. We work to promote non-formal education and public awareness of the area by revealing and scrutinizing actual conflict transformation issues in the society.

CSI focuses on interethnic and social conflicts as well as on non-violence issues. We implement activities aimed at introducing youth in Armenia and its neighboring countries to advanced methods, models and techniques of non-violence, dialogue and mediation in conflict situations. Our special emphasis is put on the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh issue and Armenia’s developments in international politics.

CSI started working in the conflict transformation area in 2005 with the establishment of Resource Centers in Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku. For several years these centers have served as libraries and meeting and knowledge exchange hubs for scholars, social scientists, journalists, students and others dealing with the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and geopolitics in general.

Thanks to our partners’ support, we have pioneered opportunities for dialogue by having introduced formats such as inter-university meetings on Armenian-Turkish relations, videoconferencing between young people in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, study visits for teachers and school students of Armenia and Turkey, a forum of Armenian-Turkish civil society organizations and more. With topical issues on agenda including the discussion of social problems in Stepanakert or Baku and the historic lectures encompassing the Armenian Genocide, we have worked to provide our audiences with a platform for mutual recognition.

With The Pain of Human Loss, the UK Government-funded project, CSI strives to raise an actual issue with the current conflict between Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The project highlights consequences of continued ceasefire violations exposing human tragedy that is beyond dry statistics issued by the state authorities on both sides of the border.

Throughout our activity in the area, we have been collaborating with internationally renowned conflict management professionals, peacebuilding institutions and think tanks.

Our cooperation with Dr. Friedrich Glasl, a recognized authority on methods of conflict prevention, resulted in a series of training in interpersonal conflicts and conflict management delivered by Dr. Glasl in Armenia for local specialists, students and trainers. Additionally, CSI translated Dr. Glasl’s famous “Confronting Conflict” into Armenian. The book presents examples, exercises, theory and techniques of managing different types of conflicts.

CSI proudly partners with PeaceJam Foundation, an international educational and leadership development program. In 2011, CSI took a group of young participants from Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan to Bradford, UK to take part in the annual youth conference with a Nobel Peace Laureate invited as a guest speaker.

Due to this partnership, CSI has obtained rights for PeaceJam Foundation’s materials and a TOT curriculum. The curriculum comprises conflict management and peacebuilding issues, human rights and environmental issues as well as bios and messages conveyed by the Nobel Peace Laureates. Adapted and translated into Armenian, CSI has shaped this curriculum into a special course which we deliver regularly at local schools and universities.

As part of capacity building and knowledge sharing, CSI partners with the Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW in Münster, Germany providing an opportunity for Armenian students and specialists to enroll in certificate training in mediation and conflict management.