The backdrop for the third edition of the Living Peace Festival, which will take place in Cairo, is the tense situation currently present in Eygpt.

It was in 2011 that a professor of English at El Rowad American College in Cairo started this initiative to educate for peace, and today more than 25,000 students from all over the world are involved in the Living Peace project. On Sunday April 6, 2014, the third international appointment will be taking place.

Living Peace is characterized by the participation of students and teachers, who are involved in creating initiatives to educate for peace, through a global network of people and institutions. Schools taking part are allowed to develop projects according to their ability, while encouraging young people to use their creativity and making them aware of their contribution towards a common aim. This creates a dynamic participation that fills the various components of the school with enthusiasm while reinforcing solidarity among students, teachers, principals and parents, and also leaving an impact on civil society.

In Cairo, for example, Living Peace involves students and teachers, Muslims and Christians, that come from twenty schools. In other countries, the results of the project are presented to civil authorities (Uruguay,Spain,MaltaandLuxembourg) and to the media (KoreaandBrazil). The project is also presented through street activities, where the school involves the city in youth initiatives in favour of peace and fraternity. Of particular importance are those initiatives set up to address crisis situations, as schools in Japan hit by the tsunami in 2011 and those in Syria struck by war.

International organizations have shown interest in Living Peace since its very beginning. Carlos Palma, the mind behind this initiative said, “In 2011we were invited to the World Peace Forum in Schengen, Luxembourg to talk about our projects. Since then, we have attended the World Peace Forum every year and we have created a network of relationships with personalities both in the United Nations and the European Union, who sustain and encourage our efforts for peace”.

 The Focolare Movement supports this project through AMU  and New Humanity

The event can be  followed on live internet: http://live.focolare.org/ipf (April 6, 2014, 10:30 CEST, UTC+2).