David S Pankratz's Page

What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

An interest in understanding other cultures led, over the years to an understanding that not all interactions with other cultures were motivated by curiosity and that, in fact, work needed to be done to promote curiosity and peace to counter the prevailing neutrality or hostility towards others.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)

I was born to a religious family in 1954 on a farm in Western Manitoba, Canada. We were part of a somewhat socially isolated community of Mennonites in a sea of 'English', and early on I experienced the negative impact of being the 'other'.

Through a variety of influences as I attended faith-based and then mainstream higher education institutions, my interests increasingly focused on understanding people from other cultures, first with some linguistics, then by looking more closely at accountability lapses around the world, and finally, to contributing to the improvement of dialogue in Winnipeg (my now home-town) around the issues in the Middle East.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise

Canada
Congo
Zambia

What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?

Canada

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

I am the Director of the Institute for Community Peacebuilding, a program of Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Canada.

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.cmu.ca/church-community/03_icp.html

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.compassionatelistening.org

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Conflict Resolution, Terrorism

Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?

Budgeting, Fundraising

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

none, other than via the evaluative process of our Youth Peacebuilding Project, which brings youth of diverse backgrounds together to 'surface the identity group conflicts' and build lasting relationships across the identity groups.