Working with Governance Committee to Develop New Role
MINNEAPOLIS (Aug. 7, 2008) – Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce, will step aside as the NGO’s executive director by December.
Duncan, who began organizing Nonviolent Peaceforce nine years ago and became its executive director in 2002, said that as the organization grows its presence worldwide, the NGO needs an executive leader with greater management and administration skills at its helm.
This move will free him to focus his creativity on a new role that will emphasize strategic planning and fund raising.
Nonviolent Peaceforce (www.nvpf.org) is an unarmed, professional peacekeeping force composed of trained civilians who not only work to establish dialogue among conflicting groups, but also incorporate innovative strategies to protect civilians. It is the world’s only paid and trained unarmed civilian peacekeeping force.
With international headquarters in Brussels and administrative headquarters in Minneapolis, Nonviolent Peaceforce has worked in the conflict areas of Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Palestine and Guatemala. Among other activities, it has returned and protected child soldiers and has created space for local groups to seek peaceful resolution. Its members include veterans of conflict zones and experienced peacekeepers.
“I am proud of what we accomplished,” explained Duncan, who is based in Minneapolis. “But, we no longer are a start-up; we have two major peacekeeping projects and 80 staff members from 20 countries. Our growth and our strategic plan for further outreach means that we now need a director with a different skill set than mine.”
Nonviolent Peaceforce’s long-term vision is to field 300 peacekeepers – gender proportionate – to areas of violent conflict worldwide by 2012.
Nonviolent Peaceforce will name a new executive director, who will work at the Brussels office in the near future.
Duncan is working with Nonviolent Peaceforce’s International Governing Council to develop and secure funding for a new position that would enable him to “…make use of my passion and creativity, particularly in fund raising and helping Nonviolent Peaceforce realize its vision for vastly expanding its presence and the concept of unarmed civilian peacekeeping worldwide.”.
Duncan has more than 30 years of organizing and advocating for peace, justice and the environment. In 1997, he received the prestigious Community Leaders Fellowship from the Archibald Bush Foundation, which allowed him to spend a year and a half studying the connections between peace, justice and spirituality. As a result, Mr. Duncan co-founded the Nonviolent Peaceforce in 2002. The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA awarded him their 2007 Pfeffer International Peace Prize on behalf of Nonviolent Peaceforce’s “courageous efforts in conflict regions around the world.”