By Joshua Krishbaum
In light of the International Day of Nonviolence I wanted to introduce myself as well as the amazing organization for which I work. My name is Joshua Kirshbaum, I am the Director of Communications at Nonviolence International-New York (NVINY). I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I have dedicated myself to this cause and what I believe the future holds for NVINY.
What is Nonviolence International?
Nonviolence International (NVINY) seeks to reduce the use of violence by identifying its root causes, developing policy recommendations to combat the misuse of weapons and human right violations, promoting the rule of law and a culture of peace, and advocating for the inclusiveness of all stakeholders in effecting change both at the United Nations and around the world. — NVI website
So what do we do?
NVINY partners with local stakeholders, as well as international NGOs, that are focused on issues related to peace and global security, to create projects that target peacebuilding and to advocate for nonviolent solutions. NVINY undertakes research and advocates on behalf of many groups both inside and outside the United Nations.
What I do:
As the Director of Communications I have a broad array of responsibilities. Given that NVINY is partnered with several organizations and pursues many areas of focus, it is my responsibility to maintain an up-to-date track record of everything that is carried out by NVI, so that everyone can see the how our work progresses. I work side-by-side with our project volunteers, partners and staff to help them reach their goals and share their work with our audience. Our teams at NVINY work on managing, and creating content for our websites, our partners’ websites, directories, social media sites, as well as email newsletters!
Teams at NonviolenceNY:
PEACE | DISARMAMENT | AMERICAN ETHOS
On the limited budget that we have, we build teams of volunteers and interns who carry out research, write articles and enthusiastically advocate for nonviolent solutions to international conflicts. Their work is then published on a multitude of our platforms and journals. Aside from having a distinguished online presence, we take a leading role in hosting a variety of events and outreach campaigns that promote our work, as well as the work done by dozens of global organizations that we are engaged with.
American Ethos:
Also known as the ÆFocusNetwork, this project of Nonviolence International is building an American politics focused network of groups, made of bloggers, thinkers, researchers and volunteers, to speak about and organize around the issues that are sweeping our nation, while finding solutions and actions you can pursue to help your community. Learn more.
Disarmament Projects:
As an organization, we work to support the global disarmament network as well as various coalitions in implementing global, regional and national instruments as well as developing policy. We work closely with the International Action Network on Small Arms in its global mission against gun violence. This includes linking civil society organizations working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons. Learn more.
Peace Vision and Action Coalition:
Also known as PeaceVAC, is the Peace Thematic Cluster of the NGO Major Group in the United Nations. Pretty much all our work is focused on Peace Building and the Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG16 & SDG17) and advocating for both the culture of peace and the technical peace building methods for our members working on peace across the world. Learn more.
Where do you think NonviolenceNY is going?
I believe that the future of this organization lies with our volunteers and interns, who are an indispensable aspect of our success. For years, Nonviolence International-NY served as an outlet for individuals looking to pursue conflict resolution and contribute their time and effort to promoting nonviolent ways for resolving difficult issues. Our growing network of interns helped us achieve tremendous strides in pursing the goals of our organization.
In return, we provide them with hands on experience in the
sectors of research, communication and more.
To help them fulfill their goals I commit the majority of my time to projects aimed at utilizing their life goals combined with our organizational needs so they get the most out of their experience with us.
To achieve that we build classes, programs, workshops and manuals to make their time with us an informative and inspiring experience, while pushing each of them, and helping them create and publish their best work.
The Nonviolence International-NY is all about innovation and looking to the future. One of the things that sets us apart from our counterparts in the NGO sector is our heavy emphasis on our visual medium of communication with our audience. Newly purchased 360 degree cameras and digital gear, allow Nonviolence NY to become a more involved partner of the United Nations as well as provide a more innovative way to communicate with our audience!
What can you do?
JOIN! Volunteer and impact the international community with topics you are passionate about. Our networks are expanding rapidly, and we need help to fill the open slots.
Contact Nonviolence international-New York, and become one of our volunteer staff members today!