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33-503: ORG was founded in 1982 by Scilla Elworthy and a group of academics and activists with an interest in the psychological dimensions of international security decision-making. While established in sympathy with Quaker values of peace and social justice, ORG is an independent, secular group without affiliation to any religious or political group. ORG is not a pacifist group in that it recognises that there are legitimate roles and uses for armed forces. Rather, it defines its mission as to enlarge

66-617: A Herts County Scholarship, before moving to Ireland in 1962 to study social sciences at Trinity College, Dublin . During her vacations, she worked in refugee camps in France and Algiers . After graduating, she travelled round West Africa to South Africa and between 1966 and 1969 became involved in marketing for various boutiques , most notably introducing the Mary Quant range. In 1993, she gained her PhD in political science from Bradford University . In 1970, she married Murray McLean,

99-612: A South African entrepreneur. She is mother of Polly Jess McLean (born 1974), step-mother of Leigh, Jay, Shirley, Sophie and Pippa, and grandmother of Pearl Mai Mary, Wolfetone and Rainer Jay. In 2019 Scilla re-connected to the love of her life, John Hamwee. In 2021 they were married in the Quaker meeting house in Colthouse, Cumbria, and now live very happily in Sherborne village, west of Oxford. From 1970 to 1976 she chaired Kupugani,

132-652: A South African nutrition education organisation, where she set up an initiative that involved the sale of nutritious Christmas hampers to industrial employees, thereby providing annual self-financing for the charity of R6million. In 1976 she helped organise the building and launch of the Market Theatre , South Africa's first multiracial theatre. Then in 1977 she established the Minority Rights Group in France and in 1978 she researched and delivered their report on female genital mutilation , leading to

165-466: A Woman ; Oxford Research Group; adviser to MasterPeace – an international bottom-up peace initiative – and a member of the steering Committee of PAX, a service to help prevent wars and genocides, and since the early 1990s, a member of the Society of Friends . In 2012 Elworthy co-founded Rising Women Rising World, a growing, vibrant community of women on all continents who take responsibility for building

198-432: A World Without War (Peace Direct, 2017). The Business Plan for Peace demonstrates how 25 tried and tested strategies for preventing war could be scaled up and extended over 10 years, with the aim of preventing armed violence worldwide. The total cost came to as little as two billion dollars, when the cost of militarization worldwide now exceeds US$ 1,686 billion. The book further demonstrates how people in any country can learn

231-572: A booklet for the Festival entitled "Tools for Peace", with an accompanying video produced by TalkWorks in association with Different Films Ltd, presenting a seven-step process anyone can use to resolve conflict in the family, workplace or community. In autumn 2007 Elworthy joined the EastWest Institute's International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy; in 2009 was featured in the project Soldiers of Peace – Stories from 14 countries around

264-487: A community of women on all continents who take responsibility for building a world that works for all. In 2017 she wrote The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War (Peace Direct, 2017) and now leads an organisation of the same name which provides people and organisations with the skills and support to transform conflict. Born in Galashiels , Scotland, Elworthy attended Berkhamsted School for Girls on

297-640: A group of young social entrepreneurs at the DO School in Hamburg to raise awareness of the work of peace-builders worldwide. She remains involved with The DO School and its international development through her position as a board member. In 2014 Elworthy published Pioneering the Possible: Awakened Leadership for a World that Works (North Atlantic Books, 2014). In September 2017 she published The Business Plan for Peace: Building

330-797: A production at the Royal Opera House theatre in London entitled Transforming 11 September . In 2004 she provided the basic material for Max Stafford-Clark 's production of Talking to Terrorists at the Royal Court Theatre in London; and in 2007 her case study on the siege of Fallujah in Iraq was used as the basis for Jonathan Holmes' production of Fallujah at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane . Her work for

363-423: A world that works for all. "The custodians of this mission are a committed group of professionals, who, over the past 30 years have been shaping their respective fields: economics, business, governance, security, health, ecology, media, culture and the arts, education, spirituality and indigenous wisdom. Now, as Rising Women Rising World we come together to pioneer a possible future." In 2013–14 Elworthy worked with

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396-605: The Middle East and United Kingdom . She is the Director of Oxford Process . She is known as a commentator on international peacemaking and related themes and author of several titles. Her work considers the role of human relationships in managing parties with "radical disagreements" with the goal of establishing areas of potential mutual self-interest. Rifkind is a graduate of the University of Manchester and

429-567: The Nobel Peace Prize in 1988, 1989 and 1991. In the 1990s, ORG fostered security dialogue between the UK and China on a broader range of issues. In 2006 ORG relocated from Oxfordshire to London. Since 2001, it has focused particularly on analysing the causes, consequences and character of the War on Terror , promoting more sustainable approaches to international security policy, investigating

462-593: The Nobel Peace Prize . She served as its executive director from 1982 until 2003, when she left that role to set up Peace Direct , a charity supporting local peace-builders in conflict areas. In 2003 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize . From 2005 she was adviser to Peter Gabriel , Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up The Elders . She is a member of the World Future Council and in 2012 co-founded Rising Women Rising World,

495-614: The Oxford Research Group (ORG) an NGO which independently researched decision-making on security in the five major nuclear nations during and after the Cold War and brought together policy-makers, academics, the military and civil society to engage in dialogue with their critics. For this work she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2003 was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize . She remained

528-932: The University of Edinburgh . After working for the Probation Service , she trained at the Institute of Group Analysis and became a group analyst and a psychotherapist. Rifkind joined the Oxford Research Group in the late 1990s to explore peacemaking in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . She became head of the Israel/Palestine programme. She next turned her attention to Iran and the wider Middle East. In 2016 she founded Oxford Process , which works in conflict situations to build relationships with conflicted parties to identify opportunities to reduce tensions or prevent further escalation of violence. Rifkind's theory of conflict resolution focuses on

561-479: The World Health Organization campaign to eradicate the practice. From 1979 to 1981 she became a consultant on women's issues to UNESCO and it was during this time she researched and wrote UNESCO's contribution to the 1980 United Nations Mid-decade Conference on Women: "The role of women in peace research, peace education and the improvement of relations between nations". In 1982 she founded

594-595: The Middle East Programme, it has brokered a series of Track II dialogues in Israel , Palestine and Egypt and between Iran , Saudi Arabia , Syria and other states. The programme uses a strategic thinking methodology based in ‘radical disagreement’ theory to develop strategies for alternative routes to peaceful co-existence. The Remote Warfare Programme was established in January 2018, based around

627-686: The Remote Control project of the Network for Social Change, which had been hosted by ORG since 2013. It analyses shifts in military engagements, focusing on Western states’ increasing focus on working through local and regional partner militaries in places such as the Middle East and Africa . As part of this, they examine current developments in military technology and doctrine such as cyber-warfare , unmanned weapons systems (such as unmanned aerial vehicles ), private military and security contractors , and special operations forces. Peace Direct

660-737: The World Peace Festival in 2011 included building seven achievable goals for the Global Peace Building Strategy, adopted by the World Peace Partnership. Dr Elworthy designed the programme for an international two-day conference on peacebuilding, the first day entitled "Peace is your business!" followed by a conference on the "Global Peace Building Strategy" including a morning of workshops entitled "Self Knowledge and Global Responsibility" featuring Dr Deepak Chopra . She and colleagues produced

693-474: The changing nature and technologies of warfare, mediating track II dialogues around conflicts in the Middle East , and recording the casualties of armed conflict. In 2020 ORG announced that due to funding issues it would cease operations at the end of the year. It would re-home some of its programmes elsewhere. ORG had three thematic programmes and has served as host or incubator for several other projects. The Sustainable Security Programme aimed to highlight

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726-479: The executive director of ORG until 2003. In 2003 Elworthy stepped down as executive director of ORG to found a new charity, Peace Direct , which supports local peace-builders in conflict areas. Peace Direct was named "Best New Charity" at the London Charity Awards 2005 and, although she is not involved in the day-to-day running, Elworthy remains an Ambassador for Peace Direct. In 2002 she launched

759-490: The leadership of selected international corporations on investing in and strengthening their respective roles in preventing violent conflict, and teaches young social entrepreneurs. Her TED talk on non-violence has been viewed by more than 1,426,000 people. In 2023 she was awarded the GOI Peace Award in recognition of her lifelong dedication to prevent and transform conflicts and build sustainable peace throughout

792-487: The limitations of orthodox security policy that seeks to contain the symptoms of deeper conflict and to develop policy alternatives that address such underlying drivers as marginalisation , militarisation , climate change and resource scarcity. The Strategic Peacebuilding Programme was ORG’s conflict resolution programme. It deployed a unique methodology to build the capacity of local partners to engage in strategic dialogue towards lasting political settlements. Formerly

825-605: The non-violent management of radical differences between groups, rather than searching for an elusive common ground. Her work is currently focused on the Middle East and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Rifkind has frequently appeared on broadcast media in the UK has given public lectures on peacemaking and contributed to a colloquium at Princeton University and has twice debated at the Oxford Union . She has been one of

858-416: The promotion of disarmament and non-violent methods for resolving conflict. Scilla Elworthy Priscilla "Scilla" Elworthy (born 3 June 1943) is a peace builder, and the founder of the Oxford Research Group , a non-governmental organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics, for which she was nominated three times for

891-600: The shared interests of humanity." Since the autumn of 2011 Dr Elworthy has been working on a course in consciousness and conflict transformation for mid career professionals, in association with Thomas Hübl in Berlin. She is patron of The GREAT Initiative Gender Rights and Equality Action Trust and a member of the International Advisory Council of the Institute for Economics and Peace; Voice of

924-492: The skills to prevent conflict and apply them in their own communities, schools, workplace and families. In 2020 she wrote The Mighty Heart: How to transform conflict which outlines the skills and techniques of conflict transformation. These skills were developed into an online course and in 2022 she wrote The Mighty Heart in Action which shows how they help people build a better world. Through Business Plan for Peace she advises

957-512: The space for non-military alternatives to prevent and manage conflict. It was registered as a charity in England and Wales in 1988. Initially, the Group focused on dialogue between British nuclear decision-makers and nuclear disarmament activists , widening its activities to incorporate the other P5 nuclear weapons states , India and Pakistan . For this work, ORG and Elworthy were nominated for

990-480: The world to be recorded. It became a separate NGO in October 2014. The Oxford Process was established in early 2017 to focus on the discreet high-level dialogues that ORG had facilitated over the previous 15 years under Gabrielle Rifkind . It describes its approach as preventive diplomacy to manage radical differences. ORG’s founder, Scilla Elworthy , was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003 for ORG's work on

1023-569: The world – a documentary film narrated by Michael Douglas . Although she has lectured extensively around the world and appeared on television and radio throughout the last 20 years, her work was less in the public eye from 2005 to 2009 as she was advising Richard Branson , Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel on the creation of The Elders , "an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela , who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote

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1056-519: The world. Elworthy has written, edited and contributed to myriad reports, articles and books including: The reports produced by the Oxford Research Group are available from their website or, for the older reports, by contacting them directly. Gabrielle Rifkind Gabrielle Rifkind is a British mediator who has specialised in international conflict resolution working through non-governmental organisations , (NGOs) in

1089-503: Was developed within ORG in 2002 as a project developing links to local peacebuilding organisations in a number of fragile or conflict-affected states, and became a separate organisation in the following year. Every Casualty Worldwide was developed as a programme of ORG between 2007 and 2014. It aimed to enhance the technical, legal and institutional capacity, as well as the political will, for every single casualty of armed conflict throughout

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