Delegates in Action
Our Education and Advocacy Program provides delegation participants with activist skills training and long-term sustained support for civic engagement and grassroots activism. The first level of this training begins as soon as an individual is accepted on an Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation. Following the delegation, IFPB staff work closely with each delegate to provide hands-on training in media advocacy work. Each delegate is encouraged to take the initiative in approaching media and soliciting news coverage of her/his delegation experience.
In this way, IFPB delegates help to magnify the alternative images highlighted by the IFPB delegation and amplify the marginalized voices of Israelis and Palestinians committed to nonviolence and peace with justice. This is the primary goal of IFPB’s media advocacy work. Delegates are taught methods of writing press releases, letters to the editor and opinion pieces; they are trained in techniques to approach the media; and they are provided with tips and guidance in crafting talking points and conducting interviews. The wider aim of these efforts is to challenge the mainstream discourse in the US media, which often portrays the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in misleading terms.
Media advocacy skills are the first, but not the only, set of activist skills which IFPB seeks to impart. Many delegates continue to call on us for support in public speaking and other organizing initiatives. However, the following links are geared towards the immediate results of each delegation and mainly feature articles and interviews conducted by delegates shortly after their return. We are currently updating our delegate activity archives. Please check back here for more information.
Post-Delegation Media and Events: