For more than a decade, we have worked with amazing leaders to pioneer ways to teach and learn the will and skill to build peace. Join us in a Learning Community as we share the idea of Experiential Peacebuilding.
Our Theory of Change
Outward Bound Peacebuilding believes in the power of local leaders to inspire, lead and sustain change for peace. We share and train peacebuilders – connectors – using our approach of Experiential Peacebuilding, learning by doing. We build peace from inside ourselves first, exploring the connection between the Self and Others, the Self and Community, and importantly the Self and the Natural Environment. To do this, we hold a learning community, open to all and for everyone to participate.
Experiential Learning: Learning by Doing
Students and learners of all ages and abilities are better challenged and inspired by thinking with their head, their heart, and their hands. Our programs are designed to empower whole-body learning and whole-body listening, to engage people as thinkers, as doers, and as a community dedicated to new ideas.
People Power: Building Public Support for Peace Processes
We work for a bottom-up version of peacebuilding and leadership. Our programs are designed to empower everyday leaders and community members who want to strengthen their skills, increase their capacity, and take the ideas of experiential peacebuilding back into their communities and neighborhoods on a day-to-day basis. Lasting solutions to conflict are built and held and, most importantly, sustained by the people who live and work in those communities every day.
What does this look like in practice?
We believe in partnership. We work together with individuals and organizations to develop and implement learning experiences that can provide both the will and the skill to become more powerful, more sustaining, and more inspired local peacebuilders. Our programs range from three hours to five days and can be virtual, in person, on site, or any combination thereof.
Annual Experiential Peacebuilding Fellowships
Established in 2024, the Experiential Peacebuilding Fellowship with the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding is designed for emerging leaders, educators and practitioners who seek to integrate experiential learning, community leadership, and peacebuilding practices in their work, with a particular focus on nature-based and outdoor education and activities. The fellowship is a 12-month engagement and includes the opportunity to participate in the planning, delivery and evaluation of OBCP’s training programs and workshops, as well as work projects that align with each individual fellows’ interests and experience. For more information please see the 2026 application.
What is Experiential Peacebuilding?
“Experiential peacebuilding integrates peacebuilding theory and skills with the power of experiential learning—that is, learning by doing and reflecting. It is best thought of as an active process with transformative power. The activity is truly an experience, comprising rigorous learning and physical motion.”
Our first book, Experiential Peacebuilding was written in 2019 and is a user’s guide to this individual approach. The book takes place in three sections:
