Virginia Swain speaks about her model for building global community to achieve Millennium Development Goal #8, Developing a Global Network for Development, to unite the United Nations community and build solidarity for the plight of street children across all societal divisions. Called Celebration of the Children of the World* or the Celebration Model. The inaugural event was held at the United Nations on 9 December 1992.

It has been written that "Virginia Swain’s humanity, dedication and determination in the conception and production of this cornerstone event, presented at the United Nations in 1992, gave credence to her impressive credentials as a successful global networker and true exponent of the new language of international collaboration. The mastery of this concept could lead to the maturation of human society into a genuine planetary family. The Celebration Model evolved into a Peacebuilding Process of Reconciliation to provide a personalizing experience of real community and offer significant promise for integrating the vision of global cooperation into the everyday consciousness of men, women and children." —Michael Collins, International Commerce and Human Development Consultant in Ireland, Slovakia and the European Union. Team Member, Virginia's Master of Arts Project, United Nations.

The Celebration Model and the Peacebuilding Process of Reconciliation grew into training Reconciliation Leaders for a Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service (GMRS). Case studies were written to expand the GMRS’s services to post-conflict peacebuilding in the Philippines, Rwanda and for refugees and immigrants from ex-Yugoslavia during their war.

Virginia now trains visionary Reconciliation Leaders at the United Nations. One of the tools in the multidimensional toolbox of a Reconciliation Leader’s toolbox is called “Imaging”, a technique developed by the late Dr. Elise Boulding of Dartmouth College, Founder of the International Peace Research Association and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. The imaging workshop motivates behavior in the present by using images of the future. The theory is that the people of this earth will not be able to create something they haven’t envisioned. As people imagine a positive future, they then can work backward into present time to achieve a positive present with a timeline and concrete action steps. If we can image a solution to a challenge, the solution will happen after we get practical with a timeline and action steps.

Virginia was trained by Dr. Boulding to lead imaging workshops and has been using imaging in the Reconciliation Leadership courses, the Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service and the Coalition for the Human Right to Peace she founded at the UN since 2001
For more, go to global-leader.org

*“Celebration of the Children of the World", 1992, United Nations (Masters Thesis Project. Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 1993.

The World Federalist Movement Council gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina for its 2010 Council Meeting and approved Virginia Swain’s resolution: Recognizing the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding as first recognized in Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000). On the tenth anniversary of Resolution 1325, encourages measures that support women’s peace initiatives, including their participation in Reconciliation Leadership and the Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service.  For more, go to global-leader.org and centerglobalcommunitylaw.org

As a member of its Global Advisory Network, academic papers on Reconciliation Leadership and the Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service presented at Columbia University and the Human Dignity and Humiliation Network.

The Coalition for the Human Right to Peace was founded in 2011 as part of the Global Alliance for the Human Right to Peace.

A Sample of Background Papers and Media on Virginia Swain’s career in the United Nations community since 1992.

Ø Reconciliation as Policy: A Capacity-Building Proposal for Renewing Leadership and Development, Virginia Swain and Sarah Sayeed 2005 prepared for the 2005 Conference on Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York.

Ø A Leadership and Practice to Reconcile Challenges in a Post-September 11th World, Virginia Swain and Sarah Sayeed 2006, for a paper for the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, December 2006

Ø Reconciliation as Policy: Moving Beyond the Victim-Perpetrator Model...December 2004 by Swain and Sayeed prepared for Columbia University conference on Human Dignity and Humiliation 2005

Ø Virginia’s show Imagine Worcester and the World wccatv.com/imagine.

Ø Virginia’s work with Security Council Resolution 1325: Women and Peace and Security: peacewomen.org/news_article.php?id=198&type=event

Ø "As I See It- A Remedy for Political Incivility." by Virginia Swain, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, October 30, 2006. "Finding peace through inner strength: Worcester writer helps others chart course in turbulent times." by Pamela Sacks, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, September 1, 2006. Ø "Dedicated Visionaries Keep Faith in World Governance." by Albert Southwick, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, March 19, 2006. Ø "Learning to Lead in Harmony." by Art Simas, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, March 14, 2005. Ø "Local Expert Backs UN." by Mark Melady, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, December 26, 2004. Ø "Partners in Peace," Salve Regina, September 2002 The Peacebuilding Process of Reconciliation was introduced at the International Organization Development Conference in Montreal in 2002.“Establishing Professional and NGO Services for Mediation, Reconciliation and Humanitarian Aid at the UN: A Proposed Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service” presented on Building an Effective World Security System Panel Enhancing the Capacity of the United Nations to Prevent and Resolve Armed Conflict Presented at the Hague Appeal for Peace, The Netherlands on the  Transforming Violent Conflict Strand of the conference, 12 May 1999, The Hague, The Netherlands“Celebration of the Children of the World: A Model for Building Global Community", 1992, United Nations (Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 1993. Reconciliation Leadership and The Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service are trademarked services of the Institute for Global Leadership.  They were introduced at the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999.