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An operational concept of the culture of peace was further refined at the Paris Consultative Meeting of 1994. Some 20 experts from around the world discussed the concept and proposed concrete, operational activities they thought the Programme should undertake. First hand accounts from participants in national programmes gave testimony to the achievements - and difficulties - of setting up and running such programmes. Methods of conflict management from various cultural traditions that are useful for the cultivation of a culture of peace were invoked, discussed and recommended by the Consultative Meeting. These include the 'palabre' which has functioned as a traditional method of conflict resolution throughout sub Saharan West Africa. It also includes the Gandhian approach to non violent struggle, including the three C's: constructive activities, conciliatory activities and combative non violence, as well as contemporary practices of training in mediation and negotiation techniques. The importance of reconciliation and time for healing following conflict was underlined. The past, it was said, must not be ignored. In South Africa, for example, the call has been for 'amnesty, not amnesia'. A culture of peace can only rest upon a firm basis of justice.
UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor took up the culture of peace as a personal priority making it the dominant theme in his book The New Page (UNESCO, 1995). Mayor emphasized that it requires a reorganization of society: 'A movement away from war to peace ... means a transition from societies dominated by the State, sole organizer of security in a dangerous world, to the civil society of everyday life... it must welcome and promote citizen participation in national and international affairs. It must construct "peace in the minds of men" and women by linking the individual to global networks of shared interests and local communities to the international.'
Women's Contribution to a Culture of Peace was the subject of the expert group meeting sponsored by UNESCO in the Philippines. The meeting, which brought together women from all parts of the world and all strata of society developed a formulation of the culture of peace for the Beijing World Conference on Women in September 1995. The women agreed that it requires a social transformation that includes a new gender contract to replace male dominated structures and unequal gender relations by authentic and practical equality between women and men. It requires basic changes in access to power and governance through further development of civil society and participatory democracy. Women can play a leading role in this respect as they have been excluded historically from power and governance.
Dialogue with development agencies on the concept of development is an important task of the Culture of Peace Programme. Whereas development programmes in the past have usually excluded conflict from the process of planning and execution, a culture of peace demands the full participation of people - including across the lines of conflict - in the planning and execution of activities. Because this requires conflict resolution as an integral part of the development process, it can be a lengthy process. In the long term, however, this can produce results which are sustainable, because all parties have a feeling of 'ownership' in the process.
A culture of peace means a transition from societies dominated by the State, sole organizer of security in a dangerous world, to the civil society of everyday life, promoting citizen participation in national and international affairs.