GAIN-CSP Restorative Justice Course

Successfully Pivoting to Online Learning for Alumni

The Global COVID-19 pandemic acutely changed plans for us all in 2020. This was not the exemption for the IofC USA programs. This is why, we joined forces within the team and together the Global Alumni Initiative and the Caux Scholars Program fused to bring online learning opportunities to our alumni, building on the strengths of our Alumni Network and the Caux Scholars Program.

The GAIN-CSP Restorative Justice Course was the result of this joint effort. The course started on June 29th and came to an end on 16th July. It’s been three weeks of active, engaged learning about what Restorative Justice means and what it looks like for victims and communities. That started with interrogating the values and philosophies behind the concept of Restorative Justice, examining where the ideas come from and critically analysing how they’re relevant today. We then looked at how that works in the legal system and what that means for victim-survivors, looking at real world examples to put that into practice. Restorative Justice cannot happen in a vacuum; we examined what’s required from offenders and communities to make it work effectively.

Restorative Justice is a people-centered justice approach that provides greater resourcefulness to understand a conflictual or harming situation by centering accountability and safety, without relaying in punishment and alienation. Moreover, when a justice system takes into consideration the context and circumstances of the wrongdoer, it gives more opportunities for society to prevent further damage.

—Dr. Carl Stauffer

Academic Director of the CSP in Switzerland since 2011.

The final week tapped into how it can be applied to the public sector – such as in the realms of the media or the police, the health and education sectors, and even in the home in terms of domestic violence. We also tracked the wide-ranging application of Restorative Justice to Transitional Justice, looking at specific case studies.

One of the most rewarding parts of the course was its culmination in applying the concepts explored in the course to alumni’s own contexts, whether that meant their families, friends, or immediate local communities. They were eager to take the lessons from the course and apply them to their lives – which will create a powerful ripple effect in their societies.

26 Alumni from 19 different countries participated in the RJ Online Class

This Course was designed for alumni – and we are delighted to hear how much they took from the experience. One participant described it as provoking, saying they loved having a space to learn and think. Just as many love how international and varied the classes in CSP are, someone who took part in this course spoke of the wealth of experience and insight offered by all participants - a class with 19 different countries is very rare!

It was amazing to hear that those who engaged with the course plan to share the lessons they learned with their own communities. One said they’d be taking the concepts to their work with domestic workers in India; another hoped to use the framework to challenge the structural assumptions embedded in the US law and order justice system; and a third pledged it’d inform their work with women in the community who’ve faced domestic violence.

The course was online, and consisted of alumni in different corners of the world tuning in during a global pandemic. But even so, they felt it captured some of the magic of Caux – one said it brought back Caux’s awesome spirit, one found it mesmerizing, and another found it the right time for more, 10 years after they attended CSP.

We were particularly touched by one alum who said: You all are amazing! Thank you so much for offering this course. It was truly the most exciting thing I've done since TIP/CSP- AP. And the timing is perfect, because it made me think a lot about "de-centering" my white, western perspective and listening to other voices/views/writers on their experience, application(s) of "justice" and what it means in their respective communities.

Session 2. Collectively Defining Justice

An online space can be challenging to build interaction and human connection. The GAIN- CSP team put into practice different facilitation and online learning tools to promote connection and collective learning. We used tools like Jamboard, Padlet, Mentimeter and Google Docs.

Restorative Justice Principles

This is just the beginning! The alumni who took part in the Restorative Justice Course found it powerful and inspiring to recapture the spirit of CSP. They want to continue learning, and we want more alumni to benefit from staying in touch with the Caux family. GAIN will continue to offer online classes and also webinars in the fall, which will open this opportunity up to more of us.