By John Reiff

On September 21, 2026, the United Nations International Day of Peace, US Servas sponsored an event exploring and celebrating ways that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) contribute to building peace. The two-hour meeting took place at STUF United Fund, about a block from the UN headquarters in New York. About 60-70 people came, heard speakers, then participated in a lot of one-to-one and small group informal conversations during the remaining reception time.

Here are the six speakers and their topics:

CoNGO President, Dr. Peter Pressi: The direct relationship between NGOs and UN policy: How NGOs work with the UN to move the agenda of peace forward in challenging times

STUF United Fund, Nelson Wei, Deputy CEO: Philanthropy and the work of funding generative peace projects

Servas International, Rachel Elion Baird, Main Representative to the UN-NY: Volunteering to grow peace: Replicable and adaptive programs, how NGOs build peace on the ground

Do The Dream YDI, Adebusuyi Olutayo Founder/Executive Director Youth - The Future of Peace

NGO CSW/NY, Ivy Koek, Chair: The Working Group on Peace and Gender Equality

Parliament of the World Religions, Jessica Roland, Executive Director: Faith as a Force for Peace: From local leadership to global action.

I was particularly pleased by concrete examples of how these NGOs do their work—especially our own Rachel Elion Baird summarizing Servas peace initiatives, Ivy Koek describing how the work of NGO CSW/NY (NGO CSW/NY Homepage | NGO CSW/NY) on gender equality intersects with peace-building, and Jessica Roland describing how the work of the Parliament of the World Religions (Parliament of the World's Religions – The Global Interfaith Movement) connects with the work of multiple UN initiatives contributing to peace-building.

During the reception, I met four students from Borough of Manhattan Community College who had been given the assignment by their professor to attend any of a range of public events and had chosen our event. I told them about Servas and SYLE and gave them our handout on the latter. One in particular seemed quite interested in the possibility.