As she works to restore communication and resolve conflict in disrupted communities around the world, Martha Hansen McManus ’70 always uses the same approach: encouraging and empowering local expertise.

“What’s different about my approach is that people from the community have to be represented in the training,” she says. Then, the people in that community recreate the training materials in their own words, with examples that are culturally specific—teaching each other and strengthening the community from within.

In 1987, McManus founded the Conflict Resolution and Communication Centre in Calgary, Alberta. A year later, she developed Canada’s first conflict resolution program, before going on to complete the first of three master’s degrees. Within five years, those programs became global and they continue today, with McManus consulting with schools, communities, NGOs, and governments.

“I think people themselves have their own wisdom,” she says. “I’m more of a peace-waker than a peacemaker.” McManus has received numerous awards, including being selected in 2002 from thousands of global applications for the inaugural group of Rotary World Peace Fellows. A true global citizen, she is also a proud mother of three grown sons, with a household of several well-loved dogs.

As one of her nominators wrote, “How do you bottle Martha’s unbridled enthusiasm for people and life? I don’t know how to put that into words.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/mLNEzS2sZ5I?rel=0