People To People International

21/08/2026

19/08/2026

Our first workshop in the Nordic-Baltic Youth Digital Resilience Initiative is happening next week! The workshop is especially relevant for digital security experts, teachers, youth workers, wellbeing specialists, coaches, and everyone interested in the topic.

18/08/2026

Sally Kohn, writer and commentator.

250 years after the Declaration of Independence, one idea still holds: democracy only means something if people can feel it in their daily lives.

A recent TED talk makes the case that when democracies stop delivering real opportunity, people lose faith in the system itself, not just the politicians running it. It is an argument that echoes what we see in our own work at PTPI: understanding between people matters, but it has to be matched by dignity and a fair shot at the future.

What do you think? Does democracy owe us more than a vote to earn our trust?

Watch the talk: TED talk (official page): https://www.ted.com/talks/sally_kohn_why_economic_inequality_is_the_biggest_threat_to_democracy

Is authoritarianism winning, or is democracy just failing to deliver? Communications strategist Sally Kohn lays out how democracy has evolved before and why it must evolve again, into what she calls "Democracy 3.0" — a version that finally shares power and opportunity equally. "We the people deman...

18/08/2026

The Nod, the Name, the Coffee
How the smallest human contacts hold our communities together - and what happens when we lose them.
⏰ 10 min read
🌍 For all chapters

There is a particular kind of human encounter that gets almost no attention. It is not a friendship. It is not a romantic connection. It is not a professional relationship. It has no name in everyday language. It lasts perhaps three seconds, often involves nothing more than eye contact and a slight upward movement of the chin, and yet research increasingly suggests it is doing some of the most important work in our emotional lives.

It is the nod. The good morning. The brief exchange at the coffee counter. The small smile to the person you see at the pool every Tuesday who you have never actually met.

Researchers call these passive contacts, or sometimes familiar strangers, weak ties, or ambient social belonging. The terminology is academic. The experience is universal. And the evidence for their importance is, quietly, remarkable.

There is a particular kind of human encounter that gets almost no attention. It is not a friendship. It is not a romantic connection. It is not a professional relationship. It has no name in everyday language.

17/08/2026

The global debt debate is not only about markets, deficits and government budgets. It is also about who can learn, travel, volunteer, connect and take part in building peace.

Public debt is the money governments owe to lenders at home and abroad. In 2024 it reached a record 102 trillion US dollars worldwide, close to the value of everything the world produces in a year. The International Monetary Fund puts it at just under 94 per cent of global output in 2025 and expects...

16/08/2026

🌍 **What if humanity behaved as a guest on Earth?**

We are here for a limited time. Yet we often live as though the planet belongs to us alone.

What would change if we remembered that we share this home with billions of people, countless species and generations still to come?

Perhaps we would:

• listen more carefully
• take only what we need
• treat people with greater dignity
• protect rather than possess
• choose cooperation over conflict
• leave something worthwhile behind

Being a good guest means respecting the place, caring for those around us and leaving it better than we found it.

We do not own the Earth. We share responsibility for its future.

**If humanity truly behaved as guests of this planet, what would we do differently?**

Inspired by *Instructions Before Visiting Earth* by James McCrae.

15/08/2026

At People to People International (PTPI), we believe that lasting peace begins with human connection.

Founded on the vision of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, PTPI exists to strengthen understanding between people, cultures, and communities through direct engagement, shared experiences, education, and cooperation.

In a world increasingly shaped by division, misinformation, isolation, and distrust, we believe person-to-person connection matters more than ever.
https://ptpi.network/values/

September 11 2026 marks 70 years of Advancing Peace through Understanding.

13/08/2026

A simple way to bring people around a table. One speaker, one room, one open conversation. A new, adaptable gathering format for every PTPI chapter and community - and everything you need to run your first evening.

PTPI has spent much of 2026, our 70th anniversary year, rebuilding the structures that hold the organisation together: governance, finances, safeguarding, digital infrastructure. That work matters, but it is not why any of us joined. The next step is to move the rebuilding into rooms, cafes and home...

12/08/2026

Online meeting of "Nordic-Baltic Youth Digital Resilience Initiative" project partners from Lithuania, Estonia and Finland to discuss design of the online co-creation workshops for youth workers and young people. August 11, 2026.