Winds of Peace Foundation will be one of the co-sponsors for the 2010 Peace Prize Forum, to be held at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.  This marks the third time that the Foundation has co-sponsored the event over its 20-year history. 

The 2010 Forum will recognize the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisarri.   Ahtisaari  is a former President of Finland and United Nations diplomat and mediator, noted for his international peace work.  Ahtisaari was a UN Special Envoy at the Kosovo status process negotiations, aimed at resolving a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. In October 2008 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts”.The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari has played a prominent role in resolving many conflicts in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq, among other areas.

In addition to its sponsorship of the Forum, Winds of Peace has also been active in having representatives speak at the annual gatherings, having made presentations at three different Forums: in 1994 Steve Sheppard spoke at St. Olaf College about the Foundation-initiated program “Cross-Boundaries,” which funded travel seminar opportunities to Third World destinations through The Center for Global Education; the Cross-Boundaries program was presented along with a bit more history and results in 1996 at Luther College; in 2008, Mark Lester, Field Director for WPF, and Steve Sheppard, now its CEO, co-presented at Concordia College on the topic of “Microlending in Nicaragua.”