# Ayo Ayoola-Amale

Ayo Ayoola-Amale (born 1970) in Jos, is a Nigerian poet and lawyer. She studied law at Obafemi Awolowo University and was called to the bar in 1993. She later attended the University of Lagos, where she earned her first LLM degree, and the University of Ghana graduating with an LLM (ADR). She joined the peace movement, and became the lead of the Rotaract club and Girls Guide as a teenager when Girls Guiding groups were set up with a focus on working on social justice issues, such as violence against women and girls. She was a member of Women in Nigeria (WIN).

## Quotes

* Children orientation, mind shifting programme, These projects have greatly impacted on the lives of many children and youths in the society.
** Amale on programme to impact children
* Taming our speech, mind and heart would contribute in achieving peace in the society, thus promoting it at a global level
** Speaking at a lecture themed Peace and Harmony.
* Women should take advantage of technology to secure good health, improve their finances, and foster personal development.
** Speaking on women leveraging on technology.
* Research has shown that where women’s inclusion is prioritized, peace is more probable, especially when women are in a position to influence decision making.
** Speaking on the critical impact of women in peace negotiations.
Speaking on building healthy relationships between educators and students through restorative practices as keys to improving teaching and learning.
* Restorative Practices are about focusing on capacities rather than deficits. It is about holding circles and talking to generate solutions and build valuable abilities in students.
* Social emotional skills are very important skills, they need to be developed and showed.
* The truth is that restorative practice is a proven approach to discipline in schools that favours relationships over retribution, and has been shown to improve behaviour and enhance teaching and learning outcomes.
* Reading clubs in school were important because it encourages critical thinking and increases the ability of understanding and advised students to have deeper engagement with stories in their communities and beyond.
* India is a country where great influencing personalities of the world have born and are remembered for their teachings.
* Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation who preached and practiced peace. Living for others and selfless giving is taught by Swami Vivekananda. They are icons of the world and there is so much that one can learn from their way of life. Peace is achieved from within ourselves. Caring for others is what makes a society with human beings.
* Words are dangerous than a nuclear weapons which affects mankind and can cause a destruction. There is great printed inspiration in our world that is available a click away but people should realise that poetry and literature cannot change the world. They are high source of inspiration to bring peace in a nation. Suppressing people or communities will only lead to revolt and gives rise to anti-social elements.
* There is a strong connection between hands-on, participative creative arts and the creation of non-violence as a key element of peace building. The nature and meaning of peace and non-violence is synonymous to that powerful aspect of creative arts that build peace and promote non-violence. The arts’ has capacity to help develop skills for peaceful problem-solving through the comprehension of fundamental principles in conflict resolution, and violence prevention.
* Artists work in war zones, refugee camps and conflict ridden communities using their creativity to stimulate and deepen knowledge in violence prevention and ultimately support peace building through building resiliency, conflict resolution and reconciliation from the community level. This chapter will explore the traditional art concepts and creativity in the past and the current understandings of peace as seen in our literature, poetry, mime, drama, dance, songs, paintings, sculptures, graffiti’s, stories, adages and from social psychology that has been great ways of building peace, non-violence and positive social development.
* It will show how the creative arts stimulates and support peace building and non-violence particularly in Africa. The impact that violence prevention goals of community-based art program has are enormous, the production of art supports and expand non-violent conflict resolution skills. It the artworks that educates and advocates for peace and non-violence plays a critical role in learning the concepts of non-violence and peace building in Africa.