The summer school on Women, Peace and Security targets women and men who seek to include women in active (political) participation and peace building efforts. The main objective of the training is to strengthen individual women, men and their organisations to enable more inclusive and effective peace building, and to facilitate networking. Individuals from conflict-affected areas, staff from organizations advocating for the implementation of a women, peace and security agenda, and those from other inclusive conflict transformation efforts are welcome to participate. 

The training will consist of five modules: 

1. Explanation of concepts about conflict, conflict transformation and prevention; 
2. Knowledge building around relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security and international Human Rights framework and mechanisms to demand these rights.
3. Sharing, analysis and discussion of obstacles, successes, dilemmas and challenges to include women in active (political) participation and peace building, based on the experiences of the participants. 
4. Training module on tools and skills for communication and negotiation and advocacy.
5. Debate with external stakeholders to understand different roles, discuss dilemmas and facilitate networking.

For more information and the draft program, please visit the page dedicated to the Summer School on Women, Peace and Security, on the Grotius Centre's website.  

The general deadline for applications is 20 April. You can register online: registration for the Summer School on Women, Peace and Security.

For questions please contact Liesbeth van der Hoogte, conflict advisor at Oxfam Novib. 

Systemic Peacebuilding, Conflict Transformation & Post-War Recovery, and Reconciliation (PCTR)

The PCTR program is a five-day intensive training which provides middle and senior-level experts with a forum for reflection and professional development in a dynamic and stimulating environment.  Given the issues it addresses, it  is also relevant for those working in political, gender, security, human rights, development, and humanitarian fields, donors, and diplomats, working in areas affected or threatened by war and armed conflict or in post-war situations.

The PCTR draws upon a global experience base, systematically weaving together key operational and policy lessons identified and good practices. The direct, needs-based, skills and knowledge intensive approach of the PCTR is particularly relevant for senior and executive field staff and leadership in governments and organisations as well as mid-range staff and field practitioners in national and international aid and development organisations. The program’s focus on practical experiences, skills which can be used in the field, and modules on systemic peacebuilding, early warning, conflict intelligence, and applied peacebuilding methodologies, have received strong and positive feed-back from participants, both during the program and years later.

Participants include: senior experts, field staff working in areas affected by violent conflict and war and in post-war situations, international diplomats, national and local level politicians in countries affected by war and conflict or with portfolios responsible for issues dealing with peacebuilding, conflict transformation, and development policies, policy makers, UN staff and heads of missions, people involved in grass-roots and community-based peacebuilding, and practitioners of conflict transformation and mediation.

 EU Concept Core Course XIII

The course provides participants with the basic skills and knowledge required independent of the specific function they will fulfil in international peace missions. Because most Finnish experts are seconded to EU missions, the course focuses on the EU's civilian crisis management activities. However, all subjects and skills taught during the course are relevant also in UN, OSCE and other missions. An example of the course programme is available here.

After successful completion of the course, the participants will

• have the ability to analyse causes and consequences of conflict and identify relevant actors
• understand the central processes the international community facilitates, including the promotion of respect for human rights, rule of law and democratisation through executive missions, monitoring, mentoring, advising, training and capacity building
• gain increased knowledge of the different actors in the field and the importance of comprehensive crisis management
• be able to recognise relevant threats towards safety and security in a mission environment and utilise various tools to promote security
• have basic first aid, navigation and radio communication skills

Click here for more information

To apply, fill in the application form and send it to CMC by 9 April 2012. Finnish applicants must also complete the health declaration form and submit it together with the application form.

EU Police Officer Course

The course provides participants with the basic skills and knowledge required most commonly from police officers and border guards in international peace missions. Because most Finnish experts are seconded to EU missions, the course focuses on the EU's civilian crisis management activities. However, all subjects and skills taught during the course are relevant also in UN, OSCE and other missions.

After successful completion of the course, the participants will:

• have the ability to analyse causes and consequences of conflict and identify relevant actors
• understand the central processes the international community facilitates, including the promotion of respect for human rights, rule of law and democratisation through executive missions, monitoring, mentoring, advising, training and capacity building
• gain increased knowledge of the different actors in the field and the importance of comprehensive crisis management
• be able to recognise relevant threats towards safety and security in a mission environment and utilise various tools to promote security
• have basic first aid, navigation and radio communication skills

Click here for more information.

To apply, fill in the application form and send it to CMC by 1 April 2012. Finnish applicants must also complete the health declaration form and submit it together with the application form.

International Co-operative and Social Enterprise Summer School

The aim of this short course and Open Space event is to explore the social and economic contribution of co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprises in an international context. The course provides participants with an opportunity to develop their knowledge about the rationale, purposes and practices of co-operatives and social enterprises to advise and communicate effectively with policy makers, financial institutions, trustees, company and co-operative directors and work colleagues. The course covers the origins and forms of social enterprise, then provides opportunities to apply theory to practice.

DDR Advanced Course on Reintegration

This course is aimed at bringing together people working in this field to share best practices and lessons learnt from reintegration experiences in different parts of the world. The course will build and enhance the skills and knowledge of participants so as to be able to improve the quality of the work of reintegration. It will support participants in assessing local realities and help to design, implement and coordinate tailored reintegration efforts more effectively, ensuring that future work measures up to IDDR standards.

Click here to learn more about the course and here to download the application form

(Deadline for applications: 1 May 2012)

The Core Course aims at providing participants with the basic knowledge and skills required in post-conflict and crisis areas, independent of the specific function they will fulfill as experts in their own fields. All the modules should enhance desirable personal attitudes, stress the importance of active involvement in the host society and promote a reflective and critical approach with regard to the complex issues faced in peace-keeping and peace-building.  Particular stress is put on the development of a co-operative attitude towards representatives and approaches of governmental and inter-governmental actors involved in peace-building, peace-keeping, development co-operation and humanitarian assistance as well as on the mainstreaming of a conflict- and gender-sensitive approach.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 11 May 2012)

International Civilian Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding Training Program (IPT) Specialisation Course on Conflict Transformation 

The Specialisation Course aims at enhancing the effectiveness of specialists in fields other than conflict transformation by adding skills for their conflict sensitive action. They can thus improve their daily work in the field, even if they are not primarily conflict workers. It also helps practitioners of conflict transformation to adapt their pre-existing knowledge to the field work context. The course is built on different modules aiming at increasing the participants’ operational awareness and handling of the complexity and interrelation of conflict issues as well as the modalities, techniques and impact of third party interventions as related to conflict and peace.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 11 May 2012)

Certificate of Advanced Studies in Civilian Peacebuilding

Starting in September 2012, swisspeace and the University of Basel will offer for the first time a one-year postgraduate program in civilian peacebuilding (Certificate of Advanced Studies CAS). The course is designed for practitioners interested in deepening their knowledge of civilian peacebuilding as well as career starters and career changers who aim at working in fields such as peacebuilding, development cooperation, human rights, humanitarian or social work.

During 20 course days, renowned academics and experienced practitioners will provide conceptual inputs and practical tools for civilian peacebuilding. They reflect on current trends and challenges in the fields of Conflict and Peacebuilding in Fragile States, Mediating Peace, Dealing with the Past, Peacebuilding Analysis and Impact and Business and Peace.

Please find an updated faculty list, course dates, and more information on the different modules, the course methodology and the admission procedure on the course website.

Making Peace Processes Work: Advanced Mediation & Peacemaking in Complex, Challenging and Intractable Conflicts

Making Peace Processes Work: Advanced Mediation & Peacemaking in Complex, Challenging and Intractable Conflicts is a unique three-day Executive Leadership Programme (ELP) designed for governments, UN agencies and missions, and national and international organisations working with mediation, negotiations, dialogue processes (from community to national and inter-party levels), peacemaking, and peace processes. The programme is intended for expert mediators and parties to mediation and negotiation processes seeking to identify measures to strengthen and improve their processes.

Facilitated by an expert practitioner, the programme will assist those involved in mediation and peacemaking efforts – before, during or postwar– to address key challenges and explore practical ways of improving the quality and results of their mediation and peacemaking processes.

Carried out in co-operation with the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) of PATRIR, the programme is also designed to actively assist mediation and peace processes. Technical Assistance is provided to ensure customised support for participating experts, representatives and organisations and agencies. In several cases, both / multiple mediation parties and mediators have taken part in the programme to assist them by providing a space to step out from their normal contexts and to go in depth, in a facilitated process, into improving their meditation and peacemaking skills, methods and approaches.

Making Prevention Work: Improving Operational and Strategic Effectiveness in the Prevention of War, State Collapse and Armed Violence

This three-day intensive programme has been designed for policy makers, diplomats, IGO, INGO and NGO staff and leading experts and practitioners in the field to provide an operational and global overview of key lessons learned / identified for effective prevention of war and armed violence.

Concrete case-studies and examples will be used to illustrate lessons learned and experiences in the field. Systems, tools and methodologies for conflict intelligence, early warning, preparedness and prevention will be presented and reviewed, identifying strengths and benefits as well as shortcomings and challenges, and how these can be used by governments, national and international agencies, NGOs, and local communities to better identify conflicts and escalating conflict situations and crisis, and prevent the outbreak of armed conflict.

The programme will look at operational, structural and systemic approaches to prevention drawing from real situations and helping to identify practical methodologies and approaches which can be of value to those working to prevent deadly conflicts and violence and strengthen capacities to transform conflicts constructively. Special attention will be given to developing and strengthening local, national, regional and international Infrastructure for Peace (I4P) and the necessary capabilities to make prevention work in practice.

Improving Strategic and Operational Effectiveness of Peacebuilding Programmes and Peace Support Operations

N/A

Violent Group Conflicts and Approaches to Intervention

The end of the Cold War and the geopolitical developments after September 11th, 2001, led to the development of a variety of theoretical approaches and scientific views of current violent conflicts and how to deal with them. It is not possible to identify one consistent paradigm behind this variety of academic approaches, which makes it difficult for peace experts and curriculum directors alike to decide upon a theoretical orientation. However, it is essential for peace workers to anchor their practical work in a sound theoretical foundation. Otherwise it is difficult to ensure that individual projects are coherently integrated into the overall conflict transformation context.

This training course offers an overview of the relevant body of theory, imparting practical categories to help understand current violent conflicts and the most significant approaches to dealing with them. The work of the Civil Peace Service is then classified within the system developed during the course.

Click here for more information and here to apply

The course links this comprehensive peacebuilding approach to the specific professional and personal challenges of experts from a wide range of professional and organisational backgrounds who are already involved or plan to become involved in planning and implementing peacebuilding activities, either from their home base in governmental or non-governmental organisations or in a leading position in the field. Police and military experts involved in planning and implementing police or military activities in conjunction with Peacebuilding activities are also important addressees.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 29 June 2012)

Social Justice and Diversity

A variety of social movements have arisen in the past 150 years to mobilise against the mechanisms of oppression and repression based in established and sometimes institutionalised unequal power structures. The diversity approach offers these movements the theory and practice needed to develop synergies, bundle energies and agree common aims.

Social justice is a method that deals specifically with the intersectionality of different forms of discrimination, such as sexism, anti-semitism, racism, classism and heteronormativity. Impossible to separate completely, these different forms can be treated as having similar structures and reinforcing each other.

The social justice approach uses dialogue, with a focus on understanding different conditions and the power (or lack of power) arising from these conditions. This approach considers all forms of discrimination in an equally serious way, with the aim of building up appreciative, supportive relations with others that are based on dialogue and mutual acceptance. It also aims to develop and apply the appropriate activities needed to live those relations.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Facilitation, Mediation and Negotiation Skills

N/A

Communication is constantly taking place everywhere, whether verbal or non-verbal. Messages are being sent and received whether we want it or not and the messages are often not the ones we intended. In everyday life communication seems self-evident enough, so we hardly spare a thought about how it happens, when and where misunderstandings arise and what consequences these have.

This makes it especially important to create clarity about communication in contexts of conflict and violence, since efficient communication can prevent the escalation of conflicts or at least make a contribution to dealing with the conflict in a positive way. Efficient communication needs the ability to articulate opinions, feelings and needs without aggression or prejudice and the mastery of some special techniques and methodological approaches. After all, being conscious of our own style of communication can positively influence how a conflict develops.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Analysing and Understanding Conflicts

Generally speaking there is much more behind a particular conflict than just one particular event that set it off. So it is crucial that projects to promote peace conduct systematic conflict analyses. Only then can they identify the starting points for peace work and estimate what impacts a third-party intervention could have.

Using practical examples, participants will become familiar with current theories and models relating to violence and conflict and apply these together with conflict analysis methods. They then learn to see them within the relevant peace-related policies and cultural context.

Click here for more information and here to apply

International Civilian Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding Training Program (IPT) Core Course

The Core Course aims at providing participants with the basic knowledge and skills required in post-conflict and crisis areas, independent of the specific function they will fulfill as experts in their own fields. All the modules should enhance desirable personal attitudes, stress the importance of active involvement in the host society and promote a reflective and critical approach with regard to the complex issues faced in peace-keeping and peace-building.  Particular stress is put on the development of a co-operative attitude towards representatives and approaches of governmental and inter-governmental actors involved in peace-building, peace-keeping, development co-operation and humanitarian assistance as well as on the mainstreaming of a conflict- and gender-sensitive approach.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 31 August 2012)

Mediation and Negotiation

Mediation and negotiation generally play an important role in the work of Civil Peace Service peace experts. They advise conflict parties in mediation and negotiation processes, teach the appropriate skills in seminars or apply these methods themselves during their project work.

This training course introduces various methods of conflict intervention with a focus on negotiation and mediation. Using the model of conflict transformation developed by Diana Francis, participants learn when and how a third-party intervention is a sensible option. As well as teaching relevant methods, this course also offers a chance to discuss the following aspects of this topic: the peace experts’ perception of their own role; the idea of impartiality; building trust; shaping long-term change processes; and cultural influences.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Designing Peacebuilding Programmes: Improving Sustainability, Impact and Effectiveness in Peacebuilding & Peace Support Operations (DPP)

Designing Peacebuilding Programmes helps agencies, organisations and practitioners working in conflict, crisis and post-war stabilisation and recovery to improve the quality, effectiveness and sustainable impact of their programs – including crisis management and prevention, peacebuilding, social, economic and political stabilisation, reconciliation in divided communities, and post-war recovery, rehabilitation and development. Drawing on more than 30 yearsexperience in 40 countries, the program represents the most advanced of its kind for policymakers, practitioners, government officials and donors internationally.

International Civilian Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding Training Program (IPT) Specialisation Course on Election Observation and Assistance

The objective of the Specialisation Course is to support the development and consolidation of pluralistic, democratic societies through preparing participants for observation and assistance tasks in electoral missions. Participants receive an introduction to the concept of elections as part of the democratic process, explaining some basic concepts and practices of democracy, the relationship between elections and human rights and the democratic standards for elections. Topics to be dealt with include different electoral systems, different institutional approaches to election observation and assistance, elections and election observation in different societies, tasks of Short-Term Observers (STOs), Long-Term Oberservers (LTOs) and Election Supervisors. The complete election cycle is also analysed in a case study.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 31 August 2012)

Working in Teams in an Intercultural Context

If the members of a project team can work together well, this has a decisive effect on the overall success of a project. However, Civil Peace Service projects are faced with some particular challenges in this regard. The ‘overseas’ specialist is generally assigned to a local organisation or an existing project team. This constellation of deploying organisation and partner organisation often leads to unclear and ambivalent factors which the peace expert has to deal with.

Any project with ambitions of promoting peace is subject to particular scrutiny: Do the approach, behaviour and work process organisation all fit the project aims and the values of conflict transformation? This training course will analyse team development processes and member roles in light of the conditions described above. Reflecting on their own experiences, behaviour and learning about suitable team-building methods, participants will be able to positively influence teamwork and group dynamics.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Trauma and the Psychosocial Dimension of Peace Work 

War and violence can trigger trauma in the affected people. Symptoms of trauma include: impaired ability to enter into social relations or build trust; despair and hopelessness; and excessive alertness and fear. However, people with different social backgrounds and in a different context don’t all react in the same way, and an experience of violence doesn’t always lead to trauma. This makes it particularly difficult to correctly understand trauma processes in post-conflict scenarios and to find an appropriate way of dealing with them.

Trauma are often ignored or falsely interpreted as the symptoms of a lack of motivation or “cultural idiosyncrasies”. Nonetheless, during practical peace work it is not at all helpful to apply an undifferentiated interpretation of “trauma” in the same way for all members of a particular population group. Peace experts also face the additional risk of suffering from trauma themselves due to the intensive contact with affected people or their own direct experiences whilst in the crisis region.

Those who work with traumatised people therefore have to be aware of the various dimensions and dynamics of both individual and social trauma processes. Lay people should not attempt to treat trauma therapeutically, but in order to deal with this issue in a professional way, they should be able to decide whether they can make a contribution to the victim’s psychosocial recovery or whether expert therapeutic help is needed.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Peace and Conflict-sensitive Impact Analysis

Civil conflict management projects should effect long-lasting social transformation: this is an ambitious aim and a complex task. At the same time, peace experts face challenges due to working in difficult surroundings on an everyday basis and these challenges can easily lead to the tendency to focus on urgent tasks and neglect strategic and long-term planning and control.

Continuous monitoring and evaluation of project activities helps to keep the project aims in mind, notice where they need to be adapted, and ensure that no unintentional damage is caused. Of course, the effectiveness of the project work also has to be demonstrated to the funders and the public.

For this reason, monitoring and effect measurement have to be built into the project planning right from the beginning and continually practised during the life of the project. It is essential to have a clear idea of how the desired social transformation should be achieved. This training course introduces the most common methods of conflict-sensitive effect analysis, presenting their advantages and disadvantages and applying them to case studies. Participants learn to apply continuous and practicable quality management during their everyday project work.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Self-care in Stressful Situations

Working in crisis areas and having to deal with violence have an effect on mental health and relationships with others. This process often goes unnoticed, but can be an excessive burden for peace workers. Without being aware of it themselves, they might face problems such as secondary traumatisation and burnout. The former is often triggered by intensive contact with traumatised people and the latter generally results from high levels of stress and unrealistic expectations concerning one’s own work.

This training course imparts both theory and practical methods which help the participants to protect themselves from burnout and secondary traumatisation. They are helped to consider their own personal limits with regard to threats and violence, helping them to avoid overstepping these limits.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Consultancy as a Key Qualification

Specialists working for the Civil Peace Service or in other related fields frequently assume the role of an “adviser” or “consultant”. It is taken for granted that their specialist knowledge and methodological skills are useful and advantageous for the local project partners. However, particular skills and a clear understanding of the role of a consultant are needed in order to provide truly effective and appropriate advice.

In this training course, participants learn about possible intervention levels for their advice. These include helping partners to clarify their own positions and situation, clear up communication difficulties or see the system as a whole in project and organisational contexts. They explore different roles and styles of consulting to find out which ones are relevant and suitable for them. Finally, they are taught about different methods and how intercultural sensitivity is needed in consultancy.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Initiating and Supporting Dialogue

Initiating and supporting dialogue is a classic way to guide and influence peace processes. It is used at all levels, from grassroots organisations up to political and military leaders. The dialogue processes aim to bring together a range of actors, help the different parties to understand and trust each other, and take into consideration the needs and interests of all parties to the conflict in a search for feasible ways forward.

Dialogue as a method of conflict management has the power to advance peace processes. However, the results and the long-term effects of dialogue projects depend heavily on the way the processes are carried out, the parties included and the methods applied.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Designing Peace Projects

Peace projects require prior analysis in order to deepen the understanding of the conflict and find starting points for change. How exactly are the results of such an analysis translated into a successful project design? Which instruments and methods are suitable for this? And how do they lead to a concept for a coherent and effective overall project?

In this training course, participants learn to draft coherent project designs using their knowledge about communication, conflict analysis, negotiation, mediation, impact analysis, and models and theories of conflict transformation. In addition, they develop peace strategies that take into account wider socio-political developments and devise ways to include violent conflict parties in the process of transformation.

Click here for more information and here to apply

Facilitation of Dialogue Processes and Mediation Efforts

Dialogue and mediation are voluntary processes where multiple stakeholders to a conflict, facilitated by a third party, aim at reaching an agreement that is mutually satisfactory. When a solution is found through a participatory process of common learning, it has the potential to increase the sustainability and legitimacy of the result, to create non-violent conflict resolution mechanisms for the future, and lead to changes in attitudes towards “the other”, thereby improving the relations between the parties. This is crucial if the goal is not limited to preventing violent incidents but rather to aim at creating resilient societies capable of handling future conflict.

The purpose of this course is to contribute to the development of capacities which transform conflict by peaceful means. The main focus of the course will be on skills-building in facilitation of dialogue and mediation processes, taking participants through the different phases of such processes. This includes elements of process design, conflict analysis, and values-based leadership.

The course is partly based on specific cases, highly interactive and includes group discussions, personal and group reflections, role plays and video observations, where the participants will be coached by expert resource persons as well as by each other.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications:15 March 2012)

Reconciliation as Process and Practice

Many violent conflicts reoccur within a decade after the adoption of a peace agreement. From aconflict prevention perspective, it is therefore essential to work on the building of peaceful relationsin societies formerly divided by conflict. In many of today’s internal conflicts, former enemies need tolive and work side by side after the end of hostilities, reinforcing the need for restoration of peacefulrelations between individuals in a society. Consequently, the work of reconciliation involves broadlayers of the population with the objective of moving from a divided past to a shared future.

The purpose of this course is to develop capacities to support the rapprochement of former enemiesand the building of peaceful relations in divided societies. Participants are invited to a holisticexploration of reconciliation, involving the role of justice and how trauma impact reconciliation work,together with the use of dialogue, the role of economic development and understanding origins ofviolence in the rebuilding of a peaceful society. The course will be highly interactive with a focus onskills-building, discussions and exercises. The course will focus on reconciliation from a conflictprevention perspective.

Click here for more information and here to apply

(Deadline for applications: 16 August 2012)