Expanding Participation of Women in Peace Processes

The Peacebuilding & Development Institute is offering an exciting and dynamic course called Expanding Participation of Women in Peace Processes as a part of our Summer Professional Training Program in June at American University in Washington, DC. We are so excited about this course! The instructors are brilliant and have a wealth of experience working with women in conflict and post-conflict environments. Practitioners, professionals, students, and scholars will have the opportunity to network and share experiences with one another in an interactive setting while they build their skills sets, resumes, and research contacts.

*Some Details:

Dates: June 9 - 13, 2008 9:00am - 5:00pm

Location: American University, Washington, DC
Instructors: Miki Jacevic & Evelyn Thornton

Take a look at the Course Description: This course will introduce participants to "inclusive security," a framework for creating sustainable peace and security. Given changes in the nature of modern conflicts, conflict resolution and transformation efforts require increased participation of all stakeholders, particularly women. Through interactive role plays, small group work, case study analysis and use of visual media, participants will explore the critical role and specific contributions of women in peace processes. Specifically, the course will provide participants with concrete skills to engage women in several key components of peacebuilding including negotiations, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) structures, and transitional justice mechanisms.

*Who will participate in the Women in Peace Processes course?
Some of the brilliant potential participants include:
Samia, Program Coordinator, Sudanese Organization for Development and Eradication of Povery, Sudan
Naeem, Water Sanitation Officer, Pakistan
Elie, Administrative Officer, MONUC (United Nations Organization Mission to the DR Congo)
Diane, Policy Analyst and Gender Focal Point, United Nations Development Programme - Democratic Governance Group, Belgium
Rabindra, President, Human Rights and Peace Foundation, Nepal
Jebbah, Women and Gender Desk, Liberia Democracy Watch

plus two dozen more practitioners and SIS students!

*About the Instructors:
Mirsad “Miki” Jacevic is deputy director for partnerships and consultations at the Initiative for Inclusive Security. He has worked with the organization since its inception in 1999, originally serving as the liaison between members of Women Waging Peace, a network of women peacemakers from conflict areas around the world. In his current capacity, he oversees Inclusive Security’s partnerships with various policy institutions, as well as strategic consultations with leaders from conflict areas around the globe to help them remain focused on promoting women’s inclusion in all stages of the peace process. He has led efforts to include mechanisms in international policy to ensure that women are able to participate in efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts and have a role in post-conflict reconstruction. Inclusive Security encourages the implementation of these international commitments by brokering relationships between policy shapers and an extensive network of women peace builders, thus broadening the base of support for the vital role women play in promoting security.
Mr. Jacevic is a human rights activist and peace program specialist from Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. During the war, he was involved in numerous projects to ease the suffering of youth and the elderly. Prior to joining The Initiative for Inclusive Security, he directed the Emerging Leaders Project at the State of the World Forum and managed child-soldiers reintegration efforts at Search for Common Ground. He holds a Master of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and teaches in the Conflict Transformation Across Cultures Program at the School for International Training in Brattleboro. Mr. Jacevic is married to Guatemalan human rights activist Eva Morales, and they live with their two children in the Washington, DC area.

Evelyn Thornton is the policy officer and administration manager for The Initiative for Inclusive Security, a program of Hunt Alternatives Fund. The Initiative advocates for the full participation of all stakeholders, particularly women, in formal and informal peace processes around the world. Her work at Inclusive Security has focused extensively on conflict resolution efforts in Sudan. Evelyn co-facilitated a trip to Darfur to assess the Darfur Peace Agreement with Refugees International in 2006 and has since participated in several missions to Khartoum to consult with and train women leaders. She also manages the Initiative’s strategic partnerships, resource allocation, strategic planning, and performance monitoring.

Prior to joining the Initiative, Evelyn served as a program associate for the Foundation for Universal Responsibility for His Holiness The Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India where she worked closely with its flagship program, Women In Security, Conflict Management, and Peace.Evelyn received her B.A. in International Studies from Virginia Tech and is pursuing a M.A. in conflict resolution at Georgetown University. She has traveled, lived, and worked in South America, Europe, and South Asia, and published writings about her experiences.

For more information about the Peacebuilding & Development Institute, the Summer Professional Training Program, or the Expanding Participation of Women in Peace Processes course, please visit http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding.htm or contact PDI at pcrinst@american.edu.

Youth, Conflict, & Peacebuilding

The Peacebuilding & Development Institute offers its Summer Professional Training Program every June, and each year, dozens of students, scholars, practitioners, and professionals flock to Washington, DC in hopes of taking advantage of what some say is our best training course: Youth, Conflict, & Peacebuilding. We’re highlighting the Youth course this week - please read on.

The Details:

Youth, Conflict, & Peacebuilding

Instructors: Mark Hamilton with Michael Shipler and L. Randolph Carter

Dates: Monday, June 2 - Friday, June 6, 2008

Location: American University, Washington, DC

Cost: $735 for practitioners and professionals, two credits for AU students (includes materials!)

Here’s what people are saying about the Youth, Conflict, & Peacebuilding course:

-Bridge common scholar–practitioner divides and seek to cultivate an engaging learning community that values and extends participants’ base of knowledge.

-Learn from real-world experts on the conflicts in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Liberia, Uganda, Nicaragua, and Colombia on the challenges and better practices that are emerging from this field, especially as it relates to youth.

-”This class has broadened the way I thinkabout my studies and my work with youth and conflict.” -practitioner in 2007 Youth course

-”Building on the success of previous offerings, this year’s course will be co-taught, pairing grounded practitioner insights with scholarly analysis and cutting edge theoretical frames. Both instructors have broad experience working with and learning from young people, leading participative and cross-cultural trainings, and connecting with activists and scholar-practitioners in the field. We plan to invite additional guest speakers to extend our geographic and thematic reach.” -Mark Hamilton, instructor

-”As a graduate student I feel I learned skills I can market in my job search / interview process and take with me in my career. I am very pleased with the time we spent [in the Summer Institute] and feel I gained very valuable information.” -Student in 2007 Youth course

-”We need to address the growing field of Youth, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. There will soon be more funding allotted towards learning how to work with youth, and funding translates into jobs. Agencies and employers that see a special skills training in Youth in Conflict, especially with an intersection with peacebuilding, on your resumes will be eager to hire you.” -Saji Prelis, Associate Director of the Peacebuilding & Development Institute

The Course Description:
Designed for both development workers engaging youth in their work and students interested in understanding youth agency in peacebuilding, this course will explore the inter-relationship between youth and conflict, as well as their integral roles as agents in peacebuilding and development initiatives. The course will use a combination of theory-based research and discussions with current practitioners to cover areas such as youth and policy, effective methods of youth engagement, the “livelihood” factor, and youth as social entrepreneurs.

*Who participates in the Youth, Conflict, & Peacebuilding course?

*2007 practitioners and professionals from 30+ countries include:
David, Save the Children, Sri Lanka
Sameer, International Relief & Development, Iraq
Fatima, German Peace NGO FES, Nigeria
Michelle, Animator & Educator, Barbados
Barward, Liberia Democracy Watch, Liberia

plus two dozen more practitioners and Masters students looking to become more competitive for jobs
And what about the instructors?

*Mark Hamilton is a Ph.D. Candidate in International Relations and a Lecturer in the School of International Service. His dissertation examines why and how youth are mobilized into militant movements and other forms of sociopolitical engagement. The project integrates case histories from Sri Lanka and Nicaragua (and shadow cases around the globe) with a system dynamics simulation model built from qualitative and quantitative data. Mark’s research incorporates “grounded theory” from area scholars and anthropologists alongside field notes from Mark’s interviews with at-risk youth, past and present, and with their advocates and critics in cafes, homes, and educational settings. A former junior high school teacher, youth camp administrator, study abroad coordinator, and development consultant, Mark has extensive study and work experience in Latin America and South Asia (Sri Lanka). He completed a BA in Spanish at Taylor University (1997) and MA in International Development at American University (2003). In addition to his ongoing work related to youth, conflict and peace-building, Mark has published and presented at numerous professional conferences in the US and abroad on themes of immigration and trans-nationalism, religion and development, fair trade and consumer social responsibility, and linkages between popular and political culture.

*Michael Shipler is the Director of Programmes for Search for Common Ground in Nepal where he helped to start and is managing a national, multi-pronged peacebuilding program. He has been working with children and youth affected by armed conflict for seven years developing a range of programs aimed at transforming the role of young people in conflicts. He founded and directed the Children and Youth Division of Search for Common Ground globally. In that capacity he co-founded the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict and co-created The Child Soldiers Initiative – a global project aimed at eradicating the use of children as soldiers – done in partnership with Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, UNICEF Canada, and USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund. He has developed and supported children and youth-focused peacebuilding programs in Angola, Burundi, Nigeria, Liberia, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone among other countries. He authored Youth Radio for Peacebuilding: A Guide, as part of Radio for Peacebuilding Africa. Previously, while working for Youth for Peace, a youth-led organization in Cambodia, he developed a youth leadership development division that helps youth find ways of avoiding violence and contributing to reconciliation in their own communities. He is the author of “The Dancing Country and Other Stories.”

L. Randolph Carter formerly led the Children and Youth Division of Search For Common Ground and is Co-Chair for the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict. He is also co-Founder of the National Association of Palava Managers, a Liberian youth initiative that conducts conflict resolution and peacebuilding work in school and communities in Liberia. For nearly 15 years, Randolph has worked with children and youth in several parts of the world in peace education, conflict resolution, trauma counseling, self esteem building, and reintegration programs. As a consultant, He has provided technical assistance to organizations such as the USAID (Displaced Children and Orphans fund), and the US Department of Labor (International Labor Affairs Bureau). With co-author Jaime Alvis, Randolph is completing a programming toolkit for engaging children and youth in conflict resolution initiatives. The publication, “Common Grounding with Children and Youth”, will be published in May of 2007. Randolph’s work and experience have been resourced in initiatives such as the Graca Machel Study (The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children), Day of the African Child, YMCA/YWCA projects, The Hague Peace Appeal, Harvard University programs (Harvard Children Initiatives and Harvard School of Humanitarian Policy), American University (Committee on Child Soldiers), Leadership Metro Richmond (Metro-teens) and Children in the Crossfire (US Department of Labor/John F. Kennedy High School).

It’s not too late to apply. Visit http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding/2008.htm

Monitoring & Evaluation

The Peacebuilding & Development Institute is focusing this week on highlighting our Monitoring & Evaluation course within our Summer Professional Training Program in June. Why? Because it’s such a good opportunity. Gain and hone your M&E skills while networking with fellow students, local DC professionals, and international peace builders and practitioners.

The Details:

Building Monitoring & Evaluation into Program Operations

Instructor: Sarah Cohen Wood

Dates: Monday, June 16 - Friday, June 20, 2008

Location: American University

Cost: $735 for practitioners and professionals, two credits for AU students (includes materials!)

Here’s what people have said about the course and M&E in general:

“If you know your way around M&E, you will never be out of a job.” - Donna Read

“A great skill to have an and excellent workshop to take; the course presents you with perspectives and knowledge from academia, on the ground and within the prevailing development agencies.” -Shezaad Dastoor, SIS MA

“This theoretical and practical course exceeded my expectations and will allow me to do better work for my NGO.” -Ali, Tanzania

“M&E courses are very important, but a conflict-sensitive M&E course like ours will ensure that practitioners “do no harm” to their beneficiaries in the field.” -Saji Prelis, Peacebuilding & Development Institute

“A constant theme throughout the week, and one of the most valuable topics addressed were conflict sensitive approaches to development. This workshop helped highlight the crucial need to include these concepts in any program abroad, in attempts to do as little harm as possible.” -Jennifer Kurtinitis, SIS MA and PDI intern

The Course Description:

This training will provide participants with the opportunity to analyze and understand the role that M&E plays in shaping three projects in conflict affected countries. Participants will work with these projects and design their own M&E framework. At the end of the course participants will have the opportunity to compare their work with donor funded projects and successful M&E frameworks currently used in conflict contexts. The course will focus heavily on participatory approaches to M&E and will also address the complexity of measuring change in conflict dynamics, identifying reasonable measures of impact, and working with local populations to achieve results. A special emphasis will be placed on conflict sensitive M&E approaches and the importance of conflcit analysis and information when designing work in conflict zones.
This training course will be highly interactive in nature and incorporate “real-time” interventions that may be impacted by some of the decisions participants make. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet with some folks from the implementing Agencies and talk about the challenges on the ground related to M&E.

And if all that wasn’t enough, wait till you read about the instructor:

Sarah Cohen Wood is currently the Strategic Planning and Learning Coordinator for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at USAID.
In addition to her role as the Strategic Planning and Learning Coordinator for OFDA at USAID, Ms. Wood works in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance and in the past has worked in the Office for Conflict Management and Mitigation and also served as the USAID liaison to the State Departments Office for the Coordinator of Reconstruction and Stabilization. She also worked from 2003-2007 on a USAID funded program called, the NGO Sector Strengthening Program , which is a program that works to enhance the institutional capacities of local NGOs and Civil Society organizations many of them in fragile and post conflict countries. She has worked in several countries in Africa , and specializes in the role of civil society in post conflict and transitioning environments.
She is a specialist in Monitoring and Evaluation and designed the first workshop for local and international NGOs and USAID Mission staff on Conflict Sensitive Monitoring and Evaluation for USAID, which was held in West Africa and focused on the Mano River Region. She has worked extensively with participatory methods for program and planning design, and has applied these to several field settings to enhance the participation in planning with local groups and stakeholders.
Ms. Wood has over 15 years of experience with development planning, project design, monitoring and evaluation systems, training, and community mobilization programming. Areas of expertise include; organizational development, training of trainers methodologies, field methods and data collection, grant and proposal writing, civil society research and conflict resolution, management and mitigation. Ms. Wood is formally trained in field methods, data collection, and evaluation and monitoring for impact.
Ms. Wood is currently also an adjunct faculty member at American University, teaching Conflict Sensitive M&E to graduate level students as well as practitioners working in peacebuilding and development in conflict affected countries. Ms. Wood also has conducted regional trainings in Sri Lanka and West Africa.

Who might take advantage of this opportunity?

2007 non-credit participants include practitioners and professionals from a dozen countries and conflict affected areas of the world, including:
Karin, Program Officer for UN Development Programme in Ecuador
Alfred, Media Specialist for Search for Common Ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Maha, Protection Officer for UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan
Barward, Program Officer for Liberia Democracy Watch, Liberia
Christopher, Programme Officer, Mines ADvisory Group in Iraq
Luckshmi, Associate Program Officer for International Relief & Development in Washington, DC

Sound good? Visit http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding for more information.

Summer Professional Training Program in Peacebuilding & Development

The Peacebuilding & Development Institute at American University is preparing for its big annual event this June: the Summer Professional Training Program. PDI will host nearly 100 international peace builders, development practitioners, conflict resolution specialists, government officials, civil society leaders, and scholars, not to mention the esteemed members of the American University graduate student body.

The Summer Professional Training Program is perfect for any early- or mid-career practitioner, professional, student, or scholar looking to build skills sets and resumes, network with colleagues and potential employers, share experiences with others working or living in the field, and learn best practice techniques for conflict-sensitive peacebuilding or development work. Our corps of trainees in 2007 came to Washington, DC from 30 different nations around the world, including conflict affected countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, DRC, and many others, as well as from large and small international NGOs, local community-based organizations, and DC’s finest agencies.

The Summer Professional Training Program takes place in Washington, DC, over three weeks, beginning on Monday, June 2^nd and ending Friday, June 20^th. Within these three weeks, participants sit in one, two, or three of our nine five-day training courses. These courses are all Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, and PDI hosts many fun and enriching activities in the evenings and on the weekends. Our course schedule is as follows:

Week One:
Monday, June 2 - Friday, June 6, 2008

1. Religion & Culture in Conflict Resolution
Instructor: Mohammed Abu-Nimer
2. Applied Conflict Analysis & Negotiation
Instructors: Ron Fisher & Anthony Wanis-St. John
3. Youth, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Instructor: Mark Hamilton, Michael Shipler, Randolph Carter

Week Two:
Monday, June 9 - Friday, June 13, 2008

1. Practical Approaches to Peacebuilding & Development
Instructor: Erin McCandless
2. Program Design & Budget for Development & Peacebuilding
Instructors: Mary Hope Schwoebel & Michael Gibbons
3. Expanding Participation for Women in Peace Processes
Instructor: Miki Jacevic & Evelyn Thornton

Week Three:
Monday, June 16 - Friday, June 20, 2008

1. Building Monitoring & Evaluation into Program Operations
Instructor: Sarah Cohen Wood
2. Integrating Positive Change Practices into Development Work
Instructors: Mark Chupp & Claudia Liebler
3. Media & Peacebuilding
Instructor: Ross Howard

All application and registration information is on our website: http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding/2008.htm Please complete this application, including all of the essay questions, and submit via email to pcrinst@american.edu.

If you have questions or need clarification on the application process, visas, or fundraising, our staff is excited to give you individual help and pledges to respond to your emails within the first business day. Please email pcrinst@american.edu.

If this training opportunity seems appropriate for you, please consider sharing this application and information with your friends and colleagues. We hope to see you in June!

We begin this blog to give people the opportunity to share their views, ideas, expectations, recommendations, beliefs, grievances and whatever else one may feel in regards to international news, jokes, movies, documentaries, music or whatever else one may see or hear.

Last Tuesday, at Busboys & Poets in Washington DC, I watched the documentary: "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber." Robert Baer, an ex-CIA operative, is the narrator of this documentary. He interviews a wide array of people as he explores the world of suicide bombing. Baer claims suicide bombing as the deadliest weapon in the world. There is nothing more threatening than a person/ a culture lacking the fear of death. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of suicide bombing that was explored through this film was the answer to the commonly asked question involving, 'what part of religion allows/ promotes suicide?' One of Baer's interviewees made it clear. To paraphrase, he said, 'suicide is the word that you have used to describe this activity.' We consider these attacks suicide, however, ask many extremists and they will disagree. A minor cultural misconception, that perhaps explains a lot about the fatal practice. Baer's description of suicide bombing as the deadliest weapon has become more and more believable.