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Calendar November 2001 19 November-7 December 2001 Most of the countries of the SADC region are undergoing major political changes since the beginning of the 1990s. Constitution making, democratic elections, political party building are some of the challenging tasks that pose a variety of problems in a rather fragile and volatile transition. Good and prudent governance becomes vital in addressing these problems in the interest of the long term consolidation of democracy and peace-building in the region. Poverty as well as ethno-political, social and cultural disparities are among the roots of conflicts and potentially play a role in conflict escalation. The participants of the seminar, organized by Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR) in co-operation with Mozambican Network for Peacebuilding (REDIPAZ) and Citizens' Security Council (KATU), will be called to reflect on the activities and resources needed for building and sustaining peace at the political, economical and social level. For this end, the seminar will explore theories and concepts relevant to peace-building activities and approaches as well as develop integrated approaches that will embrace conflict prevention and conflict transformation in a holistic manner. The objective of the seminar is to establish a policy related discourse among the participants, combined with a training workshop on mediation seeking to elaborate relevant peace-building approaches and activities in the SADC region. In order to achieve these goals, the seminar will be offered to a wide range of professionals middle level diplomats and diplomatic advisors, high level representatives of NGOs, university professors, middle level military and police officers, community representatives, and other individuals. The seminar participants should have already been engaged in peace-building activities in deeply divided societies with protracted conflicts, such as fact-finding, peaceful settlements of disputes, human rights protection and promotion, and civilian and international diplomatic missions. It is envisaged that the seminar would explore ways for SADC and its member states as well as for the OAU to enhance their existing, or to develop new, capabilities in peace-building. It is also foreseen that this seminar will contribute to a better co-operation with external partners such as the European Union. Faculty will be drawn from an international group of resource person (almost entirely from Africa) familiar with activities in the realm of peace-building in Africa. The language of instruction will be English. The Seminar takes place over a period of three weeks. Peace-building Theories and
Concepts Peace-building Approaches and
Activities Integrated Approaches for
Peace-building The methodology of the seminar is based on a mixture of lectures, working groups, panel discussions, exercises, and readings. Basic information about organisations and organisational structures relevant to peace-building will be made available and recommended in advance in order to help participants prepare for the lectures. Lectures will primarily use a case study approach and will especially focus on recent peace-building activities of national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations in Africa. Working groups will give participants the opportunity to consolidate subjects dealt with in the lectures. Workshops will be held in order to enhance communication skills and intercultural understanding and to learn how to deal with one's own role within a team and vis-à-vis conflicting parties. Through participation in exercises such as the case analysis of conflict escalation and de-escalation factors, and focused interactive exercises (simulations, role-playing, etc.), participants will practice conflict analysis and resolution skills and gain experimental knowledge of different concepts. Evaluations are scheduled in order to facilitate integrating lectures, working groups, workshops and readings into a coherent basis for discussing what has been learned. Discussions at the end of the seminar should focus on bringing along concrete proposals for peace-building activities for the region. Participants will be requested to produce a short paper at the end of the seminar. Level: professional Location: Praia do Bilene, Mozambique Participants: 45 participants from Africa, mainly from countries in the SADC region, with different cultural, professional and organisational backgrounds, will be accepted on a competitive basis. Applicants must meet the following requirements for admission Masters degree or the equivalent in working experience; Working knowledge of English; Submission of the application form and the required accompanying materials (curriculum vitae; recent photograph; English health certificate indicating current state of health; names, addresses and telephone numbers of two persons whom ASPR may contact as personal referees; application essay of 300 words) as soon as possible, but not later than August 24th, 2001. Tuition, fee, lodging: A scholarship of the Republic of Austria will provide the costs of participation. The scholarship covers tuition, educational materials and full board accommodation in single rooms. However, it does not cover any expenses with regard to travel, visa, beverages, illness or accidents. In exceptional cases, financial contribution to long distance flights (excursion fares) could be asked for in the attached application form. Such a request has also to be justified in the application essay.
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