Peace-building
in War-torn Societies

Seminar at Entebbe, Uganda

14 November – 3 December, 2004

Organized by:

Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR)

In Co-operation with:

Network of African Peace-builders (NAPS)

Sponsored by The Republic of Austria

BACKGROUND

War-torn societies face many challenges: human losses, injuries, displacements, poverty, human rights violations, sufferings and traumas, destruction of social structures and cultural traditions, damage of infrastructure, pollution of the environment, just to name a few. These challenges require tremendous efforts, such as disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration of ex-combatants, return of refugees and internally displaced people, institution building and reform of governance structures, economic recovery, and reconciliation.

The Great Lakes Region has been a war-torn area for centuries, however, the origins of war and the actors in war have changed significantly over time. Today, the countries in the Great Lakes Region are confronted with a variety of protracted conflicts with different degrees of escalation rooted in the political, economic, ecological and cultural spheres, involving actors from local, national, regional and international communities. The growing world-wide repercussions of these conflicts have challenged the conflict resolution capabilities of various intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organisations.

It becomes more and more obvious that a comprehensive peace-building approach is needed, including, inter alia, humanitarian aid, development co-operation and conflict resolution/transformation. Sustainable peace-building efforts have to empower regional and local actors from all levels of societies. They need to combine top-down and bottom up approaches, that also focus on the impacts of war upon the marginalised, the poor, women, children, the youth, the elderly and rural communities, – including social, political, economic, cultural, psychological, health and other repercussions. As people do not pick up weapons to simply put them down again, sustainable peace-building efforts need to address the root causes and reasons why people resort to arms in the first place. Basic needs of all parties involved and concerned need to be considered in order to achieve a just peace.

There is an increasing need for peace-building experts that are equipped with the key competencies for conflict resolution/transformation such as empathy, creativity and non-violence. Peace-building experts have to be well prepared to implement a wide range of different activities in order to construct peaceful societies.

OBJECTIVES

The overall purpose of the seminar is to enhance a policy related discourse combined with a training workshop on conflict resolution/transformation aiming at the elaboration of relevant peace-building activities in the Greater Great Lakes Region.

The objectives of the three-week seminar are to:

- provide state-of-the-art conceptual, theoretical and practical training in peace-building to individuals and career professionals who are looking to upgrade their skills and knowledge or to acquire new skills and perspectives in this area;
- advance knowledge and an understanding on peace-building related issues and mechanisms, in relation to the African experience;
- increase the pool of qualified peace-building experts to contribute to conflict resolution/transformation in Africa;
- strengthen peace-building capacities of African institutions;
- encourage joint initiatives and further strengthen the growing Network of African Peace-builders;
- encourage an understanding and acceptance of partnership between national and regional actors and international efforts to bring lasting peace;
- reflect trends and causes of violent conflicts and document already existing peace-building efforts in the Great Lakes Region;
- elaborate precise and specific recommendations for peace-building in the Great Lakes Region.

PARTICIPANTS

The seminar is offered to a wide range of professionals: diplomats and diplomatic advisors, NGO and private sector chief executives, military and police officers, community representatives and other individuals from various sectors to reflect on current trends and needs for peace building in their various fields. The seminar participants should be engaged (or interested) in peace building activities for the institutions they represent. 45 participants across Africa, mainly from countries in the Great Lakes region, with different cultural, professional and organisational background will be accepted on a competitive basis.
It is expected that upon completion of the seminar, participants would be in a position to apply their advanced knowledge and understanding in an advisory or policy-making capacity, either in the public or private sectors, in NGOs, international organisations, religious institutions, development bodies, academic institutions, and business corporations.

FACULTY

Faculty is drawn from an international group of resource persons (almost entirely from Africa), who have pioneered the field of peace-building in Africa. The resource persons are practitioners themselves, who are able to ground their experience also theoretically.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology that forms the seminar design is based on a mixture of lectures, working groups, exercises, and readings. It aims at communicating the content taught in such a way that participants can later apply it in a new setting. Therefore the methodology of the seminar is based on Adult Learning Principles which allow the relaying of information not only cognitively but experientially.

Resource persons primarily use the case study approach and focus especially on recent peace-building activities of national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations in the Greater Great Lakes Region.
In exercises and through interactive simulations, role-plays etc., participants practice peace-building skills and gain experimental knowledge of various concepts. Role-plays and simulation exercises aim at improving the communication skills and thus promote intercultural understanding.
Working groups give participants the opportunity to consolidate subjects dealt within the lectures, and the discussions focus on bringing along concrete proposals for peace-building activities for the region.
Participants are requested to produce a short paper at the end of the seminar.

Evaluations are scheduled in order to facilitate integrating lectures, working groups, workshops and readings into a coherent basis for discussing what has been learned.
Reference books and a Reader relevant to the seminar are specifically prepared and are made available to the participants.

The language of instruction is English.

SCHEDULE

Arrival is on Sunday, November 14, 2004.
Departure is on Friday, December 3, 2004.

From Monday to Friday working sessions take place from 9.00 – 10.30, 11.00 – 12.30, 14.30 – 15.45, and 16.15 – 17.30.

After working sessions and on weekends, the program includes cultural events, tours and excursions.
The intensive seminar schedule does not allow any other personal commitments of the participants.

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

Week One, November 14 - 20
The first week provides participants with theoretical knowledge and practical skills of basic concepts of peace-building and conflict transformation and explores the following principle elements:*

- Causes and nature of conflict
- Concepts and strategies for peace-building
- Concepts and strategies for crisis prevention and conflict transformation
- Concepts and strategies for post-conflict peace-building
- The role of governmental actors in peace-building
- The role of inter-governmental actors in peace-building
- The role of non-governmental actors in peace-building
- Workshop on the “Art of Conflict Transformation”

Week Two, November 21 - 27
The second week provides participants with theoretical knowledge and practical skills of specific peace-building approaches and activities and explores the following principle elements:*

- Protection of human rights
- Protection of national and ethnic communities
- Governance and empowerment for political participation
- Gender in peace-building
- Support for sustainable socio-economic and environmental development (with special attention to the role of development co-operation)
- Protection of civilians in armed conflicts
- Humanitarian assistance
- Demobilisation and disarmament
- Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
- Education and information dissemination
- Culture and religion
- Dealing with trauma
- Workshop on “Facilitation, Mediation and Reconciliation”

Week Three from November 28 – December 3
In the third week participants focus on the specific conflicts in the Greater Great Lakes Region. Working groups are formed according to the previous discussed topics, in order to elaborate specific and precise recommendations for peace-building in the Greater Great Lakes Region.
At the end of the seminar, co-operation and networking is discussed and the results of the seminar are presented to the public.

* Subject to Change

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Applicants must meet the following requirements for admission:
- Masters degree or the equivalent in working experience
- Working knowledge of English
- Submission of the attached application form and the required accompanying materials (curriculum vitae; recent photograph; health certificate in English indicating the current state of health; names and addresses and telephone numbers of two persons whom ASPR/CECORE/NAPS may contact as personal referees; application essay of 300 words) as soon as possible but not later than September 5, 2004.
- Selection of the successful candidates will be on a competitive basis by an admission panel from ASPR/CECORE/NAPS. Applicants will be informed of the decision of the admissions committee by end of September 2004.
- Applicants should use the attached application form and forward it to the ASPR address indicated in the form.

COST OF PARTICIPATION

A scholarship of the Republic of Austria provides the cost of participation. The scholarship covers tuition, education 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) can be asked for in the attached application form. Such a request also has to be justified in the application essay.

Participants of the seminar on “Peace-building: Education, Practice and Partnership in Africa”, Botswana 2003.

VENUE

The seminar takes place at the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe, overlooking lake Victoria. The hotel offers unique opportunities for learning and team building in a tranquil environment. For further information please view: www.imperialhotels.co.ug/botanical.html [2]

CENTRE FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION (CECORE) – www.cecore.org [3]

The Centre for Conflict Resolution (CECORE) is a not-for-profit NGO founded in 1995 by a number of Ugandan women aspiring to promote alternative and creative means of preventing, managing, and resolving conflict. Above all, CECORE seeks to empower individual women and men, communities, organizations institutions and other organised groups to transform conflict and to establish a culture of active tolerance, co-existence and peace.
CECORE’s area of focus is the Great Lakes Region, and the Greater Horn and the rest of Africa in that order, though there have been requests from further regions.

CECORE’s activities include:
- Training programmes in conflict prevention, management and resolution (CPMR) and in peace-building;
- ‘Building Bridges’: creating links between parties in conflict for dialogue and reconciliation;
- Research, documentation, and information dissemination;
- Serving as National Focal Point (NFP) for implementation of the Nairobi Declaration on the proliferation and use of illicit small arms and light weapons;
- Working with and through the media to promote peace-building.

CECORE employs a methodology in training that, through a participatory, interactive workshop approach, helps groups to understand and analyse conflict. Participants use their experience and knowledge and practice CPMR and peace-building skills in training workshops, so that the learned is grounded in their own experience and immediately applicable to their own situations.

Specific examples of training work:
- Post – genocide Rwanda, a programme for women leaders. The women’s national collective was subsequently given the UNHCR non-violence peace award in 1996;
- Southern Sudanese women refugees in North Western Uganda;
- Preparing traditional chiefs for their negotiation role in Northern Uganda;
- UN training of trainer’s courses for staff of the Ministry of Education, schools, police, and the military in Liberia in preparation for peace;
- Post-conflict reconstruction in Liberia – participation in activities to consolidate the peace.

Specific examples of ‘building bridges’:
- OAU Women Committee for Peace and Development assigned CECORE for mobilising Burundi women in the search for peace. As a result for the first time women were represented at the peace talks in Arusha;
- Working with armed pastoral communities in the Karamoja region on conflict resolution and peace building with their neighbouring tribes;
- The World Bank dialogue between stakeholders in conflicts arising from the proposed hydroelectric scheme on the Nile;
- Preparing the rebel group, the Uganda National Rescue Front II (UNRF II), the Government Peace team and the local communities to end conflict in West Nile Region. As a result a peace agreement was signed;
- Accompanying the peace process in West Nile – North Western Uganda (following the signing of the peace agreement between the Government of Uganda, Ex-UNRF II and community).

Research, documentation, and information dissemination:
- Gathering information on sources and types of conflicts, African traditional methods of conflict resolution and reconciliation, conflict sensitivity approaches and the role of the media

CECORE maintains contact with a wide network of individuals and organizations in the field of CPMR and peace building that facilitates extensive sharing of ideas and experience, e.g. the Human Rights Network (HURINET) Uganda; Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA); The Coexistence Initiative (TCI) and the Network of African Peace builders (NAPS).

AUSTRIAN STUDY CENTER FOR PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION (ASPR) – www.aspr.ac.at [4]

The ASPR was founded in September 1982 as an independent, non-profit and non-partisan organisation. It aims to contribute to the promotion of peace and peaceful conflict transformation and to the dissemination of practical ideas for peace. The ASPR was the founder of the European University Centre for Peace Studies (EPU) and established a European Peace Museum in Schlaining Castle in the year 2001. In order to help facilitate ASPR activities, the ASPR set up a unique infrastructure including the Peace Library in a former synagogue, a Conference Centre in Schlaining Castle, the Hotel Burg Schlaining, and Haus International, which is a student hostel. For these and other efforts the ASPR was awarded UN “Peace Messenger” status in 1987. In 1995, the ASPR and the EPU were awarded the UNESCO “Prize for Peace Education” and, in 2002, the UNESCO UniTwin Award.

Since 1992, the ASPR has become active in various peace-building training programs and projects. ASPR founded the International Civilian Peace-keeping and Peace-building Training Program (IPT) – the first program world-wide in which professionals from a variety of cultural, organisational and professional background receive a general and function-oriented training for various peace-building activities. Since 1997 the ASPR organises the annual two-week “Summer Academy on OSCE” and since October 2000 the “Mission Preparation Training Program for the OSCE” (MPT) which is held several times a year. Both programs aim at enhancing OSCE’s existing capacities and at developing new capabilities in preventive diplomacy, peace-making, peace-keeping and peace-building. In 2001, the ASPR was contracted by the EU to co-ordinate and lead the European Community Project on Training for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management. The aim of the project is to develop civilian EU capabilities and appropriate common standards and modules for training in the areas of rule of law and civilian administration for peace missions and field activities of the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other international organisations, as well as for EU-led missions.

The ASPR with the support of the Austrian Development Co-operation, has also developed peace-building training programs and projects for specific conflict regions. Since 1996 training programs have been conducted for Former Yugoslavia and the South Caucasus. The project on “Peace-building in the South Caucasus Region” gathered governmental and non governmental representatives in order to build trust and confidence and to acquaint participants with basic skills for conflict transformation. In following dialogue workshops regional experts were asked to elaborate future visions for the region. These visions were disseminated in order to strengthen a constructive public discourse concerning the resolution of the conflicts. In 2001, the ASPR became engaged in the peace-process in Sri Lanka. Dialogue workshops with top level participants were conducted in Austria and a comprehensive suggestion for a future federal structure, as well as recommendations, how to foster the peace process, were elaborated. The workshops were accompanied by follow-up activities in Sri Lanka in order to link these top level activities with the grassroots and, vice versa, to generate options from below and to pass them on to the top level.

Since 1997 the ASPR has developed a capacity building project for African actors in peace building. So far seven peace building dialogue seminars were conducted. The most recent dialogue seminar took place in Botswana in 2003 and focused on education, practice and partnership in Africa. The seminar was conducted in co-operation with the Network of African Peace-builders (NAPS).

Specialised training courses for former participants of the foundation seminars are focusing on further capacity building in peace building and are being offered to former participants of the foundation seminars. Recent topics were Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants, Peace-building and Development and a training of trainers course in Conflict Analysis and Conflict Transformation. Furthermore, the Network of African Peace-builders, the NAPS, consisting of former participants of the seminars, is being supported in co-operation with local partner organisations through various capacity building measures.

NETWORK OF AFRICAN PEACE-BUILDERS (NAPS) – www.naps.org.zm [5]

The Network of African Peace-builders (NAPS) is a continental, multidisciplinary, independent, non-profit network connecting state and non-state actors. The overall objective is to mainstream peace building and conflict prevention policies into state and non-state policies in order to achieve a coherent approach towards peace building and conflict prevention and contribute towards sustainable peace in Africa. NAPS was established against the background of peace building seminars supported by the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR) and its African partners through the sponsorship from the Austrian Development Co-operation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has membership drawn from various sectors, among them are government officials, diplomats and diplomatic advisors, university professors, peace and human rights activists, education specialists and trainers, military officers and other professionals.

NAPS is developing a continent-wide core team of peace-building experts able to address the demands in the field of peace building. It, therefore, calls for all stakeholders (government, civil society and the private sector) to be part of a continent wide peace-building think tank in pursuit of a more peaceful and prosperous continent. It is at this momentous period to join the African new thinking with a visionary and responsible leadership able to deliver and meet the new challenges. NAPS with the support of a diverse membership base offers to contribute to this rare opportunity in the realisation of social justice and sustainable peace.

The objectives of NAPS are to:
- promote the science and practice of peace building through the exchange of knowledge and sharing of experiences amongst persons interested or engaged in the field of conflict resolution and peace research;
- promote the collection, compilation and dissemination of information on peace-building activities in Africa.
- advance generally the science, process and art of peace-building in Africa.
- co-operate with other individuals, institutions and organisations involved in this field in promoting the objectives of the NAPS.

NAPS was established to undertake the following activities:
- organise conferences, workshops, seminars and symposia on peace-building in Africa;
- provide consulting services as well as professional and technical assistance to mediators and facilitators on conflicts;
- research, document and disseminate information on African conflicts;
- identify, encourage, and publicise traditional African best practices in conflict resolution and peace building;
- develop and administer a directory and database on African conflicts and conflict practitioners;
- establish and maintain an early warning system;
- disseminate a newsletter twice a year.

The NAPS consists of former participants of the peace building in Africa (PiA) seminars which have been conducted in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana.

So far 290 people, from 36 African countries, of various educational, professional and institutional backgrounds are part of the network. High ranking governmental, non-governmental organisations (NGO) officials, university professors, military and police officers, community representatives, religious organisations and other individuals are well represented in the network and form the basis and the distinctive element of the network.

The NAPS operates Africa wide, represented by its membership with a Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia and regional co-ordination units in four geographical regions of the continent: West Africa, Nigeria; North Africa, Sudan; East Africa, Uganda; and Southern Africa, Mozambique.

Ms Chineme Ugbor
Project Coordinator
Peace-Building in Africa Project
Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR)
Rochusplatz 1
A-7461 Stadtschlaining/Austria
phone: ++43-3355-2498-518
fax: ++43-3355-2662
mail: [email protected] [6]
web: www.aspr.ac.at [4]