Preparing for the Rehabilitation Effort in Iraq

Presented by

Peace Operations Policy Program
School of Public Policy
George Mason University
Arlington, Virginia, USA
May 17- 28, 2004

The course entitled "Preparing for the Rehabilitation Effort in Iraq" will target mid to senior level professionals in areas related to community re-building, rehabilitation, humanitarian relief work, and post-conflict reconstruction, especially those who are likely to be deployed to Iraq. It is a two-week course hosted by George Mason University (GMU)’s Peace Operations Policy Program (POPP). The course is scheduled to be conducted from Monday May 17 to Friday May 28, 2004, at GMU’s Arlington campus, in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area. This course has been necessitated by the current events in Iraq, and POPP’s tremendous success in offering and conducting similar courses on Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. (Please see below some comments from past Afghanistan course participants).

The course will have multiple foci for addressing relief work in Iraq, and will be conducted by a host of experts in the fields of humanitarian aid, conflict resolution, peacekeeping, military operations, Islamic, Arabic and Iraqi cultures, and international development. Using the CMPO (Conceptual Model for Peace Operations), the first week of the course will focus on the recent history of Iraq, the Middle East region dynamics, their socio-cultural background, peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts, including intensive training on appropriate conflict resolution skills in the Iraqi context. On Friday and Saturday, Monday 21-22, 2004, a special focus will be on security training and simulations of interfacing with military personnel in post conflict zones.

The second week will focus on peacebuilding efforts, including humanitarian aid, reconstruction efforts, community re-building, and human rights. The week will also focus on roles of judiciary and police, governance and democracy support, working with Muslim-Arab communities, working with the media, and consideration of health and preventive medicine issues. The second week will include several sessions in which participants will be encouraged to brainstorm and apply what they have been learning during the course to their plans for work in Iraq.

The course has a limited enrollment of 30 participants. This is because the course will be presented in a highly participatory format in order to help participants learn from their instructors’, and from each other’s experiences in post-war work. Participants in the course will receive a GMU Certificate of Course Completion and will be credited with the residential portion of the UNITAR POCI Certificate-of-Training in United Nations Peace Support Operations.

The cost per person to attend this course is $1,500. This fee includes continental breakfast, snack, and lunch for each course day. The fee does not include dinner or hotel accommodations. However, a block of rooms has been identified at the Seidman Student Residence Center on the adjacent campus to the GMU Arlington facility. A reduced fee of $1000 will be available for a limited number of applicants from developing countries who cannot afford to pay the full fee.

For more information on this course please contact Prof. Dave Davis, Director of POPP, at 703-993-1703, or Dr. Amr Abdalla, course director, at 703-993-3700. To apply for the course please complete the course application form, available from the website http://popp.gmu.edu, and follow the mailing instructions provided with the application form.

Comments from Past Course Participants

Dear Dr. Abdalla, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity that you and your staff provided throughout "The Rehabilitation Efforts for Afghanistan". The experience was without peer. I've traveled the world, I've lived in numerous countries, and I teach Human Relations for the University of South Dakota. Nothing comes close to the well-grounded educational experience I relished in from May 28th thru June 7th, 2002. The level of expertise and professionalism demonstrated by your myriad instructors sets an example worthy of emulation. The different slants presented by each instructor made the program the epitome of excellence. Unequivocally, having participants from 14 different countries in our class contributed immensely to broadening my horizons and adding to the breadth and depth of my academic endeavors. The evening dialogues I engaged in with my colleagues from 13 other nations made this a once in a lifetime experience. I have a newfound appreciation for the challenges of life in Afghanistan. I humbly implore you not to change the Program of Instruction. It's superb and I challenge other students, professionals, and people from all walks of life to apply for your program. I hold George Mason University and the Program on Peacekeeping Policy, School of Public Policy and the International Training Programme for Conflict Management, Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna in the highest regard. Sir, I thank you and your staff once again.

Respectfully,

Dr. Mario M. Mercado
----------------------------------------

Dear Amr,
I have attended many trainings and classes over my career in relief and development but for scope, breadth, depth and relevancy the GMU class, Preparing for the Rehabilitation Effort in Afghanistan, is unmatched. In short this was the most comprehensive precisely targeted training in international development and peacekeeping that I have ever attended. Congratulations to you and your colleagues.

Hope to meet you in Kabul before the year ends. If I can be of service to you from that side of the world I would be pleased to do what I could.

Sincerely,

Henry Hamilton
---------------------------------------------------

Amr.
I would like to thank you and all of the staff at GMU for a great learning experience in the course 'Preparing for the Rehabilitation Effort in Afghanistan'. The organization of the course, the guest speakers/presenters and again the GMU staff were all first class. It also goes without saying that the participants also gave as good as they got, and I think I speak for all when I say - the course was a decisive learning adventure-plus a good time, again thank you and all the best.
Regards

Robert Rokos
Gaborone, Botswana
-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Dr. Abdalla:
The program was a unique experience and will have a positive and practical effect on my future
international career path. I had the opportunity to meet interesting people with different backgrounds and dreams which opened my awareness of what we can do, as part of an international community, in benefit of a person, group or nation as a whole. I want to thank you and the GMU team deeply for creating such a fulfilling program and look forward to keep in touch for probable future issues.

Manuel Martínez-Escalante
(Mexico city)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amr,
I wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I enjoyed the course. I particularly value the great friendships I made with the POPP staff and my fellow students. As you know, my primary goal was to learn more about the business of rehabilitation and peace operations and to meet some of the people who work in this business. I gained all of that and more from my two
weeks in the course.

Our "GMU 2K2" group has already established a pretty good e-mail network which will keep all of us in touch. I hope we can keep in touch as well.

Please give my regards to Dave, Ivan, Allison, Clarence, and Bill.

Best regards,

Bob Gardner