ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES AN INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY STUDIES WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE UPEACE AFRICA PROGRAMME.
In 2006, a tripartite agreement was signed between Addis Ababa University, the Royal Danish Embassy in Ethiopia and the UPEACE Africa programme for the establishment of an Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS). UPEACE was designated as the executing partner for the project.
On Monday 29 October 2007, the Institute was launched officially by the Ambassador of Denmark in Ethiopia, Her Excellency Ms. Pernille Dahler Kardel and the President of Addis Ababa University, Prof Andreas Eshete, who presided over the beginning of a Master’s Degree Programme in Peace and Security Studies.
The first class is composed of twenty five students selected from a pool of 511 candidates.
The Institute is part of the Africa Programme endeavour to strengthen the capacity of African institutions to teach, train and conduct research in peace and conflict studies and related areas. In addition to the Master’s Degree Programme, the Institute intends to offer, at a later stage, non-degree courses addressed to policy makers, civil society actors and practitioners with the view to reaching out to, and mobilizing, wider segments of the society for peace in Ethiopia in particular, and the Horn of Africa in general.
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The Executive Vice Rector visits the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) in Belgrade
Georges Tsaï, Executive Vice Rector, visited the ECPD on 22-28 October 2007. The main purpose of the trip was to have a first-hand appreciation of the current situation of the European Centre for Peace and Development (ECPD), an organization established in 1984 by an International Agreement signed by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and UPEACE. A secondary objective was to participate in the Third ECPD International Conference on Reconciliation and Human Security in the Balkans.
As a result of the meetings in Belgrade, it was agreed with Amb. Takehiro Togo (President of the ECPD Council), that UPEACE and ECPD would create a special joint task force whose task would be to analyze the possibilities of developing “mutual relations and future cooperation, including joint activities, education programmes and research projects” with a view of possibly identifying areas of common long-term interest.
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UPEACE Visiting Professors
Prof. Anthony Jenkins
Course GPB-6030: Cultures and Learning: from Violence towards Peace (MA in Gender and Peacebuilding)
Anthony Jenkins is the Co-Director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College, Columbia University; the Global Coordinator of the International Institutes on Peace Education (IIPE); and Coordinator of the Global Campaign for Peace Education. He is also the convener of the Community-Based Institutes on Peace Education (CIPE). He has extensive international consultative experience, including work with ministries of education, universities, NGOs and UN agencies. His current work focuses on pedagogical research and educational design and development with special interest in alternative security systems, disarmament and gender. Among his recent publications are; “CIPE Organizer’s Manual: a Peace Education Planning Guide” (2007); “Disarming the System, Disarming the Mind” in Peace Review (2006); “A Peace Education Response to Modernism: Reclaiming the Social and Pedagogical Purposes of Academia” in Jing Lin and Christa Bruhn (Eds.) Educators as Peacemakers: Transforming Education for Global Peace (in press);.and co-authored with Betty Reardon “Gender and Peace: Towards an Gender Inclusive, Holistic Perspective” in Johan Galtung and Charles Webel (Eds.) The Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies.
Prof. Wolfgang Sützl
Course MPS-6020: Media in Times of Conflict (MA in Media, Conflict and Peace Studies)
Wolfgang Sützl, is a citizen from Austria, PhD. His undergraduate studies were done at University of Castellon- Spain; he undertook a Master of Arts in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom; and a MPhil in University of Vienna. He has been a University professor in Universities of Innsbruck, Jaume, Vienna, and Mexico. He has been university professor in Information Ethics, Ethical Issues in New Information and Communications Technologies, War, Technology and Society, and Political Science and New Media.
Prof. Joseph Hewitt
Course IPS-6020: Research Methods (MA in International Peace Studies)
J. Joseph Hewitt is a specialist in international politics and foreign policy, with a particular focus in international conflict processes. He has extensive expertise in quantitative political analysis, statistical modelling, research design development, and management of large datasets. His research focuses on the causes of armed conflict (in both the civil and interstate context), conflict early-warning, international crisis bargaining, and the connections between government attributes and conflict behaviour. His recent projects involve work developing and applying models for assessing the risks of civil conflict in fragile states. In addition, he has lead editorial duties for Peace and Conflict, the center’s biennial publication tracking global trends in armed conflict, democratization, and development. He has also developed and administered cross-national surveys in western Africa that examine how armed conflict and state fragility affect the operations of peace-building NGO networks. He has published on the connections between democracy and interstate conflict, as well as on the topic of conflict between enduring rivals. His past teaching experience covers a broad set of topics relating to conflict including numerous graduate and undergraduate courses in conflict processes, foreign policy, international organizations, and many others. Dr. Hewitt has extensive involvement in many of the training programmes offered by the ICONS Project at CIDCM. In this capacity, he has served as a trainer in programmes focusing on building and strengthening skills in negotiation, conflict management, and leadership.
Prof. Matti Palo
Course NRD-6085: Forests, forestry and poverty (MA in Natural Resources and Peace
Doctor of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, (Forest Economics) University of Helsinki, Finland
Lecturer in International Environmental and Forest Policies, University of Helsinki & Joensuu.
Forests play an important role in many aspects of life. Mitigation of global climate change, conservation of soil and water resources, enhancement of agricultural systems, conservation of biological diversity, improvement of urban, peri-urban and rural living conditions, protection of natural and cultural heritage, provision of timber and other non timber forest products, and the generation of employment are some of the important uses of forests.
This is an introductory course on forestry as a scientific discipline and on forests in general as one important land based natural resource. The focus will be on tropical forests. This course will look at the importance of forests for humans with a special focus on rural populations of countries and regions in the “developing world”, different values of forests, the threats they are facing, and the challenges faced by those who try to manage them sustainably.
Prof. Narinder Kakar
DIL-6031 The United Nations and Other International Organizations (MA in International Law and Human Rights and MA in International Law and Settlement of Disputes)
Narinder Kakar is the Executive Director of the UN Liaison Office of UPEACE in New York. He also serves as the acting Director for the Asia-Pacific Programme. Mr. Kakar has recently been accredited as the Permanent Representative/Observer of IUCN to the United Nations, a function he performs concurrently with his UPEACE responsibilities.
Mr. Kakar has extensive experience working for the United Nations, having served UNDP for over 30 years in countries like India, Yemen, Guyana, Turkey, China and Maldives, where he was managing programmes related to socio-economic development and environmental management and protection. At UNDP headquarters, he held positions of Deputy Director and then Director of the Division of Resource Mobilization, and as Associate Director in the UN Development Group Office. While serving in Maldives as UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident representative, Mr. Kakar was associated with the work of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) meeting in 1997.
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UPEACE Students Make Cultural Presentation at Liceo de Ciudad Colón High School
As part of Liceo of Ciudad Colón High School's very first "English Day" on Tuesday, October 23rd, UPEACE students were invited to visit and give cultural presentations to the students. The event was organized by Liceo director Humberto Quiros, English teacher Ronald Fallas and Rotary scholars and UPEACE students Dorothee Raas and Michelle Neyland. Twenty-two UPEACE students participated, representing the following countries: Cameroon, the United States, Nepal, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Brazil, and Sierra Leone. A summary of the day's events are published in the last edition (October-November 2007) of Ciudad Colon's local newspaper, El Jicaro.
UPEACE Institute
The 2008 academic year will begin with the short courses offered by the UPEACE Institute from 10 to 30 January. The third edition of the Institute will offer interesting courses to students from UPEACE and outside participants.
In addition to the regular three credit courses, the Institute will offer a new course modality that includes six-one-credit courses that will run in the afternoons and that will give participants the chance to study for one week while enjoying summer in Costa Rica.
The following are the courses offered for 2008:
Three credit course:
- Entrepreneurship in the social sector: making it happen.
- Peace Operations
- The anthropology of violence, conflict and war
- Peace, conflict and development
- Hunger, famine and food security
- Environmental security assessment: principles and practices
- Dialogue and conflict transformation: exploring constructs of gender and ethnicity
- Theatre and peace building
Once credit course:
- Democracy and war
- Settlement of armed conflicts in Central America
- Human Rights, women, and islam: the case of Iran and Afghanistan
- Film and conflict
- Human Rights activism: theory and practice
- Terrorism in the Islamic context
For more information about the UPEACE Institute visit http://www.upeace.org/academic/training/institute/ or contact us at institute@upeace.org
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University for Peace Model United Nations Conference 2008
The UPMUNC Coordinating Team is pleased to announce the 6th UN Model Conference that will be held from 31 January to 2 February 2008 at the UPEACE Campus.
This activity is organized by the students with the support of several staff and faculty members. The main goal of this activity is to increase the skills and capacities of students and outside participants’ by having a high degree of reality in the simulation.
The Board is composed of 8 students from different MA Programmes that will take on the role of president, training coordinator and managerial positions in areas such as public relations, marketing, logistics, social activities and events, financial, and media.
More information about the theme, enrollment and calendar of activities will be soon posted on UPMUNC’s webpage.
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UPMUNC Board members visit EARTH University
The Escuela de Agricultura de la Region del Trópico Húmedo, known as EARTH University, held its first UN Model last October with the participation of students from the first year of agriculture.
During the preparation stage, its organizers contacted faculty and staff from UPEACE, who helped them shape the activity by sharing the University for Peace’s experience in organizing such events. As a result, several UPMUNC board members were invited to attend the General Assembly Session where they were given the opportunity to address the participants during the closing session.
The main topic of the simulation was Climate Change, focusing on global warming and leadership, an issue highly important and of great concern for the agriculture field.
After the closing session, the Board members took part in the cultural activities that EARTH students prepared; they shared experiences in the field of UN models and learned from EARTH philosophy.
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Celebration of the “Día de los Muertos”
By Adria Scharmen
It is when we are away from home that our culture is reinforced and treasured the most. We tend to take things for granted while in the comfort of them, but once away nostalgia kicks in, especially around those holidays that are most special to us. As a consequence, we are attracted to people who understand and celebrate our own traditions, people who treasure them and feel as proud to share them as we do. This feeling has re-emerged beautifully at UPEACE, where I feel lucky to have found other Mexicans to build a Day of the Dead altar with, and not only celebrate Gandhi and our loved ones who have passed away but share the experience with the rest of the students, staff and faculty on a beautiful day this past November 2nd.
The Day of the Dead is a highly celebrated Holiday, not only in Mexico, but in many other Latin American countries and even (as we have just found out) in Asian countries like the Philippines. Nov 1st is all Saints Day and Nov 2nd is all Souls Day, the day when the spirits of the deceased have divine permission to come back and enjoy the world of the living. During this day families build altars for them, with all their worldly favorites, including food, like pan de muerto, which we all got to try this Friday, atole to drink and other snacks or sweets favorites of the person who is being honored. Other objects are also displayed, like their books, music or special favorite clothing. Money is left to pay their way in from the underworld and a wash cloth to clean and dry them selves after the strenuous journey. The altar is decorated with marigold flowers or cempansuchil, incense and plenty of candles to light the way, colorful and intricate papel picado, or paper mache hang around it and little sugar skulls or calaveras add to the deadly picaresque theme. Most people in Mexico will spend the whole day at the cemeteries, cleaning and decorating, praying and singing, making paths of yellow flowers and shining lights to guide the dead back, back for this one day of mystical festivities, the one day a year where both the dead and the living celebrate together.
While talking to my classmate and fellow Mexican, Alfredo, we realized the deeper meaning this day has had in our lives, by not only making it easier to endure the death of our loved ones and allowing us to celebrate them even when gone, but by helping us to not fear our own death so much, accept it and even feel happy to know that when we do die, we will have our day to come back and be with all those people we love so much and enjoy all the food and things we’ll surely miss. It is Comforting to think of death in this way. Many may choose to discard it, think of it morbid, but I am glad to have shared it, because it has reinforced itself in my heart. It has brought a comfort similar to that of meeting other Mexicans while abroad or coming together with the UPEACE community under a statue of Gandhi to celebrate that his spirit will never die.
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