UPEACE’s Centre for Executive Education
Educating for the 21st Century
It was a beautiful afternoon on the first day of the Non-Profit Leadership seminar held at the Universidad de La Paz’s campus in Ciudad Colon. After each of my fellow participants, who hailed from over nine countries, completed their introduction speeches, Mohit, our professor and creator of the program, pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket and asked everyone to follow him outside. We formed a small circle around him as he explained the rules, “Everyone must handle the ball at least once and have their name said aloud by someone else in the class. I will time this exercise. Ready, go!” It took us over two minutes to toss the ball around the group—understandable since we were still learning each other’s names. Mohit challenged us to go faster and restated the rules. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, a clever observer suggested we all hold on to the ball and scream each other’s name all at once. Tah dah! One second! While on the surface a simple ice breaker, the exercise was really about problem solving, thinking outside the box, and never settling. It set the tone for the remainder of a remarkable week about the challenges facing non-profits today. Amidst this recession, non-profits are being forced to reexamine their mission, the programs and services they render, their strategic decisions, and almost everything they do. Donations and grants are the primary source of income for many organizations and present economic conditions challenge the viability of this growth strategy. The seminar confronted these tough issues head on and shed light on alternative strategies and models being implemented today. For example, we spent a day looking at the convergence of the for-profit and non-profit sectors. It is becoming more common for non-profits to establish profitable ventures to support their programs and initiatives. After a dynamic class discussion on the subject, we split into small groups to apply the lesson to our own non-profit organizations—an exercise that was always welcomed by the class. Other topics we covered included strategic planning, development of success metrics, forming alliances with outsiders, and leadership. Discussions were guided by an impressive collection of Harvard case studies, research papers written by top consulting firms, and by the morning visits we made to various non-profits organizations in the area. This part of the seminar—the visiting of local non-profits—was one of the primary reasons I signed up for the seminar in the first place. All in all, it was a rewarding week. Not just because of the subject matter or the excellent teaching by Mohit, but especially because of the quality of the people in attendance. I was inspired by the good work everyone is doing around the world. If you get the opportunity to take a seminar at the Universidad de La Paz, don’t think twice about it! Sign up, you’ll be glad you did.
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Africa and Middle East Night 2009
In the academic year 2007-2008, African students and Staff of the University organized a very exciting African night. We know this because we could hear testimonies from various people who shared this experience. It created the feeling of joy and fear within many of us who were asked to prepare this event for the 2008-2009 academic term. On the one hand, we were joyful to learn that, in the spirit of sharing cultures and traditions in which all UPEACE community members learn from each other, our fellow Africans were very successful. On the other hand, to organize the same event after this big success was challenging to us, because we knew that many members of this community who have shared last years success would be expecting something great, or even greater, than what they saw and this was not an easy thing to do. The year 2009 brought interesting realities though. The decision to include Middle East students is one positive example. Our African ancestors say, “a single head does not advise itself, but it helps itself become a fool” and “there is strength in numbers”. The whole UPEACE community had been waiting for so long, and this day was not coming. The DIPS students had to leave Costa Rica before this day, with much regret of course and we were sorry for that, but finally came April 17, 2009, the day that would mark the last big event of its kind for the academic year 2008-2009 at the University for Peace. Indeed, Upeacers were still talking, with much remembrance, about the wonderful Thanksgiving, Asian Night, and European Night, but now all the eyes were open and happy to finally enjoy the AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST NIGHT 2009. In the morning of April 17, African and Middle Eastern students appeared in their nice white T-shirts that attracted the attention of many other members of UPEACE. The message was: AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST, THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION: UNITED FOR PEACE. Undoubtedly, there was unity for peace. The belly dance performed by our friends from the United World College was completed by various African and Middle Eastern dances from Soudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rwanda, Mali, Cameroon, Jordan, Uganda, Iraq, etc. The most interesting thing was that this day turned out to be an international night. Indeed, various men, including Asians, Americans, Europeans, etc, looked like Touaregs from Niger in their long white dresses with nice veils; beautiful ladies from various countries performed a Rwandan dance in their nice Imishanana (Rwandan traditional outfit), and nobody will forget the attractive fashion parade that included several nationalities, guests, students, and staffs in their African and/or Middle Eastern clothes. That was the real picture of UPEACE dream. No more Greek, no more African, no more Latino(a), no more ... no more ... but all united as ONE. FOOD, FOOOOOOOOD, FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!! After enjoying delicious Afro-Middle Eastern cuisine, the whole community met in front of the UPEACE cafeteria where we danced until late at night. We had nothing to fear as the UPEACE administration together with Africa/Middle East Night organizers had worked hard to make everything successful. THAT WAS A REAL DAY TO REMEMBER. VIVA UPEACE!!!
Jean Bosco Habyarimana, MA in Peace Education Candidate and
Member of the Organizing Committee for the Africa/Middle East Night 2009
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Open mic in Ciudad Colón
On Friday, May 8th, UPEACE students hosted their final open mic night of the semester in Ciudad Colon. For two hours, students and local ticos shared music and poetry under the open theater -- the Mercado Viejo -- in the center of town. We moved to the beat of Nikki's drum, a constant in both the practiced and serendipitous acts that carried us through the night. A group of blues-loving students, staff and significant others calling themselves "Not the Band" performed both original and cover music. Students brought their guitars, their stories and their hearts, and we listened to the personal and cultural expressions of men and women from all over the world, in some cases, in their mother tongue. The eager (and impressive!) participation of local youth sharing pop music and Christian reggae showed us that all they needed was a stage. We hope that next year, students will work again with La Casa de La Cultura to provide this open space for the UPEACE and Colon communities to come together and share a "peace" of themselves.
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Former UPEACE Student Participates in an International Conference in Latvia
Marcos Estrada de Oliveira, current member of the Brazilian Institute of Education for Life, IBEV, a former UPEACE student, participated in the 7th International JTEFS/BBCC Conference “Sustainable Development. Culture. Education.” between 5th and 8th of May 2009, at Daugavpils University, in Daugavpils, Latvia. This event gave him the opportunity to present some of his work carried out at UPEACE during the academic year 2007/08. He presented the poster “ENSI’s Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools” as the School Self-evaluation Tool, he also coordinated the workshops “Boundary crossings: the interaction of the Earth Charter” and “Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools,” as well as presenting a paper entitled “Education for Sustainable Development within the Formal Curriculum in Costa Rica: The Example of Earth Charter Materials in Primary Schools."All of this work was developed in the context of his research project, part of his master programme in Peace Education, while interning at the Earth Charter.Marcos described the conference as “a unique experience”. It was not only an opportunity to show “fruits of UPEACE”, but also to exchange ideas and acquire more knowledge related to sustainable development practices. Besides that, it was an opportunity to reconnect with Marina Bakhnova-Cary, Earth Charter Coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, and to meet Dmitry Savelau, Youth International Education Club NEWLINE/The Earth Charter Youth Group in Belarus, who led the workshop on “Global Citizenship for Sustainable Development”. Amongst the participants there were students from Daugavpils University and members of the Earth Charter, whose participation was outstanding. They attended all the days of the conference, presented their research, and participated in the evening activities. The Earth Charter had a substantial representation, and the participation of different actors served to further spread the Earth Charter values of sustainable development.
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Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun receives the Elizabeth Haub Award for Environmental Diplomacy
Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, Vice Chair of the UPEACE Council, has been selected as the 2007 Laureate of the Elizabeth Haub Award for Environmental Diplomacy, established by the Pace University School of Law and the International Council of Environmental Law, in honor of Elizabeth Haub, a noted philanthropist and enthusiast for conservation. The award recognizes “a positive contribution to the development and promotion of international law and policy in a general way” or “particular practical accomplishment in a specific instance: a new idea or initiative leading to a new concept in the field of environmental law and policy of one or several countries, and particular initiatives in this field”. Amb. Sahnoun has been recognized with the award because of his participation in the negotiation of several agreements crucial to the environment and sustainable development.
Visiting professors
Jacobo Schifter
Jacobo Schifter has a PhD in History from Columbia University, 30 years of work experience in different universities (Columbia University, Emory University, Marymount Manhattan College, Universidad Nacional, Universidad de Costa Rica, Universidad Autonoma de Centroamerica and Universidad para la Cooperacion Internacional) and hashe also directed the PhD in Philosophy at Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica. He have has had more than 20 books published, 9 of published them in English by Routledge, University Press of America and the Haworth Press. At the moment he works in investigation in Cid Gallup and give teaches classes in at the Universidad de Costa Rica on genocide and doctoral theses.
Helena Alviar holds a Doctorate (SJD) in Economic Law and Gender, and an LL.M., both from Harvard University. She is a lawyer from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and is currently the Director of the Masters and Doctorate Programs in Law at the Faculty of Law of this University. Additionally she teaches “The Theory of Private Law”, “The Theory of Public Law”, “Legal Theory”, “Law and Development”, and "Administrative Law ". She frequently teaches at other universities such as Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), the University of Puerto Rico, and Harvard University, teaching the mentioned courses. Selected and forthcoming publications are: “Aproximaciones Feministas al Derecho Comercial” (Revista de Derecho Privado, No. 27, Uniandes Ed., Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, diciembre de 2001); "The Relationship Between Modernization and Law in Colombia During the First Half of the Twentieth Century", and "The Influence of Leon Duguit in the Colombian Constitutional Reform of 1936".
Fernando Chang-Muy
Fernando Chang-Muy is the Thomas O'Boyle Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law where he teaches Refugee Law. He also teaches Non profit Management at Penn’s Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice with a focus on strategic planning and governance. He has served as Legal Officer with both the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Program. Before joining the UN, he was a staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia serving as Director of the Southeast Asian Refugee Project, providing free legal aid to low-income people in Philadelphia. He is also past founding director of the Center for Survivors of Torture, a project of Lutheran Children and Family Services, established to serve newcomers fleeing human rights violations.
Dr. Swaran Singh is Associate Professor with the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), President of the Association of ASIA Scholars (South Asia Chapter) and, Member, Asian Scholarship Foundation's Regional Review Committee for South Asia. He has been Visiting Scholar/Professor at UPEACE, Beijing University, Hong Kong University, University of the Philippines, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Shanghai Institute of International Studies, and served as faculty at the Centre de Sciences Humains and Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (New Delhi).
Dr Singh had organized two international conferences in New Delhi in collaboration with UPEACE on 'Education for Peace and Conflict Resolution' (2004) and 'Curriculum Development for Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies Foundation Course' (2005) that have since been followed by UPEACE expanding its linkages in South Asia. At JNU, Dr Singh teaches Masters Courses on (a) Introduction to Peace and Conflict Resolution, (b) War and Peace in Nuclear Age, and M.Phil courses on (a) Strategies of War and Peace, (a) India and Disarmament, and (c) Science, Technology and National Security. Dr Singh has already supervised 8 PhDs and 18 M.Phils and he regularly lectures at several military and academic institutions both in India and abroad. Dr Singh has authored, amongst others, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Initiative, (Bangkok, 2007), China-India Economic Engagement: Building Mutual Confidence (Delhi, 2005), China-South Asia: Issues, Equations, Policies (Delhi, 2003) and China's Changing National Security Doctrines (Delhi, 1999) and Limited War (Delhi, 1995). He co-authored Regionalism and South Asia published by SIPRI (March 2007) and edited China-Pakistan Strategic Cooperation: Indian Perspectives (Delhi: Manohar, 2007).
Ratna Kapur
Ratna Kapur is the Director of the Centre for Feminist Legal Research and a lecturer at the India Society of International Law. She recently served as the Senior Gender Advisor to the United Nations Mission in Nepal and is also on the faculty of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Kapur has published and taught extensively on human rights and international law, feminist legal theory, and postcolonial theory. Her latest book is Erotic Justice: Law and the New Politics of Postcolonialism (Cavendish: Glasshouse Press, London, 2005). She has another book forthcoming on migration and law entitled The Fear Factor: The Politics of Migration and the Power of Law I (forthcoming, Routledge, 2009).
Matthew Norton
Matthew Norton received his Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford. He is a PhD student in the department of Sociology at Yale University, and a Junior Fellow of Yale’s Center for Cultural Sociology. He was the director of the International Peace Studies Master’s degree programme at the University for Peace from its launch in 2003 until 2005. Prior to joining UPEACE he taught courses in Conflict Resolution at the Universidad del Azuay in Cuenca, Ecuador, was a coordinator for a disaster response effort with Habitat for Humanity, has been involved in programmes targeting social and urban violence with a focus on youth, programmes supporting children with physical disabilities, and he has worked in school and residential settings as a counselor for “severely emotionally disturbed” children.
Kaveh Khoshnood
Kaveh Khoshnood, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale University. Prof. Khoshnood is an infectious disease epidemiologist and his primary research interests are the epidemiology, prevention, and control of HIV and Tuberculosis among drug users, prisoners, and other at risk populations in the United States and in resource-poor countries. Professor Khoshnood mentors researchers from China, India, Russia, and South Africa in HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis related research. Professor Khoshnood's other interests are the examination of the links between health and human rights and the ethical dilemmas in research involving vulnerable populations.
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