Call for applicants: strengthening policy and practice in peacebuilding

Join conflict transformation specialist Dr. Simon Fisher in Nairobi to strengthen your conflict management skills and apply them to your practical work. Image: Peace Direct

Conflict management demands much more than a template strategy. Success depends on the strength of peacebuilders to meet the unforeseen challenges of each case.

The knowledge bank for this is inexhaustible, and collaboration among peacebuilders to cultivate the right tools for the job is vital in order to meet the complexities of modern conflicts.

Therefore, Peace Direct is inviting 16-20 professionals working in development, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding to join us on a course to examine the links between policy and practice in conflict-affected contexts.

Five days of interactive training, led by the conflict transformation expert, Dr. Simon Fisher, will draw on the experience and practice of professionals in the field.

Through collaboration, in-depth discussion and practical exercises, this course will equip you with the tools to analyse conflict contexts and apply them to your practical work.

How the course will benefit your work

As a participant you will:

Explore the relationship between organisational mandate and the demands of working in complex, rapidly changing environments.
Deepen your understanding of peacebuilding from a conflict transformation perspective, and apply your learning directly to your own work.
Learn how to apply appropriate conflict analysis to your own organisations and contexts.
Examine issues relating to aid and conflict in order to develop conflict sensitive policies for their organisations.
Consider the key policy and practice issues relating to the prevention of violent conflict and peacebuilding.
Strengthen your competence in proactively contributing to the development of appropriate policies and best practices when working in environments affected by conflict or violence.

About the course

The Strengthening Policy and Practice (SPP) course has been run by the UK-based organisation Responding to Conflict for over 20 years. In 2016 Responding to Conflict became the training arm of Peace Direct.

The Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) has been running the SPP course with Responding to Conflict for almost five years.

Since its inception it has proved to be an extremely popular course, teaching participants the latest tools and techniques for analysing conflict contexts, while drawing on the skills and experience of the training participants.

Your lead facilitator/trainer: Dr. Simon Fisher

Dr. Simon Fisher is a conflict transformation specialist with extensive global experience in education, development and conflict transformation in Africa, Europe and Asia. He has worked with many kinds of organisations in over 40 countries in support of initiatives to prevent violence and build sustainable peace.

In 1991 he founded Responding to Conflict, where he was responsible for a range of conflict transformation training and support programmes worldwide. He is at his happiest facilitating the learning of people who are committed to a more peaceful and just world, and are willing to start with themselves.

Testimonials

“It was excellent to be together with different people and identify shared goals and values and to develop common strategies... and a feeling of solidarity.” Participant, Liberia

“What we learn here we can use over there. For example, how to handle conflicts, how to manage parties involved in conflicts, to do diagnosis of the root causes, and how to develop tools you can use, how to do delegations and see what the delegations stand for. We learned about how there are visible and invisible parties. I think the issue to understand the nature of conflict and the policies that are available was very valuable.” Participant, UK

Suitable For

This course is for staff of international and national agencies and those with advisory and management responsibility for relief, development, and peacebuilding programmes.

It is particularly relevant for anyone engaged in the planning and implementation of field-based programmes in fragile and conflict affected contexts, or those responsible for developing policies for appropriate responses in complex, political emergencies.

Course fee

Option 1: US$1600 (includes full board accommodation at the training centre from 9 October evening to 13 October in the morning and also tuition and resource materials).

Option 2: US $1000 (for those wishing to make their own accommodation arrangements) the amount covers tuition and resource materials.