Digital peacebuilding

Harvesting the power of emerging technologies for peace and social justice.

Early Bird: 450 € when booking before 28 August 2023

Registration Deadline: 9 October 2023

Due to technical difficulties, the system currently reports in some cases that the course is fully booked.
But there are still places available in this training. If you encounter this problem, please contact us: academy@forumzfd.de.

Who can register for this course?

The course is designed for

• practitioners without prior experiences working at the intersection of digital and peacebuilding interested in exploring the potential of emerging technologies and digital tools to strengthen their work.
• practitioners with prior experiences working at the intersection of digital and peacebuilding who want to deepen their knowledge, gain new insights, and explore a wide range of emerging technologies and digital tools to broaden their toolbox and widen their strategy options.

Depending on methods and topic of the training, we limit the number of available spaces to a manageable size (a maximum of 20 participants). Register early to reserve your place! 

Content

In all spheres of life, we witness an ever-increasing use of innovative technologies, digital tools, and online spaces. These developments increasingly impact on conflict dynamics. They often exacerbate existing divisions in society and intensify violence. But they also offer new and exciting ways to address violent conflict, shift the power to more locally owned peacebuilding agendas, and allow practitioners to scale interventions even when resources are scare and spaces for meaningful peace work are shrinking.

This training focuses on the immense potential that emerging technologies and digitalisation bring to the peacebuilding and conflict transformation field. Learning from concrete examples from all around the world, participants will explore the added value of embracing emerging technologies and digitalisation throughout the project cycle. Open-source early warning applications, drone-supported mapping processes of recourse conflicts, and virtual and interactive memory spaces are just some of the interventions that participants will get to know and learn from.

Objectives

By the end of the seven weeks online course participants will…

• ...have a sound understanding why emerging technologies and digitalisation are essential components of any conflict transformation and peacebuilding approach in the early 21st century.
• ...have explored the potential digital peacebuilding concepts offer in an environment of online misinformation, limited resources, and shrinking spaces for constructive civil society engagement.
• ...have been introduced to concrete examples of how innovative technologies and digital tools have been used by peacebuilding practitioners, identifies their strengths and weaknesses, and assessed their relevance and adequacy for various conflict contexts.
• …have shared their experiences within the group and engaged in peer/comparative learning processes.
• ...have explored first steps to move conflict transformation and peacebuilding online and know about free/cost-effective resources that can help them to get started.

Key Concepts

• Tech-based and digital approaches in conflict analysis and early warning
• Tech-based and digital approaches in conflict transformation, training, and campaign work
• Tech-based and digital approaches to documentation and memory work

Methodology

During the course, participants use a variety of tools, including a digital learning platform, a video conferencing tool, and an online whiteboard. Participants should therefore have a good internet connection (1 Mbit down/upload or better). A headset is highly recommended.

In order to make efficient use of the limited time during the live sessions, it is essential that participants familiarise themselves with each week’s learning material prior to the actual session. This includes reading assignments, audio and video material, and sometimes exploring software/platform options.

Workload

Deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: Active engagement with the key readings and other teaching material provided on a digital learning platform.
• Deliverable 2: Active participation throughout the course; i.e. in the plenary discussion, in break-out sessions, and during assignments.
• Deliverable 3: Hand-in a three-page essay on key aspects when emerging technologies and digitalisation meet peacebuilding and conflict transformation efforts (list of topics will be provided during the first session).
• Deliverable 4: Conceptualise and present an own intervention using new insights from this course for a conflict situation, participants are familiar with.

After a successful participation, participants receive a certificate.

Total expected weekly hours: 5-6 hours per week

Schedule

Technical Introduction on 19 October 2023 from 09:00 to 10:00 CET
Online Live Sessions from 23 October 2023 to 4 December 2023, every Monday from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST/CET