Foundations of Peace Work

Who can register for this training?

• New professionals who want to work in peace and conflict work.
• Practitioners who want to refresh their knowledge and skills on the topics covered.
• Those interested in stepping into or learning more about peace work.

Depending on methods and topic of the training, we limit the number of available spaces to a manageable size (a maximum of 16 participants). Register early to reserve your place!

Content

The 6-day training is an introduction to the principles, concepts, and methods that are highly relevant for both practitioners and for those new to the peace and conflict work. Informed by the current trends and best practices, the course focuses on those aspects of the field that are crucial to understand and analyse conflict and guide through the cycles of projects and programs, which allows a high level of contextual applicability of the knowledge provided. Furthermore, it offers insights into the complexities of working in a highly dynamic field, as well as an opportunity to critically reflect one’s own positionality, motivations, and behaviours.

Objectives

At the end of 6 days, the participants will have:

• Become conversant with the key aspects, terms and concepts in the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation;
• Have practiced the use of various methods and tools, such as analyzing conflicts and reflecting on peace programming;
• Gained insights on how to work with stakeholders/actor in conflict impacted communities;
• Critically reflected on their own positionality, legitimacy, mandate and roles as peace workers.

Key questions the course will tackle

• What are the basic concepts that guide our practice?
• How do we make sense of the conflicts in our communities/regions and which practical methods and tools can we use in the process of sensemaking?
• How do we make peace work more effective and impactful?
• How do we work with actors and stakeholders?
• The peace worker in focus: What is my role and how does my identity/ies impact on context I am working in?

Methodology

In this training we employ an elicitive methodology that builds on the participants’ experiences from the field and are integrated into the various practical exercises.

The overview of key theoretical concepts provides a base for orientation and guidance, however, the participants are encouraged to engage in dialogical reflections to allow for deeper or new understanding as well as connection to their own practice.

During these practical exercises and reflections, the trainers will provide a safe-space that allows participants to learn from mistakes and create small feedback loops for an optimal learning progress.

After a successful participation, participants receive a certificate and become part of the academy’s alumni network.

Visa

Participants from outside the EU will need a visa to enter Germany. We can generally support the visa process with a formal invitation letter from our side. Be advised that it takes a significant amount of time to get the visa processed, so be sure to start the process 8 weeks before the training start. Please make sure you are eligible and check the specific requirements and usual timeline for processing with your local German embassy. The responsibility for obtaining the visa lies with each of the participants themselves.