In December 2007, the Department of the Navy agreed to transfer two buildings to the Institute for the ETC. These buildings are adjacent to the Institute's future
headquarters site at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue.
The United States Institute of Peace is proud to unveil its new conflict management education and training program.
The U.S. military, ten civilian agencies, several international/regional organizations, and dozens of non-governmental organizations are devoting resources to post-conflict operations. However, these organizations vary widely in the training they provide, and no single entity offers joint training to reach the entire spectrum of practitioners, especially nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations (IOs).
In addition to post-conflict work, the U.S. and the international community must work more effectively to staunch the outbreak of armed conflict and engage in effective crisis management and peacemaking when violence breaks out. Even less training exists for efforts in these areas.
A program is needed in which professionals from government, the military, NGOs, and IOs, as well as pre-professionals in the academic world, can come together and receive training on core conflict management skills, as well as best practices in conflict prevention, peacemaking, and state-building. To address this need, USIP is expanding its education and training programs to prepare practitioners to work effectively in conflict zones. Drawing on USIP's twenty years of leadership in the field of conflict management, these courses will complement existing academic programs in international security and conflict management.
Participants from backgrounds as diverse as education, the military, international organizations, the non-profit sector, and international development agencies will have a unique opportunity to enjoy a common learning experience. USIP's conflict management program will respond to both individual career needs and the ever-increasing demand for conflict management professionals.
COURSE OFFERINGS
The courses offered through USIP’s education and training center will include a mix of theory and practice, with a heavy dose of applied exercises, including case studies, simulations, and practical and small group exercises. In addition, each course will include participants from a range of intellectual and professional backgrounds.
An essential aspect of these courses will be distance learning—in time, all courses will have an online component to reach much broader domestic and overseas audiences. USIP's course in conflict analysis is already offered in Arabic, and will soon also be available in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and Farsi.
FALL/WINTER 2008-09 COURSE SCHEDULE
All classes held in Washington, D.C. No tuition or materials cost, unless otherwise noted. Participants are responsible for lodging and travel, including visas. Participants will receive certificate upon completion of course.
To Request an Application: Send an email to education@usip.org with the title of the course you wish to apply to in the subject line. Qualified applicants will have a minimum of five years of relevant experience.
CORE ANALYTICAL COURSES
Preventing Deadly Conflict
Nov. 17-21, 2008
Participants will learn techniques to analyze emerging conflicts and identify opportunities for productive engagement by third parties to prevent or mitigate violence. The course will examine long-term strategies for conflict prevention (e.g. development assistance and other economic interventions, human rights promotion, governance reform), as well as tools for preventing imminent violence or halting violent conflict in its initial stages, including economic and/or legal sanctions and the threat or use of military force. The course will also explore how to maximize the effectiveness of peacebuilding operations by enhancing cooperation with governmental and nongovernmental institutions at the local, national, and international level.
Foundations of Conflict Analysis *
Dates To Be Determined
This course presents an introduction to the subject of conflict analysis, illustrating analytical tools used by practitioners through case studies and scenario gaming exercises on World War I, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The course provides analytical tools for assessing local and regional causes of conflict, potential triggers for escalation, and opportunities for productive engagement by third parties in order to prevent or mitigate violence. Prerequisite: Completion of USIP Online Certificate Course in Conflict Analysis: http://www.usip.org/training/online/analysis.html.
Introduction to Post-Conflict Strategies and Operations **
Dates To Be Determined (Notice: The dates for this course have changed.)
This course provides students with a framework for organizing and implementing post-conflict peace and stability operations based upon the end-states that should be achieved. Students will understand the critical issues that confront post-conflict interventions in achieving each end state and the overarching leadership responsibilities involved in obtaining these objectives. This is a 'hands on' course for managers to all aspects of future peace and stability operations.
Institutions of Conflict Management and How They Behave
Mar. 16-20, 2009
This course covers the missions, cultures, operating procedures, and other essential characteristics of key international organizations, regional organizations, government organizations, militaries, and nongovernmental organizations involved in peace and stability
operations.
Introduction to Peace Processes
Dates To Be Determined
The course focuses on the variety of strategies and approaches that can be employed to make peace in conflict situations. It will also cover operational aspects of peacemaking efforts, from engaging parties and promoting ceasefires to getting an agreement on track for implementation. This survey course will look at the wide range of approaches that can be taken in both track I and track II contexts. In this course, the range of peacemaking strategies, including negotiation, facilitation, mediation, arbitration, as well as more coercive strategies will be considered. Besides direct engagement strategies, the course will look at education, training, economic development, reconciliation and legal accountability efforts, and other approaches to peacemaking.
STRATEGIC COURSES: CONCEPTS, TOOLS & SKILLS
Understanding Non-Violent Civic Action
Dates To Be Determined
This course is designed to explore the dynamics of nonviolent civil resistance movements and understand implications of these movements for preventing violence and promoting democracy. Also explored is the legitimacy and role of third party (outside) interventions in support of such movements.
Engaging With Identity-Based Differences
Oct. 20 - Nov. 19, 2008 (M/W 7-9PM)
In today’s complex peacebuilding missions, civilian personnel and soldiers are routinely required to work with religious, ethnic, tribal, and minority communities. Identity-based conflicts rooted in ethnic or religious differences pose distinctive challenges for third-party mediators and other advisors. Parties to such conflicts often fear the annihilation of their group or their way of life, making them resistant to compromise or interest-based negotiations. The course will outline strategies for addressing these challenges, including countering hate speech and exclusionary policies, engaging religious and tribal leaders in peacebuilding efforts, establishing trust through intergroup dialogues, promoting educational reforms, and other measures.
Strengthening Local Capacity: Training, Mentoring, Advising
Nov. 3-7, 2008
A major task facing individuals engaged in complex operations is to build the local capacity of civil society organizations, the military, business groups, and government institutions. Well-versed as these practitioners are in their areas of specialization, they often have limited perspectives and experience in educating, training and mentoring others. This course covers the fundamentals of how to develop and transfer professional capacity in fragile states including: designing and implementing teaching and training programs; recruiting and engaging adult learners; establishing adequate and effective mentorship programs; understanding and accounting for political, social, and cultural specificities; facilitating cooperative relationships and collaborative projects; understanding and managing expectations; coalition-building with local groups and leaders; and raising controversial topics.
Cultural Adaptability in Complex Operations
Jan. 5-9, 2009
Diplomats, military officers, and NGOs alike frequently cite lack of cultural awareness as a primary obstacle to success. Participants in this course will learn about and practice culturally sensitive communication; negotiating across cultures; understanding the scope and nature of cultural differences as drivers of conflict; identifying obstacles facing organizational designs and their cultural differences; interacting with local populations; incorporating culture into planning; and managing culture shock. The course emphasizes that it is equally as necessary to understand the implicit assumptions and cues behind one’s own culture before it is possible to become truly aware of, or sensitive to, other cultures.
Negotiations from Checkpoints to High Politics
Dates To Be Determined (Notice: The dates for this course have changed.)
Whether engaging in international diplomacy or responding on the ground to a local crisis, developing successful alternatives to violence requires a firm command of the practice of negotiation. This course provides a thorough conceptual framework to help practitioners structure their efforts in negotiation, with theoretical and practical investigations of: negotiation analysis and planning; negotiating styles; "hard-bargaining" versus problem-solving approaches; interest versus positions; building relationships for negotiation; value distribution versus value creation; development and use of leverage; cross-cultural negotiations; negotiating with the hard cases; and other considerations necessary to successful negotiation.
Leading Teams in Conflict Environments **
Mar. 16 - May 4, 2009 (Monday evenings)
This course is tailored for student from different institutional backgrounds expecting to lead teams in the field. Working in conflict and crisis environments, personnel are often thrown into chaotic, ambiguous situations, where responding institutions often work at cross-purposes. Yet, increasingly, coordination and decision-making authority is being delegated to operators in the field. The goals of the course are to help student understand core leadership functions critical to working in conflict environments, and to develop the skills necessary to implement them.
Mediating Violent Conflict
March 9-13, 2009 (Note, this date has changed)
This course focuses on the objectives and methods of third-party engagement in peacemaking in interstate or intrastate conflicts. It provides an overview of international mediation in contemporary international conflict, focuses on building competence for practicing mediation, and situates mediation in a larger peacemaking or international affairs context. During the course, participants will examine: different types of intervention, including conciliation, facilitation, mediation, arbitration, and coercive measures; motivations and objectives in an intervention; means of assessing and promoting ripeness; assessing and strengthening their own institutional readiness to undertake mediation; coordination among the different third parties engaged in mediation; engaging relulctant parties; mediating in protracted conflicts; attributes and techniques of effective third parties; and best practices in support of successful third-party engagement.
SECTORAL COURSES
Security and Protection in Fragile States
Dec. 1 - 5, 2008
This course will focus on the critical nexus between different security mechanisms for state reconstruction -- the military, intelligence, police, customs and immigration agencies. The course investigates opportunities for the development, implementation and evaluation of a security blueprint for both the policy and operational levels. The course will include issues such as the role of law enforcement organizations; broad-based security sector reform; police practices and reform activity; stability police units; comprehensive enforcement of ceasefires; demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration of former combatants; protecting important sites, infrastructure, and evidence of atrocities; protection of the civilian population; secure national borders; and building effective security forces under civilian control. In addition, issues of legitimacy, accountability, cross-cultural training, capacity building, corruption, the effect of the transfer of ideologies, countering organized crime and the use of private security companies will be explored.
Governance and Democratic Practices in War to Peace Transitions
Dec. 7-13, 2008
Establishing best practices in governance in countries damaged by war and internal conflict and building environments in which democratic practices can take root is difficult, but essential. The need to support and strengthen effective and legitimate executive institutions; develop legitimate systems of political representation; and create a robust civil society to include traditionally marginalized groups is necessary in order to establish the foundation of an open and stable society. How can this be achieved in states that have collapsed? This course will distill lessons learned, and importantly analyze current troubled areas around the world in order to develop effective and practical strategies in building governance and democratic practices in war-to-peace transitions.
Rule of Law Practitioners Course
Jan. 12 - 16, 2009
Catering to the needs of practitioners of all levels of experience looking to build or refine their knowledge and skills, this course offers a comprehensive introduction to rule of law promotion in fragile and post-conflict state. Topics covered will include: reforming justice institutions (courts, prisons, prosecution, police and defense), law reform, constitution-making, transitional justice, customary justice, legal empowerment and rule of law program management.
Economics and Conflict
Jan. 26-30, 2009
In this course, practitioners will explore the analytical links between economic activity and conflict as well as the practical constraints and rewards of using economic instruments of conflict management. Course participants will grasp the importance of economic actors in triggering, perpetuating, and resolving violent conflict and will formulate the use of economic instruments within a strategic framework for economic development in vulnerable and conflict-affected states.
Enhancing Social Well-Being in Fragile States
Feb. 23-27, 2009
Building on the experiences of UN agencies, international NGOs, humanitarian NGOs, and government aid agencies, this course investigates the fundamentals of successful humanitarian assistance. It then moves beyond providing life-saving material assistance to a discussion of the longer-term needs for social well-being and development in fragile states: creating effective educational systems, promoting peaceful coexistence between parties to the conflict, dealing with refugees and displaced persons, addressing past abuses, and strengthening civil society.
* This course is offered for credit through the College of International Security Affairs at National Defense University. Standard University tuition and fees apply.
** These courses are offered for credit through The George Washington University. Standard University tuition and fees apply.
