Invitation to apply for a Peace Research Capacity-Building Workshop
Dakar, Senegal, 23- 26 October 2005

Deadline for nominees’ letters of application:
4 September 2005

The University for Peace (UPEACE) affiliated with the UN, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, the American University Center for Global Peace in Washington, D.C., the South-North Centre for Peacebuilding and Development are pleased to invite interested institutions or organizations to nominate a representative to submit an application to attend a forthcoming Research Capacity-Building Workshop. The workshop, sponsored by the four partners noted, will be held under the auspices of CODESRIA, in Dakar, Senegal from 23 - 26 October 2005. Only proposals submitted by people who have been nominated by their institutions or organizations will be considered.

PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP
Policy-related research is critically needed both in Africa and internationally that arises from and speaks to the particularities, needs, aspirations, and insights of persons working towards on peace in Africa. A research workshop has been planned to bring together African academicians for an intensive three-day workshop, to share and improve research methodologies for this broad purpose. Since a problem-solving dimension is central, the participating instructors, researchers, and scholars are invited to bring examples of particular research quandaries or predicaments, and practical examples and stories of how they have sought to resolve them. The research workshop is designed collectively by the four partners to identify research-methodology challenges and to share lessons and recommendations for overcoming them. Highly interactive and participative, emphasis will be placed on building human and institutional collaborative research facilities among an incipient knowledge network in Africa. Topical research questions will be confronted, for example, new developments in conducting research on root causes of acute conflict, gender and building peace, environmental degradation as a cause of strife, and non-violent transformation of conflict. Such themes are viewed as indicative under the broad umbrella of policy-relevant and action-oriented peace research in Africa.

PARTICIPANT PRESENTATIONS

Participants will give a 3-5 minute presentation on a lessons they have learned and predicaments they face in undertaking and applying research in peace building and development. The initial presentations by participants will take the group deep into the everyday problems faced by African researchers. Presentations may highlight issues including: documenting peace-building innovations in a particular locality and applying lessons to other cases; research methodologies for examining the relationships between development and peace; improving integrated applications; research approaches to encouraging critical thinking among students; research breakthroughs in understanding the links between gender and peace, improving the historiography of non-violent struggles in Africa; endogenous methods and traditional knowledge on peace building and sustainable development; and borrowing from feminist research methodologies to incorporate excluded voices and sectors.

NOMINEES’ LETTER OF APPLICATION: DEADLINE 4 SEPTEMBER 2005

In nominating a representative from your institution to apply, the individual is requested to send us a recent biographical description of himself or herself (not a CV) containing information on academic and professional qualifications, and to write a formal Letter of Application to:

CODESRIA
Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x
Canal IV, BP 3304
Dakar 18524, Senegal
Telephone: +221 825 98 22/23
Fax: +221 824 12 89
E-mail: peacebuilding@codesria.sn

Letters of application will be entertained from any nominated African academician, instructor, researcher, or scholar who is currently teaching subjects with a research component, or individuals who will in the next term begin teaching peace-related subject matter with a research dimension. Instructors in quantitative and qualitative analysis with a particular interest in incorporating peace research into their ongoing work are particularly encouraged to apply. We especially seek academicians who are already conducting policy discussions related to peace with parliamentarians and policy makers to apply. Practitioners (as opposed to academicians) who are working in areas closely related to the research questions noted here are sought. Thus, in addition to lecturers, instructors, professors, and scholars, members of NGOs and peace research institutes that are generating knowledge and conducting research will be most welcome to apply. Every effort will be made to achieve gender balance among the participants. In your Letter of Application, please also submit any technical or IT requirements you may have for your 5-minute introductory presentation. Furthermore, please indicate any dietary requirements, allergies, special needs, etc.

Criteria for participant acceptance

A maximum of thirty participants can be invited to the workshop, in order to maximize participatory and interactive exchanges. Letters of application should include biographical descriptions of your nominated candidate. Criteria for participant acceptance are as follows:

Additional information on the background, objectives, and logistical information concerning the workshop is attached to this invitation.

Your responses should reach us no later than Sunday, 4 September 2005, either by fax (+221 824 12 8990) or by e-mail addressed to peacebuilding@codesria.sn. You will be notified by Friday 23 September 2005 if your nominee has been accepted.

We take this opportunity to thank you for your continued contributions to developing the culture of peace in the world through training, research and publication.

With warm regards from the UPEACE Africa Programme Team, and in peace,

Jean-Bosco Butera
Director, Africa Programme, UPEACE

Click here to download the Concept Paper (PDF)