CMI and its partner organisation Masarat are jointly launching a Peace Innovation Challenge in Palestine. We are looking for new approaches to strengthen women’s engagement and to provide a platform for cooperation.

Women in peacemaking is one of the focus areas of CMI’s global programme. We want to find new approaches and ideas for strengthening women’s engagement and contribution to peacemaking. For this reason, we are launching a Peace Innovation Challenge in Palestine together with Masarat– The Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies.

To foster a new generation of peace-builders, creative thinking and broader participation are needed. CMI hopes that the Peace Innovation Challenge will bring added drive to ongoing peace processes and enable new actors to participate. Later this year, the Peace Innovation Challenge will be launched in Ukraine also.

For the teams attending, the challenge is an excellent opportunity to develop skills and showcase their work. The ten most promising teams will get to further develop their ideas with mentoring from leading experts. The deadline for submitting proposals is 20 August, and the most promising innovations will be announced in October. The value of the challenge award is USD 10,000.

Further information can be found on the Peace Innovation Challenge website: www.innovationchallengepalestine.org

More about Masarat  – The Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies: www.masarat.ps (in Arabic)

FINCENT hosted the NATO and United Nations High Level Comprehensive Protection of Civilians course development workshop in Santahamina, Helsinki 17 -21 June 2018.

FINCENT together with Peacekeeping & Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) is developing a new course that will be piloted at the beginning of October 2018. During the workshop participants worked on course lessons plans and developed instructional materials as well as finalized work plan including responsibilities. Workshop participants were from different international organizations NATO Headquarter Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (NATO HQ SACT), Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence (CCOE), Peace organisation PAX, International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), PKSOI and FINCENT.

Read more at FINCENT

The Finnish Defence Forces International Centre and Laurea University of Applied Sciences organized the workshop “Understanding the Conflict in Central African Republic” at the Crisis Management NOW-event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17th of May in Helsinki, Finland.

Objectives of the workshop were to deepen the understanding of conflict analysis and comprehensive crisis management approach. The material was based on the EU Horizon 2020 “Improving the Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention” (IECEU) research project and, more specifically, the deliverable 3.3. Central African Republic research report results. The workshop integrated the research findings into practice in an innovative way by establishing an interactive environment for participants to build conflict analysis capacities.

Read more at FINCENT’s homepage.

Within the framework of the ENTRi project, CMC Finland together with ENA (École nationale d’administration) will organise a Training of Trainers course in Ramallah on 17-19.9.2018.

Successful crisis management, stabilisation and peace support missions rely on the availability of well-prepared experts who can transfer their knowledge and skills to their colleagues and counterparts, who in turn depend on high quality training activities designed for specific purpose. This course recognises that training is critical to the achievement of successful operational outcomes.

The key objective of this course is to build in-mission capacities for training purposes, to enhance the ability of missions to adapt to the steadily changing capacity-building requirements of international peace operations and to strengthen in-mission capability to deliver high quality trainings.

This training aims to strengthen the didactical and methodological skills of members of international missions in designing and delivering training courses in order to build local capacities.

Course place and time:

Ramallah, 17 – 19 September 2018

Indicative course agenda and logistical note.

Target audience:

Experts working in crisis management/peace support missions who conduct trainings and coaching sessions as subject matter experts or trainers.

Maximum 16 participants, preferably from international civilian crisis management/peace support missions (OSCE, EU, UN, etc). Experts from NGOs are also welcome to apply.

Implementing Partners:

The course is organised by Crisis Management Centre (CMC Finland) in cooperation with École nationale d’administration (ENA).

Learning outcomes:

After completion of the ENTRi ToT, participants should be able to:

• Describe how learning theories can be applied to design high impact sessions;
• Practice advanced training design skills in preparing sessions on a range of learning topics related to their training courses/sessions;
• Reflect on their own training style and their own biases towards different training methods;
• Upgrade facilitation skills in a range of participatory training activities;
• Refine the delivery of course material based on the guidelines in the ToT Participants Manual relevant to their area of expertise;
• Identify course design methods applicable to their training needs;

Application:

The course is open for applications via the link below. Final date for applications is Sunday 8th of July.

https://www.surveymonkey.de/r/ToT_Ramallah

The selection of participants will be done by the ENTRi Secretariat.

Participation Fee:

There is no participation fee. Short-listed candidates will have to cover their own travel expenses.

Full board accommodation (in single rooms) will be provided free of charge.

Course participants from the military are required to cover their own expenses during the course, including accommodation, board and travel costs.

Commemorating the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers at the Organization’s headquarters, in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres paid tribute to the service and sacrifice made by UN “blue helmets” for the cause of peace around the world.

Since the first peacekeeping mission deployed 70 years ago, more than 3,700 military, police and civilians who chose to serve, have lost their lives.

“These peacekeepers gave their lives to protect the lives of others. We are forever in their debt, and they are always in our hearts,” said Mr. Guterres on Friday at a wreath-laying ceremony at the UN Headquarters.

Last year saw the highest number of fatalities – 132 individuals from 37 countries – for UN peacekeepers as a result of malicious acts; the highest in many years.

Read more at UN website

A “holistic approach” is needed to the address peace and security challenges in Africa’s vast Sahel region, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council on Wednesday, calling for more investment in better government, social services and youth opportunities.

Briefing Council members on when the new multinational security force established by five Sahel countries – known as the G5-Sahel Joint Force – might become operational, Bintou Keita, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that combatting terrorism and transnational organized crime, remained the major challenge.

“Let us not forget those who suffer the most, the local population – civilians – who continue to be intimidated and harassed and live in fear for their lives on a daily basis; who cannot send their children to school or have their most basic needs met, including access to food and nutrition,” he said.

Rear more at UN website.

EU ministers of defence, meeting informally in Sofia on 4-5 May, reviewed advances in the framework of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in the field of defence and discussed new projects to build further on the rapid progress made over the last two years. Following the budget proposal on 2 May which sees a 22-fold increase in EU defence spending for 2021-2027, EU High Representative Mogherini also announced her intention to present a detailed proposal by mid-June on the new European Peace Facility, an additional instrument to finance the EU’s work on defence and military operations.

Read more at EEAS homepage.

3rd Summer School
War, Reconstruction and Establishment of peace
from the roots of war to the establishment of a lasting Peace

August 30th– September 6th, 2018

(deadline for applications, July 31, 2018)

The European Center of Peace Science, Integration and Cooperation (CESPIC) of the Catholic University “Our Lady Of Good Counsel” organizes the 3rd Summer School “War, reconstruction and establishment of peace from the roots of war to the establishment of a lasting Peace”. The Summer school aims to provide a group of international graduate students with scientific pillars about roots of war, peace and issues in peacebuilding. In line with Peace Science tradition, the program is interdisciplinary involving disciplines such as economics, political science, international relations and history. Facebook fanpage created for the school is aiming at enabling students share important information, whereas The Marketing Heaven was hired to keep the profile busy due to constant promotional efforts. The Summer school is designed for graduate students with a strong interest in the scientific study of Peace that are either willing to proceed to advanced graduate studies or to become future practitioners in the field of international relations and peacebuilding. In order to favor also a fruitful and open dialogue with the faculty a small group of students will be selected. The faculty (please see the list below) is composed of world-class scholars in the field. Classes will be held between august 30th and  September 6th at the Catholic University Our Lady of Good Counsel in Tirana.

The Fit Athletic Club is organized by CESPIC (www.unizkm.al/index.php/en/research/cespic) in cooperation with: Institute of Economics and Peace (www.economicsandpeace.org) and Confronti (www.confronti.net)

Faculty
Raul Caruso, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and CESPIC – Director

Arzu Kibris, University of Warwick

Han Dorussen, University of Essex

Scott Gates, PRIO

Christos Kollias, Thessaly University

Subhasish Chowdury, University of Bath

Vincenzo Bove, University of Warwick

Tobias Böhmelt, University of Essex

Michele di Maio, University of Naples Parthenope

Roberto Ricciuti, University of Verona.

Application: please contact: cespic@unizkm.al  and send a detailed curriculum vitae and other relevant information about you. References are not required but they are welcome. Submit your application by July 31, 2018. Since a first-come first-served criterion will be also considered for selection please apply early, as space in the program is limited.

Fee: 500 euros. The fee includes lunch. A small number of grants can be provided.
Accommodation: accommodation solutions can be provided within or near the campus which is located in downtown Tirana.

Download the flyer

Download the information sheet

GAP Newsletter for April 2018 has been published. The current newsletter concentrates on upcoming Conference in Dublin  10^th and 11^th January 2019 and changes in the GAP team.

News pieces:

GAP Conference , January 10 & 11th, 2019

Evaluating the Current Game Version

GAP Illustrator Jen Pattison Presented

Major General Michael Beary – key speaker for the GAP conference

You can access the newsletter here.

“I wish we never had to mourn the loss of colleagues,” Secretary-General António Guterres said at the ceremony held at UN Headquarters in New York to remember 140 personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2017.

“But the sad fact is that people do lose their lives while serving the United Nations, and it is our duty to honour their service and sacrifice,” he said.

Of the 140 killed, 123 were military personnel; three police; and 14 civilians. They came from 42 nations.

During his remarks, he invited the bereaved families and others in attendance to join him in observing a moment of silence.

Mr. Guterres noted that over the past years, respect for those wearing UN symbols has diminished, making them a target of those who oppose peace “despite all our efforts to ensure the safety and security of our personnel.”

Continue reading at UN News