Graduate Certificate Program in Conflict Transformation
Part-time with Distance Learning Components
www.sit.edu/ contact
The Graduate Certificate Program in Conflict Transformation at the School for
International Training (SIT) is specifically designed for working professionals
who want to enhance their knowledge and skills in conflict transformation but do
not wish to enroll in a full-time graduate program or master's degree. Participants include professional mediators, social workers, psychologists, educators, non-profit and non-governmental organization administrators and staff, and human rights workers from the United States and around the world.
This 14-credit graduate program combines short-term meetings with online learning to minimize time away from jobs and families while maintaining face-to-face contact and experiential learning. Participants may specialize in the psychosocial foundations of peacebuilding or civil society initiatives in peacebuilding.
Program Components and Courses
The program starts with a three-week Summer Institute in June-- an intensive experiential learning program with practitioners in the field of conflict transformation from around the world. Participants in the Graduate Certificate
Program attend the Summer Institute and stay an extra four days beyond the regular course to meet the certificate faculty and prepare for the online portion of the program. From September until May they participate in weekly online discussions of the reading assignments with their colleagues and faculty.
They meet again face-to-face as a group for a week in January (this year in
Rwanda, previous years have been held in Cyprus and Bosnia) to see how specific
theories are implemented on the ground. Each participant also engages in a practicum experience in which the participant creates and implements a project from start to finish under the direction of a faculty member and with the support and advice of classmates. Practicums are frequently part of the student's regular job. These learning experiences are synthesized in a final paper.
Participants who would like skills in training, organizational behavior, project
management, evaluation, proposal writing and other management and technical skills can apply the credits earned in the Graduate Certificate Program to a Master's Degree in either Conflict Transformation or Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management at the School for International Training. The Master's Degree requires approximately 8 months on campus, an additional practicum experience, and an original research project.
About our Organization
World Learning, Inc. created the Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT) Program in 1997 as part of its School for International Training to offer high quality, accredited academic programs with a cross-cultural and international focus and an experiential approach to learning.
CONTACT's courses
are taught by faculty members with vast international experience and are accredited by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
See below for comments from participants as well as repots from our seminar in
Kigali Rwanda.
"After 18 years working with community and public policy conflicts it was getting more challenging to muster up the energy needed to happily face the controversy again and again. The CONTACT program was exactly what I was looking for to recharge and refocus my peace skills. I was moved beyond words by the courageousness and determination of my classmates from around the world with their daily struggle with war and overwhelming injustice. As a result of my participation in CONTACT I have a renewed commitment to conflict resolution as a vital peace building tool and am more clear about my role in bringing about a more peaceful world."
Jamie Damon, Mediator, Jeanne Lawson and Associates, Inc., United States
"CONTACT has changed my outlook in development work and intensified my commitment to work with people in conflict…I have now started advocating for peace building as a sustainable mechanism for development. In fact, I have already informed the representative of our donor agency --the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-- and United Nation Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to introduce innovations in our project designs and in their other projects in the world to be conflict sensitive and integrate peace building interventions in conflict areas as part of a sustainability mechanism because development cannot take place if peace is not in place."
Orlen Ocleasa, Community & Institutional Development Specialist, Western Mindanao Community Initiatives Project, Philippines
Comments from students during the one-week field seminar in Kigali, Rwanda:
"Tomorrow we will attend several Gacaca hearings -- modern versions of traditional community reconciliation gatherings, but these are dealing with issues a little more intense than cattle thievery. There's all sort of gnashing within the country about whether or not this is the way to address to enormity of seeking justice and community healing from the 94 genocide, but what path wouldn't be? Will report more after our experience.
After the hearings we are traveling to the western part of the country, near Lake Kivu for the geographically enthused, in an area named Kibuye that was particularly hard hit by the genocide. There is a memorial there, we will meet with people and government ministers, and a woman who's in the Rwanda Senate will accompany us. We'll spend the night in a cabin on the lake. I'll have my mosquito net." JL
"We spent Saturday morning experiencing Gacaca live. We first had a briefing by
the Coordinator of the Gacaca activities in the Gikondo district of Kigali. The
gist of his address was that after the tragedy that befell Rwanda in 1994, the
country found itself with an influx of prisoners, and had to find a way to deal
with their cases as expeditiously as possible, for "justice delayed is justice
denied." Therefore, they have resorted to Gacaca, a traditional form of restorative justice.
He gave us three phases of Gacaca which are: (1) Collecting information (2) Categorization of the crimes, and (3) The trials, The then went through some detail on the first phase which I will not go through.
After the address, he allowed some questions, and after the discussion, we proceeded to the first Gacaca session we attended. We arrived when a suspect was being cross-examined. There were nine judges, six men and three women. The suspect was a short, stocky man with shifting eyes. He answered questions from the judges and the community gathered politely, but insisted on his innocence. The judges pleaded with him to help the court and give them information that would move the case forward, but he insisted on his innocence.
The questions from the community were impressive as they tried to pin him down
on having participated in the killing of the Tutsis in his community, and
possessing a gun during that time. He pleaded innocence, and even said he and
his family hid some Tutsi during that time. Two people attested to that fact but
one claimed to have seen him committing a crime during the period of the genocide. The judges again pleaded for anyone else in the community who could have seen the suspect committing a crime to come forward and give it, but it was not forthcoming. They were keen to save the court the bother of having to continue with the same case the following week.
The judges went into a private session twice. During the time the judges were away, there was little discussion of the case. Instead, people just carried on with small talk to while away time while waiting for the judges to return. In the end, the verdict was that the information gathered in that session was inconclusive. The suspect was given another eight days to reflect on his case, and the community was urged to come forward and give more information. The court was then adjourned." -- JN
"The group held conversion and discussion with the two representatives from the
Gacaca commission. The group raised questions and concerns about the Gacaca courts. The representatives responded to the questions and informed us that the Rwanda Govt is facing a huge challenge to make justice done and reconciliation among victims and perpetrators. They admitted that ongoing justice process is slow including Gacaca and some weaknesses and shortcomings. " – NK
Andrew Dick
Program Manager, Conflict Transformation Across Cultures Program
School for International Training, World Learning
Kipling Road, PO Box 676
Brattleboro, VT 05302
Phone: 802-258-3433
Fax: 802-258-3320
http://www.sit. edu/contact/
[sursa e-nass]
