OxPeace Training Workshop: Local Peacebuilding and International Agencies: Grassroots Skills and Wisdom in Support


Cost: Students are asked to pay just £20, and non-students £50. Coffee, tea and a sandwich lunch will be provided. The workshop is being subsidized by the independent Oxford Peace Research Trust (OPRT). Applications: Please send your application, giving your name, contact details (phone, postal address, email) your present course if you are a student, a brief CV, and a short statement of why you would like to participate, to Assistant Organizer, Megan McDowell: Megan.mcdowell@hotmail.co.uk You can expect a quick reply, and when accepted you will receive information on how to pay to secure your place. Places will be capped at twenty participants. Please apply now!

While the previous OxPeace training workshops have focused on ‘Track One’ (national and international) negotiation and mediation, the objective of this new experimental workshop is to focus on the local level, where much essential peacebuilding takes place as well as much reflection ad research. It will be interactive and participatory, and will introduce participants to the work of international agencies that support local peacebuilding, impart some practical skills of local peacebuilding, and explore policy development and the operational challenges faced by practitioners in supporting local peacebuilding. Students, academic staff, and practitioners are all welcome.

Staff from the NGOs Peace Direct, Saferworld, and the Rose Castle Foundation, peace psychologist Ufra Mir, and Liz Carmichael, will give input on decolonising the peacebuilding space; conflict analysis and conflict-sensitive programme design; infrastructures for peace; the habits and practice of reconciliation; and context-sensitive psycho-social care for peacebuilders. On the Monday evening Gwen Burnyeat will present the film ‘Chocolate of Peace’, the story of the Colombian village that opted for peace and chocolate-making.