‘Now I see it differently’, said one of the participants on our four-day course on conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity in Birmingham, UK last month.
The event, designed to train and prepare civilians for crisis management missions worldwide, brought together members of EU, UN and OSCE missions in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kosovo and elsewhere.
The course gave the participants the chance to learn more about tools used in conflict and peace analysis in order to get a comprehensive understanding of conflict challenges and peace opportunities.
The course also looked at the benefits and limitations of a conflict-sensitive approach in civilian crisis management missions, including awareness-raising on important issues like gender. Using the experiences and expertise, the participants exchanged and reflected on the applicability and the results for the different mission contexts.
The course is important because it combines theory and practice in a hands-on way, and is tailored specifically to the missions and individuals involved. The last day was particularly useful, as it included a role play scenario, which offered a space for people to try out what they had learnt on the course and to reflect on this in a collegial environment.
The course was part of a capacity-building programme initiated by the EU in 2011 called Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) [5]. ENTRi is funded by the European Commission and co-funded by its 13 implementing partners, led by the Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF) in Berlin.
As one of the implementing partners of ENTRi, International Alert is leading on designing and delivering this Specialisation Course on Conflict Analysis and Conflict Sensitivity, which takes place twice a year.
To find out more about Alert’s training, visit www.international-alert.org/training [6]