Strengthening Research, Education and Advocacy in Conflict, Peace and Development Studies

Project title: Strengthening Research, Education and Advocacy in Conflict, Peace and Development Studies in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Background

Conflicts hamper both democratic and economic governance as well as social development. South Asia, especially Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan has been the hot-spot of conflicts of various natures in recent time and there is an urgent need to understand the nature of conflict for their peaceful resolution. In Nepal, the people’s movement of 2006 officially ended a decade of old Maoist insurgency and brought hope for new politics in Nepal.

However, ensuing political processes so far have failed to deliver results. In Sri Lanka, although the protracted civil war has come to an end, there are a number of interrelated issues linked to democratic governance, human rights, internally displaced people and post conflict development that need to be sorted out peacefully. Pakistan has been hit hard by conflicts and strife in the last decade.

More than 40% of the population is living in deep poverty, the literacy rate is low and the overall security situation is alarming. Most public institutions are weak and often do not meet the needs of law and order in the country.

For these countries there is a need to develop required human resources in the field of conflict, peace and development studies to contribute to democratic peace and the promotion of economic governance in the region.

Strengthened universities for peace and development

The project is a cooperation between three universities in South Asia with the aim to develop education and research capacity with assistance from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in teaching, curriculum revisions, supervision of master and PhD candidates and research.

Academic staff at the partner institutions will strengthen their research and teaching capacity through upgrade of PhD qualifications and Post-doctoral research.

The partner universities will establish a two year multidisciplinary regional master program in conflict, peace and development studies and collaborate on joint research projects related to regional issues of conflict, peace, governance and gender.

Curriculum  based on local experiences

Curriculum will include theoretical and practical knowledge on conflict and peace studies, human rights, peace negotiations, security, personal transformation and resilience thinking.

However, it will be developed based on local evaluations and peer-review amongst the partners, where each partner provide local input on local or global literature according to the realities faced by stakeholders on the ground.

This will be merged into a common curriculum, enabling regionalization as well as south- south learning. These are societies with different type of conflicts, and also with different traditional responses, adding valuable knowledge of local conflict factors to the curriculum.

Key goals and achievements

Overall goal

Human capacity building for a peaceful, democratic and just society in South Asia. This will be achieved through strengthened capacities of higher education institutes in conflict management, peace building and democratic & economic governance with a view to assist the rebuilding and long-term development of communities and regions affected by conflict in South Asia.

The objectives of the project are

1. More and better qualified master graduates on Conflict, Peace and Development Studies (CPDS) in South Asia.
2. Capacities for more and better research, education and outreach services built on conflict, peace, governance and gender in higher education institutions of Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.