The General Manager for Programmes at ACCORD, Ms. Pravina Makan-Lakha, will be attending the UN affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE) Africa Programme Consultative Meeting, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 26-29 March 2007. The meeting will assess the impact and direction of future programme activities now that the initial five-year development phase of the Africa Programme has been completed.
The Africa Programme was launched in 2002 following wide consultations across Africa to define the needs, aspirations and obstacles to developing an African programme for education for peace.
As determined in the charter of the University, and endorsed by the UPEACE Council, the mission of the University for Peace is: “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate co-operation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.”
The wider mission of the University should be seen in the context of the worldwide peace and security objectives of the United Nations. The charter of the University calls for UPEACE “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”.
The vision of UPEACE is to become a network of collaborating centers and activities in different regions. The network is being created through cooperative arrangements with partner universities, NGOs and other partners focusing on academic and training programmes that address the fundamental causes of conflict and methods of conflict transformation through a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. ACCORD is a part of this network, due to its training programmes in conflict management and transformation, and will participate in the consultative meeting as a partner of UPEACE in the drive for capacity building in peace and conflict studies in Africa.
The meeting aims to map out with partners the strategies for UPEACE future action in Africa over the period of the next five years, and seeks to achieve three major objectives:
- Assess the action of the Programme over the initial planning phase and identify the strengths and weaknesses encountered during the phase.
- Formulate a draft plan of action and Programme priorities for the next five year phase.
- Enhance the active contribution and involvement of the partners in the network.
For further documents and information on the Africa programme, please consult the following website link: http://www.africa.upeace.org/rcmd/
