The Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, traveled to Jordan and Oman from 22-31 January. In Jordan Mr Gounden held meetings with ACCORD Trustee Professor Jairam Reddy, who is the Director of the United Nations University’s International Leadership Institute, and other individuals from the Institute to look at possible future synergies.
Mr Gounden then traveled to Oman where he conducted a conflict management and leadership training at the American British Academy (ABA) based in Muscat, Oman. The training formed part of an annual Peace Education Symposium which is hosted by the ABA. This was the third year that the Symposium had been held. The two and a half day training was attended by approximately fifty (50) students aged between the ages of 15 and 17 years old representing about nineteen nationalities. The students were drawn from the American British Academy, Muscat; the American School of Barcelona, Spain; the American School of London, United Kingdom; the British International School of Kuwait; the British School of Muscat and the American International School of Muscat. The training covered topics such as current and future conflict trends; analyzing conflict; methods of dealing with conflict; decision making; looking at the role of leadership in the 21st century and negotiation skills.
While in Oman Mr Gounden also presented a public lecture to a wide audience on the topic “Africa: Destination for conflict resolution or investment?” as well as conducted presentations at the Oman Ministry of Defense on “Security in the 21st Century: Imperatives for the Military” and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Training Institute on “Small country diplomacy in a new World Order”.
Mr Gounden was President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) at the University of Durban-Westville (South Africa) during the State of Emergency in 1985/6. He also served as a consultant to the Commonwealth Gender and Youth Division where he trained Parliamentarians, women and youth groups in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. In 2000 Mr Gounden was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader for Tomorrow.
