Workshop in Applied Peacebuilding

This practice-oriented course provides an overview of the evolving, professional field of peacebuilding, as well as a critical review of approaches to working in violence-affected environments. Students in this course will be required to develop a peacebuilding project in collaboration with a partner organization with the intention of implementing it as a graduate student consultant during the summer. The instructor will provide a list of consultancy opportunities with international and domestic organizations and NGOs. Students will participate in a matching process at the start of the spring semester to determine with which organization they will work. Consultancies may be completed for internship credit if they meet MSGA requirements and receive department approval. It is expected that students returning to the MSGA program in the fall will participate in a ¿Reflections from the Field¿ event in September so that they may share their experiences and learnings with the Center for Global Affairs (CGA) community. The course will explore three intersecting themes: 1) Understanding the professional field of peacebuilding (practice paradigms and institutions); 2) Peacebuilding design skills (including conflict analysis, theories of change, project life cycles, and the use and limitations of logical frameworks); 3) Core competencies for implementation (cultural awareness/sensitivity, communication skills, various process design skills and fund-seeking). The course places emphasis on reflective practice, and both locally-led and decolonized approaches to peacebuilding. Consequently, students and the instructor will explore power dynamics of peacebuilding systems, the emerging Sustaining Peace paradigm and will consciously aim to work in ways that decolonize their own minds and practices.