Call for application – MPSA Cohort 20

IPSS is happy to review your application and to welcome you to join a cohort of experienced and knowledgeable personnel drawn from the African Union (AU), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RM), multilateral institutions, government institutions, Non-governmental Institutions (NGOs), etc.

The Executive Master’s Degree (MA) in Managing Peace and Security in Africa (MPSA) offers experienced professionals working on African peace and security issues a unique opportunity to acquire certified and in-depth training while working in their respective organizations. The MPSA training prepares critical and reflective practitioners to lead with novelty and manage and transform complex challenges relating to peace, governance and security. We look forward to supporting you open new opportunities for your personal and career aspirations.

• Do you seek innovative approaches to addressing peace and security challenges in the 21^st century?
• Do you aspire to be a transformative leader who achieves results?
• Do you want to comprehend the intricacies of governance challenges in contemporary times and be able to respond to them with compelling insights?
• Are you a professional working in the field of peace and security in Africa? Are you interested in taking your career to the next stage?
• Do you want immersive, critical and dynamic training while continuing to work at your organization?

If your answer to the above questions is yes, then the MPSA Programme is the right educational programme for you. The application deadline is 20 May 2024, and the Programme will commence on 30 September 2024.

How to apply

Note: You will need a Gmail email account to complete the application

Step 1: Prepare the required documents listed below (in PDF)

• Passport photo (minimum 720×1280 pixels)
• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of motivation (1-page maximum)
• Copies of relevant degrees and certificates
• Official academic transcripts (Bachelor / Masters / PhD)
• Letter of consent signed by the supervisor at your organization (download here)

Step 2: Click here to fill out and complete the online application form.

Step 3: Submit your application.

Step 4: You will receive a confirmation via email. If you do not receive a confirmation letter after submitting your application, send an email to mahlet.f@ipss-addis.org to confirm if your application has successfully been submitted.

Selection criteria

Academic requirements:

• Applicants must hold a BA, BS or Post-graduate degree from an accredited institution of higher learning.
• English Language Proficiency and Certification:

1. International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
2. Alternatively, an official letter from an academic institution certifying that the English language was the medium of instruction and that the applicant has sufficient English language proficiency to participate in the programme.
3. If the applicant cannot provide proof of English proficiency as in (1 or 2), s/he will be required to take an English proficiency test at Addis Ababa University [if admitted].

Non-academic Requirements:

The applicant must preferably:

Be a citizen of a member state of the AU or an international applicant working for a governmental, intergovernmental or multilateral agency with a keen interest in African peace and security issues;

• Have at least five years of work experience in peace, security and development, democracy, governance, peace and security or a related field;
• Have an excellent command of the English language, which is the medium of instruction.
• The Selection Committee will also take into account the following factors:
• Applicant’s past and current job, position/responsibilities; including perceived professional impact applicant is likely to have on their organization after completion of the Executive Master’s programme;
• Diversity (gender, regional balance – RECs and RMs) to enable drawing participants from all parts of the continent;
• The applicant’s personal qualities: leadership skills, a solid motivation to enhance one’s professional abilities, originality, and sound academic credentials.

Please note:

Once accepted into the programme, participants will be advised on the relevant authentication formalities of their previous academic degrees and transcripts.

Cohort 20 Schedule

Session 1:        30 September – 11 October 2024
Session 2:        2 – 13 December 2024
Session 3:        3 – 14 March 2025
Session 4:        5 – 16 May 2025
Session 5:        7 – 18 July 2025
Session 6:        1 – 26 September 2025

It is anticipated that all sessions (1 to 6) will be offered online unless expressly stated

Inquiries

For further assistance regarding the application process, please contact Mahlet Fitiwi Tekle, Programme Coordinator, at mahlet.f@ipss-addis.org

N.B.

Applicants are advised to check their email spam regularly after they submit their applications.

For easy access download this documment – Here

Program Resources

• MPSA Handbook for the year 2022 – 2024
• Descriptive sheet of the MPSA

Managing Peace and Security in Africa Programme

African institutions are pivotal in addressing the continent’s peace, security, governance, and development challenges. The African Union (AU), together with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RMs), play a decisive role in maintaining peace and security in Africa. However, key institutional stakeholders often lack opportunities to enhance their technical expertise and practical knowledge and engage in cross-institutional dialogue. Against this background, in 2010, the AU, the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH entered into a tripartite agreement to enhance the capacity development of personnel working at the AU Commission, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States (MS). This is how the Managing Peace and Security in Africa (MPSA) programme was born. This Pan-African programme aims to promote advanced education anchored on understanding how African institutions function and to develop the wherewithal – technical competencies – to support these institutions.

An ever-broadening understanding of the peace, governance, security, and development nexus now means that security has become an issue for organizations that previously played key roles in development and vice versa. With the growing number of African institutions now engaged with peace, governance, and security issues, the quest to recruit and retain high-caliber professionals has grown substantially. It is expected that an increasingly sophisticated array of institutions involved in peace, governance, development, and security issues across the continent would require tailor-made and cutting-edge training and professional development programmes for existing and new staff to perform well.

Therefore, the changing complexities of peace, governance, security, and conflict management now demand that professionals engaged in the field are well-trained, properly exposed, and up-to-date to perform new tasks or address new imperatives. As an executive master’s degree, the MPSA programme affords participants to continue their work while pursuing an educational programme:

The MPSA Programme is unique. It’s most distinguishable features are:

• The course is innovative, while international best practice has served as benchmarks;
• Executive format – participants study while staying with their jobs; the course blends attendance with distance learning;
• Its curriculum responds to the peace, governance, development, and security needs of AU member states and RECs;
• The thematic focus on Africa: the diversity of African problems and African solutions are taken as the main reference and examined in great detail (rather than seeing them as particular cases of universal phenomena);
• A pragmatic, constructive, participant-centered, case-study based, interactive, and experience-oriented methodology; workshops, dialogue with experts and resource persons, as well as problem-solving and interaction among participants rather than lectures and learning from the book;
• The programme is based on an MoU signed with the AU Commission,
• The programme is based in Addis Ababa, the site of the AU, and other institutions, which makes access to experienced guest speakers for all aspects of the programme accessible;

This one-year executive Master’s in Managing Peace and Security in Africa offers experienced senior and mid-career professionals working on African peace and security issues a unique opportunity to acquire certified and in-depth training while retaining their current positions. It addresses the most pressing issues in the area of peace, governance, development, and security on the continent today from a practice-oriented perspective and understanding of the role of sub-regional and pan-African organizations in creating lasting peace on the continent. Sessions are held at IPSS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Senior and mid-level professionals from the AU and RECs, the UN and other multilateral organizations, national governments, as well as from the non-profit sector, can apply to attend this course. To-date, there is a group of more than 350 alumni of previous iterations of the programme.

Based on the above principles, the programme creates a flexible learning environment emphasizing creative thinking, problem-solving, and interrogation of assumptions and preconceived ideas. The use of case-study approach in their regional embeddedness, simulations exercise, and a variety of learning techniques makes the programme unique. Overall, the programme strives to make the learning experience engaging, relevant and forward-looking for participants. In addition to these topic-related competencies, by the end of the programme, participants will have gained valuable generic attributes and skills, most notably: situation assessment and analysis, strategic thinking and activity-oriented planning, the ability to apply ideas with research and policy context, and communication competencies, among others.