Concept Note 

1. Background 

Identity, cultural, and ethnic pluralism is central to understanding the etiology of civil war and violent conflict in Africa. Even though diversity is not a problem by itself, it has been used as a source of disunity, weakness, and fragmentation in the continent. Most conflicts caused by diversity are often related to how policies are made and how they are handled. Accordingly, it is very important to define national identity, citizenship, recognition of cultural and religious diversity as a virtue, and a basis for constitution-making, peace building, citizenship, and legal pluralism.

2. Objective 

To build capacities of local, national and international level staff and individuals in using/transferring the attitude, knowledge and skills of peace building in the context of identity and diversity.

3. Learning Objective 

After the completion of the capacity-enhancement training programme, participants will: 

1. Be able to conceptualise and contextualise identity, diversity and peacebuilding in the African context;
2. Pinpoint strategies to deal with identity and diversity challenges in multilingual contexts;
3. Identify the roles of identity and diversity in the African peace and security governance;
4. Recognize the roles of identity and diversity in peacebuilding; and

4. Course Structure and Methodology 

The training is structured as a ten (10) day online course, intended around effective, participatory and self-reflection learning approach.

The pedagogical approach will combine lectures, practical applications through the use of case studies and group discussions. Participants admitted into the training programme should be prepared to present short technical reports on their own experience on the course theme.

5. Target Audience

Experts, Policy makers, politicians, CSOs, NGO representatives, police officers, labor officials, and university teachers.