“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” Nelson Mandela
In our current rapidly changing environment, The Conflict Transformation across Cultures Program, CONTACT, offers a sequence of programs that allow people to study while remaining engaged with their work and family life.
CONTACT consists of three graduate units in an “add-on” approach, designed to meet the needs of both working professionals as well as those who want to pursue a non-residential graduate degree.The components are:
• Summer Peacebuilding Institute
• Graduate Certificate Program
• Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation (post certificate)
• Master of Arts in Service, Leadership, and Management (post certificate)
The Summer Peacebuilding Institute is a three-week residential educational and experiential training course that focuses on the professional development of peacebuilders. It offers core skills and practical tools for analyzing and responding to conflict in inter-group and communal life. Drawing upon the direct experiences of participants, as well as faculty, CONTACT explores ways to confront the past, intervene in the present, and create a shared vision for a secure and sustainable future.
The Graduate Certificate program starts with an additional week of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute and continues with nine months of distance learning plus one week of exposure to a post-conflict country, currently Rwanda. The Certificate has two concentrations: Civil Society Initiatives in Peacebuilding and the Psychosocial Foundations of Peacebuilding.
The 16 graduate credits earned in these programs can be applied toward SIT’s Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation or Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management.
In order to complete an MA degree, students attend on-campus courses for half a year, and then complete the Reflective Practice Phase, culminating with the capstone paper and capstone seminar. This joint program, Graduate Certificate with the MA, was developed to allow students to complement their education in conflict transformation with the theoretical breadth of a Master of Arts program.
Faces of Contact (2007)
All participants begin CONTACT with the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Each year about 25% continue on with the CONTACT certificate program, and about 10% of CONTACT certificate students enroll in the MA degree.
One of CONTACT’s main objectives is to identify and bring together visionary participants from conflict-prone regions, who will take what they learned in the program back in their home communities in order to help create a more peaceful future. In its 12 years of existence, CONTACT has trained over 650 peacebuilders from more than 60 nations. CONTACT alumni are present and noticed in the peacebuilding field through their work, achievements, and dedication.
For more information, contact the Conflict Transformation across Cultures Program by:
802-258-3433 (Telephone)
877-257-7751, extension 3433 (Toll-free Telephone in the US)
802-258-3320 (Fax)
contact@sit.edu (E-mail)
For another perspective of CONTACT, see the World Learning NOW blog at http://worldlearningnow.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/join-world-peacebuilders-in-june-2008/, and an overview of CONTACT at http://www.worldlearning.org/6708.htm.
Tags: SIT Graduate Institute
June 5, 2008 at 10:41 am |
More information on the CONTACT Program. Please note that the 2008 Summer Peacebuilding Institute has already begun.
The SIT Graduate Institute is pleased to share with you information about our programs in Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT). Started in 1997, CONTACT offers professional development, skills and practical training to professionals working around the world in diverse fields such as education, human services, humanitarian aid, psychology and social work, human rights, and sustainable development. Some skills addressed are:
• Conflict analysis and intervention
• Non-violent action
• Intercommunal dialogue
• Peace and development
• Reconciliation and forgiveness
• Training design
• Intercultural negotiation and mediation
• Grant writing and fundraising
Please read below for more information on each of the components of the CONTACT program.
Summer Peacebuilding Program
The SUMMER PEACEBUILDING PROGRAM is a rich multicultural learning community, where participants from 30-35 countries develop new skills for peacebuilding and new relationships with each other. Education takes place both in and outside the classroom as participants live and socialize together in structured and unstructured activities. The wide variety of regional, ethnic, and cultural background provides abundant possibilities for participants to deepen their proficiency in intercultural communication and peacemaking practices.
Topics of Study: Conflict analysis and interventions, inter-communal dialogue, negotiation and mediation, peacebuilding and development, healing and reconciliation, peace education, training skills, issues of global relations, and more.
The Participants: Human rights workers, non-profit and NGO middle and senior level managers, government employees, mental health professionals, educators, graduate students, etc. View profiles of previous participants and their testimonials.
The Faculty: A diverse team of international experts and active practitioners in the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation, including: Paula Green, EdD Director of CONTACT; Faculty, SIT Graduate Institute; and Director of Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, Amherst MA, USA. Tatsushi Arai, PhD Faculty, SIT Graduate Institute, USA. Kevin Clements, PhD Director, Australian Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Queensland, Australia. George Lakey, PhD Founder, Training for Change, Philadelphia, PA; visiting professor of Peace Studies at Swarthmore College, USA. Baht Latumbo, MA Director of Action Asia, Philippines. Joseph Sebarenzi MA, Adjunct Faculty, SIT Graduate Institute. USA. Paul LeVasseur, MAT, Assistant Professor, SIT Graduate Institute, USA.
Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation
Part-time with Distance Learning Components
Some of the participants who enroll in the Summer Peacebuilding Program choose to continue their studies, either with the Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation, or a combined program of the Graduate Certificate and a shortened MA at the SIT Graduate Institute.
After completing the summer program, participants who choose to do so can enroll in the Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation. This entails of two semesters of web-based distance learning with courses on conflict analysis and conflict interventions, a mid-year field seminar held in Rwanda, and a 1-3 month practicum.
The Graduate Certificate Program in Conflict Transformation at the SIT Graduate Institute is specifically designed for working professionals who want to enhance their knowledge and skills in conflict transformation but do not wish to enroll in a full-time graduate program or master’s degree. Participants include professional mediators, social workers, psychologists, educators, non-profit and non-governmental organization administrators and staff, and human rights workers from the United States and around the world.
This 14-credit graduate certificate combines short-term meetings with online learning to minimize time away from jobs and families while maintaining face-to-face contact and experiential learning. Participants may specialize in the psychosocial foundations of peacebuilding or civil society initiatives in peacebuilding.
Program Components and Courses
The program starts with a three-week Summer Peacebuilding Program in June– an intensive experiential learning program with practitioners in the field of conflict transformation from around the world.
Participants in the Graduate Certificate Program attend the Summer Peacebuilding Program and stay an extra four days beyond the regular course to meet the certificate faculty and prepare for the online portion of the program. They return to their regular jobs and peacebuilding work, and from September until May they participate in weekly online discussions of the reading assignments with their colleagues and faculty.
They meet again face-to-face as a group for a week in January (this year in Rwanda, previous years have been held in Cyprus and Bosnia) to see how specific theories are implemented on the ground. Each participant also engages in a practicum experience in which the participant creates and implements a project from start to finish under the direction of a faculty member and with the support and advice of classmates. Practicums are frequently part of the student’s regular job. These learning experiences are synthesized in a final paper.
The 14 credits earned in the Certificate can be applied further toward Master’s Degrees in Conflict Transformation or Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management.
Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation,
Master of Arts in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management
Participants who would like skills in training, organizational behavior, project management, evaluation, proposal writing and other management and technical skills can apply the credits earned in the Graduate Certificate Program to a Master’s Degree in either Conflict Transformation or Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management at the SIT Graduate Institute. The Master’s Degree requires approximately 6 months on campus following completion of the Graduate Certificate, an additional practicum experience, and an original research project. There is a separate application process and admissions criteria for acceptance into the Master’s degree portion of this joint degree program. Please see http://www.worldlearning.org/705.htm
About our Organization
World Learning, Inc. created the Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT) Program in 1997 as part of its SIT Graduate Institute to offer high quality, accredited academic programs with a cross-cultural and international focus and an experiential approach to learning.
CONTACT’s courses are taught by faculty members with vast international experience and are accredited by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Application deadline for the 2009 Summer Peacebuilding Programs is April 30, 2009. International participants are strongly encouraged to apply by April 15, especially if they need a visa. For more information visit http://www.worldlearning.org/5186.htm or write to contactprogram@sit.edu.
June 26, 2008 at 9:11 am |
[...] Brattleboro Reformer newspaper. This Summer Peacebuilding Program is one part of a three-section Joint Masters program at the SIT Graduate Institute. Following the Summer Peacebuilding Program, some participants [...]
September 3, 2009 at 6:19 pm |
Excellent site, keep up the good work