On 2 October 2019, IICBA together with UNDP and other Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) partners, IOM and UN WOMEN, hosted a validation workshop for the contextualized peace education guide “Transformative Pedagogy for Peacebuilding in Ethiopia” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In attendance were 23 participants from the Ethiopian Ministries of Education, Peace and Security, and Women, Children and Youth; Ethiopian Regional Education Bureaus of Oromia, Somali, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR); SNNPR Regional Bureaus of Women, Children and Youth, and Security and Administration; United Nations Resident Coordinators Office in Ethiopia; Institute for Peace and Security Studies at the Addis Ababa University; and teacher training institutions from Oromia, Somali and SNNPR.

Since January 2019, IICBA has been working with the focal persons from the Directorate of Civic and Ethical Education on this joint project with UNDP, IOM, and UN Women, titled “Inclusive Governance and Conflict Management Support Project” (the PBF project), supported by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The PBF project seeks to improve the level of inclusiveness in governance and conflict management systems in Ethiopia through support to state and community actors. The Ethiopian Ministries of Peace and of Women, Children, and Youth are the main partners of this project.

This peacebuilding guide was first produced by IICBA in 2017 for teachers in the Horn of Africa and successfully trained over 6,000 teachers. To ensure more inclusivity and relevance to the PBF project, the guide is being revised to include contextual issues in Ethiopia and new perspectives on women, youth, internally displaced persons, and community leaders.

During the validation workshop, the updated peacebuilding guide was reviewed, reflections from Ethiopian officials were heard, and further actions regarding the publication, translation, and training of trainers was discussed.

The workshop began with briefings on the PBF project and an overview of the revised version of the peacebuilding guide. This was followed by a group discussion on understanding conflict and peacebuilding in Ethiopia. In the afternoon, Dr. Yumiko Yokozeki, Director of IICBA, paid a courtesy visit to the participants. She addressed the significance of peace for national development stating that  

“Peace is the prerequisite of economic development.”

She highlighted the pioneering role of the peacebuilding guide, which will serve as an example and inspiration for other countries to contextualize the publication to suit their national context.

Thereafter, participants reviewed the guide and presented comments on the revised content to project members. They also deliberated several aspects of encouraging ethical reflections, building peacebuilders’ capacities, and conducting training and assessment. The workshop concluded with overall reflections and plans for translation and a training of trainers, which is expected to take place in the coming months between November 2019 and May 2020.

Check out the original 2017 Transformative Pedagogy for Peacebuilding Guide here: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261349