Correspondence re: Conflict Resolution

From: Tanyss Munro [tmunro@col.org] Sent: 13 August 2008 10:21 PM To: De Beer Kallie; r.roche Cc: BakerDP; fneeth; hjlang; pierrem Subject: RE: SIMILAR CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON LINE MODEL Sensitivity: Private Dear Kallie and Dr. Rosellen, Following from the last email, I should mention that the good governance area is relatively new to the Commonwealth of Learning and our focus at this time is on the local (community) level. As you have noted earlier, Kallie, the absence of civil education may be part (or even primarily) the cause of perpetual conflicts in Africa. Therefore, reaching civil society (community groups, through NGOs) directly and reaching local level government (through NGOs and/or the government) also may allow the behavioral, attitudinal and paradigm changes that are needed to sustain efforts to peace-building. The Commonwealth of Learning focuses on expanding learning opportunities through open distance education (not only on line, but also DVD, audio tape, radio, or whatever works for the target learners). Having just started projects on the ground, our focus has been public sector reform focusing on participatory, accountable decision-making processes and also women’s empowerment initaitives. However, we also worked with an NGO in the Pacific to develop a dramatized DVD and 3-part TV series (with follow up discussion activities) on witchcraft and good decision-making – a key issue leading to conflict in that region of the world. Our challenge in all of these activities, is to tailor materials to suit community people and/or government and elected representatives at the local level (that may involve people with limited formal education and limited literacy levels). To date, none of our ODL materials developed have been for purposes of on-line access, as this does not suit the particular populations with which I have worked (through partners). I am interested in both collaborative work that links our bottom up approach with others’ top down approaches and also interested in research in this area, but as yet have not identified the pertinent research questions for this area. I would be most interested in further discussing if there may be a good opportunity to work with others interested in trying to link the bottom up approach with the top down approach. Please do let me know if you think it worthwhile to further discuss, Dr. Rosellen. Best wishes, Tanyss Tanyss Munro, PhD Governance Commonwealth of Learning Suite 2300, 1055 West Hastings Street, Vancouver BC V6E 2E9 Canada PH: +1.604.775.8270 FAX: +1.604.775.8210 WEB: www.col.org E-MAIL: tmunro@col.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kallie De Beer [mailto:kbeer@cut.ac.za] Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:03 AM To: r.roche Cc: BakerDP; fneeth; hjlang; pierrem; Tanyss Munro Subject: RE: SIMILAR CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON LINE MODEL Sensitivity: Private Dear Dr Rosellen Thank you for your positive response. Please accept my apology for the rather fragmented way I am working, however, I am a traveling practitioner of distance education in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It is geographically the largest and the most sparsely populated province in SA. Consequently I am not really into research, but rather facilitating, marketing and implementing possibilities. One of the possibilities lies in the training of peacekeeping soldiers at the Lohatla military base which is the largest military facility for joint international operations before peacekeepers are deployed into Africa. Up to now we were trying our level best to get the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR in Geneva, Switzerland) Peacekeeping Operations Correspondence Instruction (POCI) academically accredited for peacekeepers. Unfortunately we are hampered by a lot of bureaucracy, but consistently submitting the required documents for eventual accredited short courses. In the meanwhile, Prof Harvey J Langholtz, former director of UNITAR POCI was informed that their College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA, can no longer drive UNITAR POCI programs as a franchise (?) and subsequently started their own institution. However, UNITAR POCI is an Open Education Resource for which anyone can enroll. (The accreditation in SA is of course another tale to be told...) The reason why I am interested in your research is that it is an academic driven venture and which could be studied by our colleagues for conflict resolution as a whole community needs project. Dr Tannys Munro at the head quarters of the Pan Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada, who drives their Governance, Conflict and Social Justice Project, is in favor of a project that could influence decision makers via a blended form of distance and e-learning methodologies. The conflict module of UNITAR POCI is partly suitable for us, but not Africanized (read customized) enough. New forms of urban conflicts, such as you have experienced in Northern Ireland, are always a problem especially in developing African states including southern Africa. Generic aspects could partly be customized. Dr Deane-Peter Baker at the Kwa-Zulu University in Natal, SA, is also interested to initiate some institute for peacekeeping. My proposal to him is to think about a virtual network of existing institutions (such as yours) and to compile a bulwark of possibilities that may be used in specific conflict regions. Because most of the African states are member states of the Commonwealth, a virtual driven project within the Pan-Commonwealth of Learning (COL) could be pursued. COL and UNESCO also work hand in glove with the Association for African Universities (AAU) and their African Council for Distance Education (ACDE). Although it sounds easier said than done, COL has at least the neutral position to drive such a sensitive discipline and also have the infrastructure to create research capacity. It is needless to think out motivations for the priority of such a virtual peacekeeping project because we are living in a world where there is virtually no peace ! Regards. Kallie -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rosellen Roche [mailto:r.roche@qub.ac.uk] Sent: 11 August 2008 04:08 PM To: De Beer Kallie Subject: RE: SIMILAR CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON LINE MODEL Sensitivity: Private Hi Kallie, Thanks so much for your emails. Can you refresh me and get me up to date on the pieces you are working on? Sounds like great stuff! Dr. R. Roche Lecturer and Research Fellow School of History and Anthropology Institute for Irish Studies Queen's University Belfast BT7 1NN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kallie De Beer [kbeer@cut.ac.za] Sent: 11 August 2008 07:39 To: BakerDP Cc: combrin; commsoff; Dominic Bryan; hjlang; pierrem; Rosellen Roche; s.isherwood; sam; tmunro Subject: SIMILAR CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON LINE MODEL Dear Dr Deane-Peter With reference to my research visits to the Queens University of Belfast and the Pan-Common Commonwealth Forum last month in London, please refer to this new development re; the former UNITAR POCI programme and contact Prof Harvey J Langholtz at their newly established Peace Operations Training Institute in the USA regarding your ideal to start up a similar institute at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. I propose that you establish a virtual duplication with a network all over Africa and specifically for our SADC region. Have a nice day. Dr Kallie de Beer Director Distance Education Central University of Technology, Free State SOUTH AFRICA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Harvey Langholtz [mailto:hjlang@wm.edu] Sent: 11 August 2008 04:26 AM To: De Beer Kallie Subject: RE: POSSIBLE MODULE Sensitivity: Private Dear Kallie, Thanks for your e-mail of last week as shown below. I am always glad to hear from you. Yes, we are all well here, and I hope you and Dorothea and your family are also well. Thank you for providing me with information on the programs offered by the Queen’s University in Belfast. I looked through the enclosure you provided, and it looked like a good program, but I don’t see the specific relevance to the courses we teach on peacekeeping. We do have one course entitled “Peacekeeping and International Conflict Resolution” which was written by Professor Tom Woodhouse of the University of Bradford in the UK. The content of that course is similar to what the Queens’ College offers, but it is closer to our needs regarding peacekeeping. Nevertheless, I would still be glad to consider further proposals or details as you might wish to provide. On a separate topic, there have been some major changes here in our institutional structure. Since 1995 we have been providing distance courses and e-learning in partnership with UNITAR. But one month ago I received a letter from UNITAR indicating that UNITAR was terminating the relationship with UNITAR POCI “effective immediately.” We are now no longer affiliated with UNITAR, but instead we now operate under the name “Peace Operations Training Institute.” We still provide all the same programs and same courses by the same authors. So far, there has been no objection from our students and our daily enrolments remain where they were during the years we operated as UNITAR POCI. I know of course that you have been one of our longest and most loyal friends and I look forward to continuing to work with you through this new organization. Best wishes, Harvey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kallie De Beer [mailto:kbeer@cut.ac.za] Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 7:41 AM To: langholtz Cc: hjlang; tmunro Subject: POSSIBLE MODULE Sensitivity: Private Dear Harvey Hope you are keeping well. I kindly enquire whether you may be interested to include the Irish example (see scanned doc with apology to letter mixes) as a possible module in UNITAR POCI. Xenophobia is a community problem that our academe has to research. My presentation on Governance, Conflict and Social Justice at the 5th Pan Commonwealth Forum (COL) in London during July has drawn a lively interest from their Canadian Head quarters in Vancouver (Dr Tannys Munro). COL, however, is much more interested how we are going to influence decision makers with our peacekeeping modules. Regards. Kallie de Beer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail is subjected to the disclaimer that can be viewed at: * http://www.cut.ac.za/www/disclaimer/email_disclaimer ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail is subjected to the disclaimer that can be viewed at: * http://www.cut.ac.za/www/disclaimer/email_disclaimer ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail is subjected to the disclaimer that can be viewed at: * http://www.cut.ac.za/www/disclaimer/email_disclaimer -----------------------------------------------------------------