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KAIPTC partners PRIF and IPSS to host workshop on ‘coercion’ in peacebuilding 

General News KAIPTC partners PRIF and IPSS to host workshop on coercion in peacebuilding
OCT 5, 2022 LISTEN

An international research workshop on coercion in peacebuilding is underway in Accra, Ghana.

The workshop put together by the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) is being hosted by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC).

The international research workshop was to create a space for exchange on the role of coercion in peacebuilding.

About 35 international researchers are attending the workshop as participants to share and discuss insights from Africa from an interregional perspective.

Delivering a welcome address on day one of the three-day workshop, the Commandant of KAIPTC, Major General Francis Ofori expressed his delight, insisting that programmes geared toward lasting peace for the African continent are very important.

In his address, the Commandant emphasised that it is important for participants to share ideas for the goals of the workshop to be achieved at the end of the day.

“The idea to build lasting peace in the African continent has necessitated this very important three-day workshop. This quest will however come to nothing if we fail to share experiences and harness our collective efforts at conceptualizing coercion, and the role of coercion in peacebuilding, focusing on interventions by traditional actors, non-traditional actors, and regional organizations in peacebuilding,” Major General Francis Ofori shared.

Major General Francis OforiMajor General Francis Ofori

He continued, “The outcome of this three-day workshop will draw on the experiences of the international researchers, who have been invited to share and discuss insights from Africa in an interregional perspective.

“The outcome of the three-day workshop will be shared with key actors in peacebuilding. I will therefore urge all participants to participate keenly in all the deliberations.”

In his concluding remarks, Major General Francis Ofori expressed gratitude to Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) for partnering with KAIPTC to organise the workshop.

On her part, the Head of the Research Department at PRIF, Dr. Sabine Mannitz stressed that it is necessary to organise such a workshop to try to understand the role 'too much' or 'too little' coercion plays in peacebuilding.

She said at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, they believe it is an area that deserves more attention to inform decision-making on peacebuilding going forward.

Dr. Sabine MannitzDr. Sabine Mannitz

“One of the prospective we find promising in order to find out why peacebuilding maybe won’t just work or fail in some instances is that there might be too much coercion or maybe also too little coercion. So we think that this is an aspect that deserves more attention in order to find clues about peacebuilding that actually works,” Dr. Sabine Mannitz told journalists on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the workshop.

She said the workshop seeks to discuss experiences from different fields, listen to practitioners and scholars, and then assess the landscape.

At the end of the workshop, Dr. Sabine Mannitz is hoping that collaborations will be created not just in the three days of the workshop but also in the future.

Sharing some remarks, Associate Professor at Addis Ababa University at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Prof. Bamlaku Tadesse Mengistu indicated that he is filled with pleasure to be participating in the workshop on behalf of IPSS.

Prof. Bamlaku Tadesse MengistuProf. Bamlaku Tadesse Mengistu

He said he is convinced that the workshop is of great importance and will create grounds for a debate on a topic that is very relevant to peacebuilding on the continent.

Prof. Bamlaku Tadesse Mengistu intimated that he is hopeful the workshop will contribute to a peaceful and stable Africa.

The workshop dubbed “The Role of Coercion in Peacebuilding: Insights from Africa in an Interregional Perspective” commenced at the KAIPTC on Wednesday, October 5, and will be closed on Friday, October 7.

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More about the workshop:

The workshop is organised in thematic panels allowing for an in-depth discussion of underlying research perspectives and ideas.

The first panel brings together scholars who work on varied aspects of coercion in peacebuilding using different theoretical and methodological approaches and aims at conceptualizing coercion.

The second and third panel takes coercion into view by drawing from empiric case studies. The fourth panel focuses on regional organizations in peacebuilding, and the fifth panel is dedicated to non-traditional or new state actors in peacebuilding.

The latter three panels analyse the approaches of these new or nontraditional actors in how they differ from interventions by traditional peacebuilding actors and, in particular, they discuss the role of coercion in interventions of these actors.

All participants will provide short discussion papers prior to the workshop. Every panel will have a chair who guides the session.

Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo
Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo

JournalistPage: EricNanaYawKwafo

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