Training course Peacebuilding and Local Governance

12 - 23 May 2014. Barcelona, Spain

+INFO:  thehagueacademy.com

The Hague Academy for Local Government has announced it will organise a training course on Peacebuilding and Local Governance from 12 to 23 May 2014 Barcelona, Spain. The course is designed for staff of bilateral donors, multilateral agencies and NGOs, and civil servants working for ministries and local governments, who wish to be well-informed about the local dimensions of peacebuilding in fragile states.

After violent conflict, local governments face enormous challenges. For stability and development, it is necessary to improve and maintain citizens’ security, integrate internally displaced persons or ex-combatants into the local community and overcome existing divisions within the society. Citizens will also need access to basic services – such as roads, water, schools and health care – and tangible economic opportunities. Finally, local authorities will often need to regain the trust of their populations.

These issues and challenges for peace building at a local level will be addressed in this two-week course. The course considers cases from Afghanistan, Burundi, South Sudan and the Balkans, applies theories and concepts to the local context of the participants, and discusses the impact of donor interventions on peace and stability.

The course aims to help participants to:
analyse the state of local governments and the local political economy in fragile countries;
judge the impact of local governance and decentralisation on realising a sustainable peace and building state legitimacy;
design and implement initiatives aimed at strengthening the capacity of governments;
cooperate and coordinate with local governments, the private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders in peacebuilding and reconstruction programmes

The application deadline is 14 March 2014.