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Download the ACTS Reflections Book

Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS)

This is a world-wide initiative offering a Masters course in Conflict Transformation which takes place at participating regional centres. It is a new, hands-on second stage programme combining practice, theory and action-research.

Responding to Conflict is developing ACTS in partnership with locally based NGOs and academic institutions. Currently there are two centres running courses, they are:

• Balkans - Nansen Centre and Novi Sad University
• Asia - Alliance for Conflict Transformation and Pannasastra University

For an application pack please visit www.globalacts.org

The possibility of regional centres for Western Europe and Africa is under consideration.

ACTS is a two year part-time course which includes practical study, advanced conflict intervention skills, theory building, analysis and strategy development, plus specialised action research into areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation which relate to the work of participants and their organisations.

The vision of the ACTS programme is of a two-year part-time course of action-research-reflection which will be

• Practical
• Flexible
• Cross-cultural
• Knowledge-and-theory creating
• Rooted in real work
• Accessible
• High quality

Throughout each two-year programme participants and a team of local and international facilitators will work together to:

• Develop new ideas and enhance practical skills for Conflict Transformation work.

• Undertake practical action-research into conflict-related issues they are facing.

• Reflect deeply on their role as agents of change.

• Examine and critique current theories of conflict transformation and social change.

• Create, develop and test new theories and approaches, based on their own experience.

• Be active members of a learning community drawn from their own region.

Content:

ACTS has a core content which will be adapted according to the context and the region in which it is being offered.

In the first year the course will, amongst much else, introduce action -research in practice and address three key topics:

• Theories of conflict: its causes and dynamics, and implications for addressing it.
• Conflict, power and change: engaging with actors, systems, structures and policies.
• Transforming Violent Conflict

The second year of the course will build on this foundation to focus in large part on participants’ own Action-Research, and the shared learning and insights that will arise from intensive exchange and interaction within the learning group.

Participants:

The course is designed for those who want to develop the skills and wider competence they need to build greater peace and justice in their own situations and countries.

Participants will be working in the general fields of peace, human rights, environment and development, or looking for ways to become engaged in these or related fields. They will normally come from civil society, including local and international NGOs, or be engaged in the public sector, security sector or the political field.

Partners:

ACTION for Conflict Transformation

ACTION for Conflict Transformation is a global network of individuals and organisations that have developed diverse and innovative approaches to resolve, transform, and prevent situations of injustice and violence. ACTION works for positive multi-level engagement in conflict situations in an effort to build sustainable peace and justice at the grassroots
level.

The ACTION network has been developed by a group of practitioners who have been sharing the learning from their conflict transformation interventions whilst also providing practical capacity-building and support to people working for sustainable peace and justice in conflict-affected areas of the world. Each member of ACTION uses a similar value-based approach to conflict transformation and peace building that is adapted to local contexts and informed by this ongoing learning process.

The ACTION network has partners and offices in Africa, Asia, America and Europe. If you would like to find out more about the ACTION programme, their partners and offices and membership of the network please visit the ACTION website www.action-global.org.

Contact details:

ACTION Support Centre (Registration number 027-156-NPO):
(and COPA Southern)
Postnet Suite #145, Private Bag X9, Melville, 2109, SOUTH AFRICA
7 Troye Cnr Marshall, Marshall Town, Johannesburg 2000
tel: +27 (0)11 331 2944, fax: +27 (0)11 331 0671
email: enquiries@actionsupport.co.za

ACTION Asia

ACTION Asia is network of individuals and organizations in the Asia continent committed to action for conflict transformation through the sharing of skills, knowledge, experiences and resources. ACTION Asia carries a vision of a world of justice and peace, where basic needs are met and dignity and human rights are respected.

ACTION Asia, which is a relatively new network in the region, has sought to bring together past participants of RTC’s Working with Conflict courses from the Asia Pacific region, to provide ongoing support, follow up trainings and to more fully contextualize learning on peace building and conflict transformation. It is the intention of ACTION Asia to include in its membership others who work for peace in the region, particularly those working at grassroots and middle levels of conflict.

ACTION Asia is also a child of the international network ACTION for Conflict Transformation.

Further information about the ACTION Asia programme can be found on the ACTION website www.action-global.org or from:

Emma Leslie – Secretariat,
Action Asia, P0 Box 2552,
Phnom Penh 3,
Cambodia,
Tel: +855 12 764097,
Email: ActionAsia@online.com.kh

Skillshare International

Skillshare International is an international volunteering and development organisation.

Skillshare work to reduce poverty, injustice and inequality and to further economic and social development in partnership with people and communities throughout the world. They do this by sharing and developing skills and ideas, facilitating organisational and social change and building awareness of development issues. Their vision is of a world without poverty, injustice, and inequality where people, regardless of cultural, social and political divides, come together for mutual benefit, living in peaceful co-existence.

Skillshare currently work with partner organisations in Botswana, Cambodia, Kenya, Lesotho, India, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. They also have a development awareness programme in the UK and Ireland. Their priority sectors are health, education, environment and economic empowerment and they address the themes of gender, HIV & AIDS, human rights and peace building across their work.

What Skillshare do

They work in partnership with locally-based non-government organisations (NGOs), community organisations, networks and government bodies to enable them to achieve their vision and facilitate broader social change in their own communities. To do this, they use a range of different tools:

• International volunteering: their development workers, short-term consultants and secondees from across the world share their skills with local colleagues. 
• Their Leadership Development Programme enhances the long-term strategic leadership capability of their partner organisations.
• They enable their partner organisations to access donors and develop strategies for financial sustainability.
• Networking enables partners to collaborate and share information, learning and best practice with other organisations.
• Participating in policy and advocacy activities enables partner organisations to advocate for positive change and influence policy.

Skillshare build awareness of development issues and influence development policy.

• Skillshare engage people in international development issues. Different people support us in different ways including campaigning, donating, fundraising and volunteering.
• They engage in NGO networks to share learning and best practice and to work collaboratively.
• They have a development awareness programme in the UK and Ireland. They work with students, professionals, organisations and networks in the health and education sectors.
• Building awareness is also a key objective of their current and returned development workers.
• They influence policy-makers through advocacy and campaigning activities.

How Skillshare works

• They value the right of people and communities to determine and develop their own future.
• They are committed to collective and individual empowerment.
• They believe that working in partnership is central to effective economic, social and organisational development.
• They seek to develop strategic partnerships with other organisations, including donors and international NGOs, to combine areas of expertise and establish joint programmes.
• They have strategic partnership agreements with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Irish Aid.

         www.skillshare.org