For the past two years, the Peace and Conflict Studies Programme, situated in the Department of Religion and Peace Studies has been running a short course on Peace Building and Conflict Transformation for some government institutions such as the Uganda Police Force and the Local government. Increasingly, the participants have continued to express the desire and need for this course as a credited qualification since it is strengthening the CVs of the participants especially when they desire to join multinational Organisations such as the African Union and the United Nations among others. Consequently, the Department has been working on the development of the short course into a fully-fledged post graduate course.
To strengthen this further, following a call by Rotary International for a possible host of the Rotary Peace Center on the African Continent, Makerere University, through the Department of Religion and Peace Studies, submitted an application. After a rigorous selection process, Makerere University was rated among the possible hosts and was invited to pitch on 1st of March 2019. Having put up a convincing pitch, Makerere University was invited as one of the three bidders to submit a full proposal. On the 2nd of May 2019, the Vice Chancellor Makerere University submitted a full proposal and on the 15th of June 2019, Makerere was announced as the overall winners. Subsequently, the Makerere University-Rotary Peace Center was established.
The application to host the Rotary Peace Center in Africa was done as part of Makerere’s teaching, research and community engagement in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. The expression of interest was called out at time when Makerere is focusing more on research, graduate training and internationalisation, so this course was written to augment the University’s strategic focus. Therefore, through the Rotary Peace Center, the University will leverage its respected academic position in Africa and in the world, as well as its location in the most conflict- affected region of Africa to deliver a cutting-edge Continuous Professional Development Course (CPD) peace building programme inform of a Post-Graduate Diploma in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation.
This Programme will offer the participants the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills through their engagement with a diverse pool of experienced researchers and academicians, from various fields. During the Fellowship, the University will utilize experiential and learner-centred pedagogies that integrate theory, research and practice to provide students with hands-on skills, hence producing graduates who can influence policies and initiate action that will transform society through positive peace. The University will run this course in a blended form, with 40%
of the duration delivered on site, that is, in Uganda (lectures and field study visits), and the other 60% through virtual engagement with fellows in their home countries. The post-graduate diploma course will cover the following courses: 1) Fundamentals and Approaches to Peace Building and Conflict Transformation; 2) Human Rights, Governance and Media; 3) Refugees, Migration and Community Cohesion; 4) Identity, Resources and Climate change. In addition, this course covers other practical engagements such as the Positive Peace Workshops (implemented in partnership with Institute for Economics and Peace, in Australia. In addition, Experiential Learning Field trips and Capstones, Research methods, Project Design, Project implementation and Project Report writing. The field visits are an integral part of the teaching and learning approach of Makerere University and will be used to reinforce the academic and research component covered on site at Makerere University.
The course will accept participants in cohorts per organisation. With an existing MOU, Rotary international will sponsor 40 fellows per year for the first four years renewable. These will have a one-year fellowship at Makerere University. During the fellowship, Makerere University will work very closely with Rotary in Uganda, as well as Rotary Peace Alumni to ensure that the training of the fellows contributes to Rotary’s global mission on peace building and conflict resolution. Fellows will be assigned academic mentors, as well as mentors from Rotary in Uganda for ongoing support during orientation and throughout the duration of the Program. At the end of each Peace Fellowship Cohort, Makerere University will undertake an evaluation of the Program.
In order to attract highly qualified candidates, Makerere University, in partnership with Rotary, will advertise and publicize the fellowship widely. Makerere University will use its networks, highly accessed website (www.news.mak.ac.ug, traditional media, and social media platforms which currently have 414,000 followers). In addition to the Rotary fellows, the Center will take on participants in groups with collective sponsorship not exceeding 20 participants per cohort such as the participants from the Uganda Police Force among others and also self-sponsored students will be accepted.
The Makerere University Rotary Peace Center is a semi-autonomous entity hosted in the Department of Religion and Peace Studies in the School of liberal and Performing Arts, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. This Center is managed by a multidisciplinary team comprising of senior academic and administrative staff with both local and international experience. The management team works under the guidance of an Advisory Board, comprising the Vice Chancellor and other senior officials from Makerere University and Rotary. The Makerere University Rotary Peace Center will be effectively managed by a Director using the existing policy frameworks at the University that guarantee quality standards.