• Introduction
• Goal
• Who should attend?
• Objectives
• Outcome
• Contents
• Methodology
• An indicative list of resource person
• Deadline for registration
• Selection criteria
• Registration of participants
• Course fee
• Cancellation/postponement
• Award of certificates
• Time
• Basic information
• Further information

Introduction
The purpose of the subject program is to help build and strengthen young professionals in the development field by building their capacity in policy oriented research and, to equip them with conceptual and analytical skills to articulate and implement pro-people policies. The selected participants will attend a specially designed training program spread over four and a half months including field work and writing a research paper. The faculty will comprise of prominent scholars/experts in this field drawn from South Asia.

Goal
This Program aims to strengthen the capacity of individuals and institutions committed to understanding the inter-linkages between social change and development as well as the rising levels of structural and direct violence in the country and the region.

Who should attend?
Persons with recent Masters or Honors Degrees, and young professionals from the public and private sectors will find this training very useful in their career. Organizations working in this area will significantly benefit by sending their employees to this course.

Objectives

• Short Term
  • Enable Pakistani graduates and young professionals to intellectually grasp current debates on peace, violence and development as these impact future political, economic and social options for pro-people policies;
  • Strengthen the ability of young researchers and professionals in Pakistan to undertake multi-disciplinary research and cross-connect the sectoral boundaries (e.g. health, employment, women, human rights etc) created by policy;
  • Build the writing and advocacy capacity of course participants by providing critique and feedback on their class assignments;
  • Facilitate multi-disciplinary dialogue among students, young professionals and policy makers on peace, violence and development issues through a hands-on problem solving approach.
  • Contribute to the scarce literature on conflict and peace by publishing participants’ theses as part of the SDPI publication series following a rigorous review process.
    
• Long Term
  • Support the growth of rigorous policy-relevant literature on peace, violence and development, by developing the writing abilities of the selected participants;
  • Facilitate the development of relevant curricula in teaching and research institutions;
  • Influence policy processes through grounded analyses, training, and information dissemination.

Outcome
By the end of the program participants will be able to:

• Analyze current development and peace/violence issues;
• Facilitate better understanding of the problems and constraints under which policy operates, and promote an alternative vision of development and peace (as more than the absence of war and conflict) and the concrete steps that may help achieve the vision;
• Develop a capacity for identifying the theoretical basis for writings on development and thereby be able to understand the nuances and differential impact of policy recommendations;
• Identify research issues and apply different tools of analysis;
• Conduct independent fieldwork;
• Write and publish research articles/papers.

Contents

Module 1: Setting the Context for Development: Critique and Alternatives

• Introduction to the Course
• History, theories, and critiques of development; State Theory; Feminist Theory; Post Development and Post Feminist
• Knowledge systems and development agendas
• Test/Assignment Review

Module 2: Setting the Context: Peace, Violence and Conflict

• Overview of Violence: Theoretical Assumptions in different disciplines
• Emergence of Peace Studies and its Policy Context
• Typologies of Conflict and Conflict in South Asia (inter- and intra-country conflict; impacts on social relations); Gendered Violence; Study of 1947, 1971, sectarian conflict, ethnic conflict, rise of religious fundamentalism
• Beyond Peace Studies and Violence? The possibilities of Non-Violence
• Social movements/resistance movements: genesis, successes and failures
• Community and nationalism in South Asia
• Summing Up: The connections between violence, conflict and development
• Assignment Review

Module 3: Rethinking Strategic Human Security Issues

• Introduction to the “non-traditional” Security Debate
• Gendered Security
• Women, Men and Economic Globalisation
• WTO Agreements and their Impact on South Asia
• Labor Issues: A forgotten concern
• Livelihood issues in South Asia
• Politics of water in South Asia
• Migration and Forced Displacement
• Health and Development: Contexts of structural violence
• Education curricula: history and history writing
• Assignment Review

Module 4: Advocacy and Networking

• Introduction
• Issues facing Advocacy
• The Politics of Advocacy
• Working with decision makers
• Advocacy and Publicity/Media
• Assignment Review

Module 5: Research Methodology

• Report writing skills
• Qualitative research methods and theories
• Quantitative research techniques and instruments
• Statistical analysis with SPSS
• Designing qualitative interviews; Qualitative data analysis with Atlas Ti
• Working with qualitative and quantitative data and deriving policy implications
• Assignment Review

Methodology
The training will be interactive, comprising lectures, discussions, group work, case studies, individual presentations and field research.

The program will consist of the following:

• Training in issues related to peace, violence and development and the use of policy instruments
• Actual field experience and exposure through research assignments
• Information dissemination through publications and articles

An indicative list of Resource Persons

Deadline for registration
Individuals willing to apply for the course should send their application forms before February 29, 2008 to Program Secretary, SDPI Center for Capacity Building.

Selection criteria
Application will be reviewed by a Selection Committee and short listed candidates will be called for interview for final selection.

Registration of participants
The selected candidates will be able to register by sending a fee of Rs. 40,000/- per person through crossed cheques/bank drafts/pay orders in favour of Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

Registration fee
Rs 40,000/= per participant.

Cancellation/postponement
SDPI reserves the right to cancel or postpone the workshop if circumstances require. In such an event, SDPI will ensure that registered participants are informed as soon as possible. SDPI will also refund registration fees according to our refund procedures.

Award of certificates

• Trainees successfully completing 85 percent of the instructional sessions will be awarded completion certificates.
• Trainees who for genuine reasons are unable of complete 85 percent attendance but attend 60 to 84 percent instructional sessions will be given partial attendance certificates.
• Trainees attending less than 60 percent of instructional sessions will be given letters specifying the sessions that they attended.

Time
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. [ with input from the registered participants, suitable adjustment in these timings will be made ]

Basic information

• Course duration: 12 weeks
• Fee per person: Rs. 40,000 No applicant will be turned down on the basis of inability to pay provided they reflect an aptitude for learning about peace and conflict issues in their statement of purpose on the application form.
• Travel, boarding/lodging: Trainees will make their own arrangements
• Course Director: Dr. Saba Gul Khattak

Further information
For further details, please contact Program Secretary at Tel: 92-51-2278134 or Fax: 92-51-2278135. Email: zulfiqar@sdpi.org