In the Field

Academy training in Macedonia emphasizes use of negotiation and diplomatic skills to prevent recurrence of inter-ethnic violence that might spill over into neighboring countries.

Skip Cole, Annie Davies, and Jeff Krentel of the Academy, in partnership with Aspiration, Partners for Democratic Change, and Positive Relating, held the inaugural OSPCON1 simulation authoring event September 24-26, 2010.  The purpose of the event was to help move written USIP simulation materials into the Open Simulation Platform (OSP) to be used more broadly in Academy courses and to build and enhance the community of OSP users.

USIP’s Open Simulation Platform (OSP) expanded into new territory in April 2010 to a George Washington University undergraduate class titled Theory and Practice of Peacebuilding. Twenty students from the class participated in a two-day Afghan reintegration simulation led by Senior Program Officer Ronald ‘Skip’ Cole and GWU Professor Tarek Maassarani.

USIP's Maria Jessop-Mandel writes about the Institute's recent human rights workshop, "Putting Human Rights Values into Action," for Iraqi professors held in Beirut, Lebanon. The program explored three human rights-related themes specific to the Iraqi context -- children’s rights, women's equality and academic freedom -- and ways these professors could more effectively teach human rights in their classrooms, and ultimately learn from each other's experiences.

The Education and Training Center/International was involved in two programs in Sudan in January 2009.