In the Field

Notes from the field from Virginia M. Bouvier's recent trip to Bogota, Colombia on International Women’s Day.

Senior Training Officer Ted Feifer provided two days of training in communication, negotiation and mediation in cross-cultural and emotional situations to 18 participants in a month-long course conducted by the Spanish non-governmental organization Helsinki Espana.

In conjunction with the Organization of the American States, the Institute conducted a one-week workshop for over eighty senior Latin American and Caribbean military officials along with special invited guests from the resident military missions for the Inter American Defense College at Fort McNair, Washington DC.

In response to an invitation from the State Department's Under Secretary for Global Affairs, Ms. Paula Dobriansky, the Institute participated in a conference organized by the Community of Democracies.

The Religion and Peacemaking program at USIP visited Colombia in November 2008 to support a joint-initiative of the Conferencia de Religiosos y Religiosas de Colombia, the organizing body of Catholic men’s and women’s religious orders, and Justapaz, a Menonite organization, to convene a four-day workshop outside of Bogota for Catholic and Protestant women peacemakers. This workshop provided an opportunity for women doing peace work on the ground through their churches to share best practices, network, and conceive future joint-initiatives.