Institute Professional Training Officer Nina Sughrue conducted a three and half-day seminar in Annapolis, Maryland, for 32 participants from humanitarian NGOs, U.S. government agencies, the U.S. military, academia, and international organizations involved in relief and peace operations. The seminar's objectives included professional skill development in the areas of conflict analysis, cross-cultural communication, negotiation, and third-party dispute resolution, in the context of enhancing civilian/military communications in the field. Another important aspect of the seminar involved presentations from leading experts in civil-military coordination in complex contingency operations. These presentations afforded opportunities for participants to hear new perspectives and to engage in rich discussion.

Participants hailed from across the U.S. as well as Sudan, Kosovo, and Somalia. The NGOs represented were World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, and Global Harmony, Mercy Corps, Partners for Democratic Change, and United Methodist Committee on Relief. Private sector firms working in conflict and post conflict, such as Chemonics International Inc., Computing Technologies Inc., and DynCorps International, were also represented. There were participants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the United States Institute of Peace. A U.S. Colonel from the Marine Corps War College, a U.S. Army Chaplain, a Nigerian Captain in the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, and a Somali women's and children/s rights activist participated in the seminar.

The next such workshop will be held in October 2006.