10 Hopes
And Prayers For CJP's future from early alumni
WANEP founders Sam G. Doe and Emmanuel Bombande at SPI 1997
1. Preserve the Summer Peacebuilding Institute model of intensive, short-term courses. This model permits students to retain their jobs and not uproot themselves. Some people can’t take the time or don’t have the funds to be a residential student. (Nathan Barge)
2. Keep the door open so that diverse people from all kinds of backgrounds can be part of the program. Don’t introduce the admissions barriers typically employed by other academic institutions, such as requiring GRE scores. There are plenty of other institutions geared to producing academics, rather than well-educated practitioners. (Jonathan Bartsch) Spring of '98: Tammy Krause, Hannah Mack Lapp, Christine Poulson
3. Continue to blend theory and practice – this makes CJP “quite unique.” (Randy Puljek-Shank) 4. Consider starting a “Winter Peacebuilding Institute” aimed at
meet the typically rigid requirements of their funders. Rather than being accountable to the people they are trying to serve, they must tailor their work to the funders’ current interests, which may be “natural resource conflicts” this year, HIV/AIDS next year, and “human security” the year after. Few of our alumni are willing to speak on the record on this matter, because of fear of losing all funding possibilities. An African dependent on grant money said: “The whole peacebuilding field is becoming monopolized by USAID, which exists to advance the foreign policy of the United States. I have seen funding of a particular project suddenly cut off, not because the work we were doing wasn’t good and effective for the people at the grassroots, but because Washington DC saw no benefit for Americans in what we were doing.” Another spoke of a $5 million USAID grant supposedly earmarked for peacebuilding work in Africa that was siphoned off by US contractors and other “experts” en route to Africa, resulting in only $175,000 actually being available for work by Africans for Africans. These views are the stuff of uncomfortable conversations. But they are exchanges that need to be held, according to Jenner, formerly a CJP student and now an administrator. She says more resources need to be put into “longer term, harder work, [including] having hard, disagreeable conversations about problems, confronting power, and building peace that is sustainable.” How to do this “longer term, harder work” may be CJP’s biggest challenge over the next 10 to 15 years.
prospective students living in the Southern Hemisphere, whose summer vacations would coincide with an institute held in January or February at EMU. (Lina Maria Obando)
5. Don’t underestimate the importance of giving people time and space to think, away from the stresses of their normal work. (Alastair McKay) 6. Continue to grow CJP’s concentration on organizational leadership. Most of us work in some kind of organization and need all we can get in the way of improving organizational processes and relationships. (Jim Bernat)
7. Feel proud that many peace programs around the world are “copy cats” of CJP. This is a sign that CJP and its graduates are highly respected and having a huge impact. (Fidele Lumeya) 8. Focus more attention on the “complex political dimension” of ending injustices and transforming conflict. “The guys in power are much more strategic than we peacebuilders are – their strategic interests tend to over-ride their moral values. How can we be more strategic in building civic space, institutions and states?” (Sam Gbaydee Doe) 9. Develop critical analysis on how economics contributes to conflict. (Jeff Heie) 10. Above all, “retain faith in the human spirit and the guidance of the Higher Power. Few places provide these values and direction. Peacebuilding goes beyond being smart.” (Sam Gbaydee Doe)
— Bonnie Price Lofton peacebuilder ■ 31 emu.edu/cjp