|
|
|
A
Strategy for the Development Of
the University for Peace Executive Summary BACKGROUND
1. The University for
Peace was established pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly of the
United Nations in December 1980 to “provide humanity with an international
institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among
all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful
co-existence, to stimulate co-operation amongst people and to help lessen
obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble
aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations”.
It is headquartered at its campus of 302 hectares located on the
outskirts of San José, Costa Rica. 2.
The University for Peace (UPEACE) has a unique constitutional status
within the United Nations family. The
Establishment of the University for Peace was approved by the General Assembly
(A/RES/35/55) in conformity with an international agreement and its Charter.
The University however exists outside the normal framework of reporting
and accountability requirements
which apply to most UN Organizations
and Agencies. This gives it an
unusual degree of operating autonomy and flexibility under the guidance of its
Council, and will enable the University for Peace to serve as an innovative link
between the governmental and non-governmental constituencies in addressing peace
and security related issues. 3.
Although this autonomy and flexibility has been utilized thus far to only
a limited extent, it will have much greater relevance and value in the period
ahead in which new alliances and public-private partnerships will provide the
most effective means of dealing with the complex issues that bear on peace and
security. Also, the University for
Peace is a truly international University with the authority to grant degrees,
which it does at the Master’s and
Doctor’s level. 4.
The University for Peace receives no financial support from the United
Nations budget. It must seek its
financing entirely from voluntary contributions.
Since its inception, the University has received only limited funding
from relatively few sources and its programs have necessarily been modest in
scale and largely confined to Central and South America.
5. Most of the programs and activities of the University
have so far been carried out at its campus.
In addition there is the related World Research and Information Center
for Peace, in Montevideo, Uruguay and, there are advisors in six other Central
American countries, as well as in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, the
Dominican Republic and Italy. There
has also been a European Center for the University for Peace in Belgrade. All of these are
being re-examined to determine how they can best contribute to the
University’s new strategy and global mission. THE NEW COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION6.
The governing body of the University for Peace consists of a Council
composed of 15 Members appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations,
in consultation with the Director-General of UNESCO.
These include two nominees of the host country, Costa Rica and, as
ex-officio Members, representatives of the United Nations, UNESCO and the UN
University.
7. In early 1999, as part of his continuing program of
reform, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, with the support and advice of UNESCO
Director-General Federico Mayor, and the encouragement and support of the
Government of Costa Rica, took the necessary steps to reorganize, strengthen and
more fully internationalize the University for Peace so as to enable it to
contribute more effectively to the peace and security programs of the United
Nations and the goals of its Charter. 8. The Council was reconstituted with an entirely new
membership and a list of the Members of the Council is attached as Annex A.
The first meeting of the new Council was held at UNESCO headquarters in
Paris on March 29th and 30th, 1999.
Mr. Maurice F. Strong of Canada, a Senior Advisor to UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan, was elected President of the Council.
The executive head of the University is the Rector, and Mr. Maurice
Strong was appointed Rector by the Council on an interim basis pending
recruitment of a new Rector. 9. The second meeting of the new Council – the 11th
Session of the Council of the University – was held in San José, Costa Rica,
from November 21st to 23rd 1999.
The Council agreed on strategic and program guidelines which will launch
a new era in the life of the University. These
are reflected more fully in the document prepared as a result of the decisions
taken by the Council at the November 21-22, 1999 meeting, “A
Strategy for the Development of the University for Peace.” This will
provide the basis for consultations with potential partners and sources of
funding and for the initiation of a number of projects designed to be valuable
in their own right, while contributing to the further development of the
Strategy and Program. VISION AND FUTURE
PERSPECTIVES
10. The
Charter of the University mandates in broad but clear terms the activities to be
carried out: “The University
shall contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging
in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge,
fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through
the interdisciplinary study of all matters relating to peace”. The new
strategy is designed to build the capacity and program of UPEACE over a 5 year
development period to the point where it will be in a position to be the focal
point of a truly international program network, developed and implemented
through close collaboration with many institutions and experts around the world,
in particular within the United Nations system.
It will make full use of open-learning/distance-education techniques and
technologies, in engaging and reaching people and partner institutions in other
locations around the world. 11. In
the field of education, UPEACE aspires to develop programs at both the
Master’s and Doctor’s level in cooperation with other leading universities,
in which course credits would be recognized by both parties, leading, in some
cases, to granting joint degrees. By
the end of the five year development period it should be possible for students
with the necessary undergraduate qualifications throughout the world to enroll
in a UPEACE Program, to select from a range of course modules required to
qualify for a degree and to take the courses at the campus of a partner
University, at the UPEACE campus and through distance-learning. A certain proportion of the courses would need to be taken
on-campus, although the selection of the campus would be at the choice of the
student. A number of the course
modules would also be accessed through virtual and distance-learning techniques.
In developing its courses, UPEACE would also plan to utilize the
expertise of policy research institutes, academies of science and other
institutions which have significant knowledge and capability in areas in which
UPEACE decides to develop its courses but which do not normally carry out
teaching programs of their own. This
would give the University an important additional source of intellectual input
into its programs through an “institutional faculty”. 12. The
research programs of UPEACE will also be carried out in cooperation with partner
institutions in which both partners can make important value-added contributions.
Many established institutes have specialized capabilities and expertise
which UPEACE does not have and need not duplicate whereas UPEACE can often
provide a much broader reach and influence for the work of such partner
institutions and add UN involvement and expertise which would not be so readily
available to them 13. In
addition to its Degree and Research Programs, a special priority of UPEACE will
be to foster and support citizen and community level programs and dialogue for
the development of a Culture of Peace, for the prevention of conflicts and for
their peaceful resolution. It will
make available the results of its research and academic work in the forms and
through the channels which will make them most relevant and useful to
citizens and communities as well as to special constituencies of minorities,
indigenous peoples, disenfranchised, elderly and disadvantaged people.
14.
A particularly important constituency will be youth and the University
will foster and support, in cooperation with UNESCO and leading youth
organizations, the development of curricula and other materials for use in
schools, and the dissemination of information and material for youth groups and
other community organizations and special constituencies.
All of these would be designed to stimulate and support the development
of a broad, people-based peace movement.
15.
To guide the development of these activities, UPEACE plans to undertake
an extensive review of existing peace education and research programs.
Consultations, already in progress with leading institutions and experts, will
assist in setting priorities and initiating programs as well as in identifying
potential partners and sources of support.
UPEACE will also draw upon people of exceptional experience and standing
in the fields of peace education, research policy and negotiations as
distinguished faculty members, fellows, and experts to assist in developing and
carrying out its academic and research programs. These would also contribute to a roster of senior experts
with experience which would be available to the United Nations, and
particularly to the Secretary General, for peace-related assignments. PROGRAM
DEVELOPMENT 16. Three
components of the UPEACE programme will be developed: a)
the current activities will be
reviewed, re-oriented and extended where appropriate;
b)
several well-developed initiatives
which have already been prepared and approved by the Council will be launched; c)
new programme activities will
be developed and launched on the basis of careful consultation and collaboration. Main Themes
17.
Conflict prevention will be the principal guiding concept of the
educational and research programs of UPEACE.
To achieve this, they will be organized around five themes: -
Culture of Peace -
Human Security -
Governance, Democracy and Peace -
Environment and Peace -
Economics and Peace a)
Current Activities 18. The
Culture of Peace and Consensus Building, Conflict Prevention and Resolution have
been a key focus of the University’s current education and research program.
Other important components are: a Doctor’s Degree Program in Communications
and Peace, a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Education for Peace, and
reputable programs in the field of Natural Resources Management and Conflict
Prevention. 19. In
addition, UPEACE has an International Documentation and Information Center, (CEDIPAZ),
and also the Gandhi Center for Communications and Peace, which operates as an
audio-visual production unit. Radio
for Peace International, a separate, but closely related non-profit, short-wave
radio station is located on the campus of UPEACE broadcasts peace-related
programs throughout the world. There
is also the World Research and Information Center for Peace located in
Montevideo, Uruguay. Each of these
is being evaluated to determine its role in the future of UPEACE.
b)
Developed Initiatives 20.
In addition to these ongoing activities, UPEACE is already taking three
new initiatives: a)
Peace
Parks-
UPEACE has joined with IUCN (The World Conservation Union), the Peace
Parks Foundation which is promoting and developing Peace Parks in Southern
Africa, and other interested organizations, in exploring the prospects for
cooperative development of a program designed to foster and support Peace Parks
in trans-boundary and other sensitive areas in which they can contribute to
peaceful cooperation in prevention of conflict as well as protecting the
environment and natural resources of those areas. b) The
international “Ombudsman Center for the Environment and Development” (OCED)-
UPEACE has agreed to cooperate with IUCN and the Earth Council in the
development of an independent Ombudsman Center for the Environment and
Development to assist in anticipating and avoiding environment and
resource-related conflicts of an international nature and resolving them when
they occur. The Center will be
located at the campus of UPEACE in San José and is expected to initiate it’s
activities on a pilot basis during the year 2000. c) The
development of Master’s degree programs in two fields: “Ecology and Peace -Managing Natural Resources Sustainably”,
building on previous successful programs and “Tourism and Peace” with the emphasis on eco-tourism. c)
New Research and Education Activities 21. Some
promising opportunities have already been identified for the further extension
of UPEACE programs on matters most directly relevant to the peace and security
goals of the United Nations where the University can make a distinctive
contribution. But the launching of
additional activities will be subject to very careful prior consultation and
analysis, and in some cases pilot projects will be undertaken, before long term
commitments are made. 22.
During the initial preparatory year, studies will be carried out on a
limited number of topics which will be selected selected from amongst those
referred to below, based on the guidance of the UN Secretary General, wide
consultations, the availability of appropriate partnership arrangements, and
necessary funding. It is not the
intention to undertake all the proposed new activities: The programme of work
will be built up gradually by initiating well-prepared activities as the human,
financial and administrative resources become available. 23. In
all cases, decisions to undertake new programs, as well as the monitoring and
evaluation of ongoing programs, will be guided by expert panels. The existing
capacities of UPEACE, with its strategic partnerships with the Earth Council and
IUCN, provide the basis for a comparative advantage in developing programs in
the area of environment and peace in which there is a growing potential for
conflict. In developing and
carrying out its programs in other theme areas, UPEACE will enter into
cooperative arrangements with the most appropriate partner organizations. 24.
Part II of the document on “A Strategy for the Development of the
University for Peace”(PD/1) presents the research and education strategy which
UPEACE will follow and outlines all the programme activities – current
activities, new initiatives and proposed new education and research activities.
For convenience and easy reference, these are listed below:
AN OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES
(a)
Current Activities at UPEACE
-
The Culture of Peace in Central America, education for conflict
prevention.
- Consensus
Building and Conflict Resolution, training for leaders of civil society.
- Communications
and Peace, training of communicators.
- Human
Rights and Peace Education, training for educators in human rights.
- Natural
Resources Management and the Promotion of Peace, training specialists.
-
Conflict and Collaboration in Natural Resources Management, applying the
-
insights of research to the management and prevention of conflict.
- The
International Documentation and Information Center, CEDIPAZ.
(b)
Activities Closely Related to UPEACE
- The World
Research and Information Center for Peace, Montevideo.
- The
Gandhi Center for Communications and Peace.
- Radio for
Peace International.
(c)
New Activities There
are three types of new activity in preparation and development: Services
to Society; New Research and
Education Activities; and, Targeted
Research on Key Policy Issues.
1.
Services to Society
- The
international Ombudsman Center for the Environment and Development.
- Peace
Parks, a framework for certification and promotion of Peace Parks.
2.
New Research and Education Activities, (preparatory
studies and consultation.)
The Culture of Peace
- The
Media, Information Technology and Peace.
-
The Moral and Spiritual Foundations of Peace.
- Human
Rights and Peace.
Human Security
- Migration,
Refugees and Peace.
- Threats
to Civil Society, such as Terrorism and Organised Crime.
- Women and
Peace.
- Youth and
Peace.
Governance, Democracy and Peace
- The
Development of Effective Governance.
- International
Law.
- The
Military and Peace.
Environment and Peace
Economics and Peace
- Economic
Development and Peace
- Business
and Peace.
3.
Targeted Research on Key Policy Issues In
addition, research projects on a few
selected issues will be undertaken during the development phase.
Some of the issues being considered are:
Global Issues -
New Approaches to Major Threats to
Peace, through nuclear disarmament, prevention of biological warfare and
control of small arms etc. -
The Role of the United Nations in
Humanitarian Interventions. Regional
Issues -
Europe and North Africa:
The prospects for developing long term strategies and mechanisms to
increase cooperation, relieve tensions and prevent conflicts between these two
important and closely linked regions. -
Ensuring Stability in Central Asia:
Analysis of prospects for the development of measures to promote economic
recovery and cooperation within this turbulent but promising region. -
The Role of Cuba in the Americas
- Lessons to be learned from the unique and distinctive role that Cuba has
played in the Americas. -
The Development of Structures of
Peace in Southern Africa- How to build on the remarkable success achieved to
date in the transition to peace, democracy and sustainable development in
Southern Africa. WORK PLAN, FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE
MATTERS 25. The
most immediate priority of the new Administration of UPEACE, when it assumed its
responsibilities in March 1999, was to put the house in order.
The unsatisfactory situation has now been rectified and the viability of
UPEACE restored with the help of the United Nations Development Program, the
Canadian International Development Agency and others.
However, the availability of finance remains the most important
constraint on the ability of UPEACE to realize, develop and carry out its new
Strategy and Program. 26. The
new Strategy and Program are designed to enable the University to achieve its
objectives of becoming - over a five year period - a significant and effective
center of a global network of peace education, research and related activities.
The initial three years will be particularly focused on program
development, the first year being the preparatory phase.
In the final two years of the five year period the focus is expected to
move more to implementation and strengthening the long term foundations for the
continued evolution of the program. 27.
During the preparatory year (2000) the current program will continue,
under the direction of the Vice-Rector, with such improvements and modifications
as may be desirable and feasible. During
this period, existing programs and activities located in other centers will be
reviewed and evaluated as to whether and how they might best contribute to the
new Strategy and Program. Recruitment
of new faculty and staff for these purposes will necessarily be limited because
of the difficulty of offering adequate security of employment until sufficient
finances are available. Accordingly
extensive use will be made of contract personnel and of part time faculty and
experts, from whom candidates for longer term appointments will undoubtedly be
identified. Some important and
immediate needs may be met through cooperation with and secondment from other
organizations. 28.
In parallel with these continuing activities, a new Executive Director
for Program Development, Mr. Martin Lees, has been appointed who will initially
function from offices in Geneva as well as San José.
He will lead the process of Strategy and Program development, in close
cooperation and inter-action with UPEACE existing program activities. At the end of the preparatory year it is expected that the
current and new activities will be integrated within a single program framework. 29.
This combination of current program and program development will require
significant strengthening of management of the University, upgrading its
physical plant, equipment and facilities at the San José campus and, especially
important, upgrading the communications and computing and information processing
capabilities of the University to provide it with the latest and best electronic
communications, computing, and distance-learning capabilities.
FINANCING 30
Financing is the most immediate and critical need if UPEACE is to be able
to move ahead expeditiously with the realization of its proposed Strategy and
Program while continuing its current activities.
A summary of the proposed budget for the revitalization of UPEACE
together with projected financial requirements is available, (Document PD/3).
Of particular urgency and importance is funding for the first year
preparatory phase which has already begun.
The minimum required for the core budget to proceed with the programme
and development strategy as outlined above is approximately $US 4,126,000
including the support of ongoing programs.
An additional $US 4,150,000 would be required to proceed with the
development of new programme activities and the revitalisation of UPEACE as
outlined in the Strategy. The optimum level for new programme development would be at
the level of some $US 8,000,000. 31.
In order to ensure continuity in the development and implementation of
the new Strategy and Program it will be essential have in place funding
commitments which will expand over several years.
Initially however, potential supporters will undoubtedly not wish to make
unconditional commitments of a long term nature.
Accordingly supporters are encouraged to make an initial commitment for
the first preparatory year with an indication of potential future support which
would depend on performance and progress during the preparatory phase.
Discussions on the particulars and modalities of such contributions will
be undertaken on an individual basis with each prospective supporter. 32. Initial
consultations with potential partners, supporters and other interested parties
have been extremely encouraging and helpful.
This has reinforced the conclusion of the UPEACE Council that its
ambitious program of strengthening and revitalization of the University is
achievable. Members of the Council Hon.
Maurice Strong
H.E.
(Ms.) Elizabeth Odio Professor
Yuri Nikolaevich Afanasiev Dr.
(Ms.) Attiya Inayatullah Dr.
Sverre Lodgaard Professor
Elikia M’Bokolo H.E.
Ambassador Hisashi Owada Dr.
(Ms.) Anaisabel Prera Flores Dr.
Steven C. Rockefeller Ambassador
Mohamed Sahnoun Professor
Rodolfo Stavenhagen Ambassador
Sonia Picado Sotela Mr.
Nitin Desai Professor
Hans van Ginkel Professor
Dumitru Chitoran
| |||||||||||||||||||
