Photo: Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation
To secure high quality and relevance of courses and seminars, the Program cooperates with a number of Swedish and international organisations and actors in the field of conflict prevention. The collaborations are based upon the view that cooperation and sharing is necessary in order to create synergies and avoid competition to achieve best results.
Examples of partners of the Program are the Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC), Initiative for Conflict Prevention through Quiet Diplomacy (ICPQD) and Oxford Leadership Academy (OLA).
In addition to general knowledge and information sharing, the Program is engaged in specific long-term efforts to strengthen capacities together with the United Nations Department for Political Affairs (UNDPA), the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).
The Program has, since 2006, cooperated closely with UNDPA. The partnership aims to strengthen the capacity of UNDPA in dialogue and mediation through trainings and workshops.
On a yearly basis, the Program organizes generic specialized training courses for UNDPA staff members at its training facilities at Sandö and two-day follow-up workshops in New York. So far, approximately 90 UN staff members have completed the five-day dialogue and mediation program.
The Program has, in close collaboration with the African Union and the UNDPA, designed the capacity building program “Capacity Building in Dialogue and Mediation through Experience Sharing”, and the first capacity building was carried out in 2008. It is a specialized training for the AU, developed out of the same concept as the generic training course in dialogue and mediation by the Program.
The objective of the capacity building program is to enhance the capability of the AU and African partners to engage in prevention and resolution of violent conflicts through dialogue and mediation practices. The program is designed to specifically bring out African experiences and good practices in dialogue and mediation. The participants come from relevant departments of the AU Commission, AU field missions and Regional Economic Commissions as well as the UN and EU.
Since 2006, the Program has been committed to raise awareness and build capacity to strengthen the role of the European Union within the field of conflict prevention. In 2010 a three-semester program together with the Presidencies of Spain, Belgium and Hungary was established as a follow-up to the previous programs.
A number of workshops have been organized with different thematic focus, such as the role of media, climate change and light weapons in conflict prevention. In 2009 a workshop on dialogue and mediation was arranged. The EU related activities are carried out in close cooperation with the Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation, the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO), the Council Secretariat of the EU, and the EU Commission, with support of the rotating Presidencies of the EU.
This spring a workshop on the challenges of state building with focus on Guatemala and Guatemala was organised in Brussels. Concept note, Program
Furthermore, members of the EU Council working groups together with key individuals from the Commission and Member States, are given the possibility to attend a two-day training course with specific geographical focus, characterized by a practical approach to dialogue and mediation as EU tools in conflict prevention.
Recently, this training course was arranged together with the College of Europe in Bruges, focusing on Guatemala as case study.
Mediation Support Network
The Folke Bernadotte Academy is an active member of the Mediation Support Network, founded in September 2008. The objective of the network is to improve the quality of mediation support through information sharing and collaboration. Mediation support entails activities assisting and improving mediation practice such as capacity building, developing guidance, carrying out research, working on policy issues and engaging with parties.
The network currently consists of eleven organizations meeting one to two times a year. The first and second meetings were held in Bern and London, while the third network meeting was hosted by the Folke Bernadotte Academy on Sandö in February 2010.
Read more about the meeting organized on Sandö.
Läs mer om mötet som anordnades på Sandö