HBKU workshop to focus on role of peace education in Africa

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), will hold a two-day international workshop on the role of peace education in Africa.
The workshop, titled “Peace Education: Qatar Engagement in Mapping of Policies, Programmes and Resources in Africa”, will be held at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies building in Education City on February 8 and 9.
The event will bring together renowned academics, United Nations delegates, and prominent practitioners to discuss a number of crucial issues in education and peace-building that can affect Africa’s socioeconomic and political transformation.
The workshop highlights the role that universities should play in fostering peace education in diverse post-conflict and conflict-prone countries. Panellists will discuss the most effective ways universities in war-affected countries can be functionally relevant to the everyday needs and challenges of their immediate environment by promoting peace building through peace education.
Participants will discuss lessons from Qatar and analyse specific strategies, case studies, and new ideas utilised in the building of peaceful and resilient communities.
Dr Abdullahi Hussein from Qatar National Research Fund, Hany Besada from the United Nations and University of Ottawa, and Dr Mohammed Evren Tok, assistant professor of Public Policy in Islam at HBKU’s Faculty of Islamic Studies will open the event.
There will be panellists from various international organisations, such as the United Nations, World Bank, New York University, University of Oxford, Education Above All, the African Union Commission, Plan International, and Women in Cities International.
Dr Tok said, “This international workshop will help identify current and necessary capacities, and impacts of multi-level education actors to develop social cohesion through conflict-sensitive education protocols and mechanisms as well as to improve our understanding of the capacities for peace building leadership development and resource management at varying levels.”