The Hague Academy for Local Governance: Local Security Governance and Peacebuilding course

The course focuses on the intersection of peacebuilding and local governance in countries affected by violent conflict. It addresses critical questions such as: How can local authorities, security actors, and civil society contribute to human security and peacebuilding? And how can peacebuilding programmes be consistently conflict-sensitive and avoid causing harm?

The course is designed for practitioners from governments, civil society and development partners worldwide. It offers a unique opportunity to discuss the latest insights on Local Security Governance and Peacebuilding with top-level experts, including experts from DCAF, share experiences with fellow practitioners, and visit key institutions in The Hague.

A pre-training, online learning module will be offered, to share tools for analysing the political, socio-economic context of local violent conflict, as well as root causes, actors and dynamics. Participants will identify conflict risks, triggers, and conflict transformation opportunities, and will work with future scenarios while applying a gender perspective.

Following the online module, participants will share their experiences with peacebuilding and security sector reform programmes in conflict-affected countries during a one-week in-person training. Under the guidance of top international experts, they will reflect on the roles of various actors in conflict transformation and peacebuilding, including local authorities, informal local leaders, civil society, justice and security actors. Cases of local peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes will be presented from a.o. Libya, Tunisia, Palestine, Congo, Colombia and Sudan. Participants will be invited to critically assess the conflict and gender sensitivity of foreign interventions. The programme includes a visit to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.