Staff have received commendations for their innovative, student-led project alongside the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies in Somaliland
Colleagues in the Departments of Law and Criminology and Politics & International Relations have collaborated on an inclusive, human rights-based project with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) at the University of Hargeisa. The project builds on the memorandum signed between the College and IPCS last year.
Dr Alexander Gilder, Nicola Antoniou, Dr Michelle Bentley, Dr Nasir Ali, and Dr Daniela Lai have sought to promote deep peer learning by supervising students creating an innovative legal advice website on human rights and peacebuilding in the Horn of Africa.
Students have been researching and writing the website information, which includes explanations of key legal concepts, contextualised examples of human rights violations (to help people identify abuse when it happens), as well as explanatory guides to the role of communities in contributing to peace and the impact of civil society on peacebuilding. Each student will also write an original blog post on a related topic of their choice.
The project has been designed to promote peer-learning, student ownership, enquiry-based learning, international collaboration, and social responsibility.
The inclusivity-driven project a) creates a dynamic international learning collaboration between students at the College and IPCS where participants engage in deep peer learning with students from a different culture and educational experience, and b) creates content on human rights/peacebuilding to directly help local people and civil organisations in Africa, as well as to promote a more inclusive and impactful understanding of Africa amongst UK stakeholders.
The team are pleased to receive Commendations in the College’s Team Teaching Prize 2021 in recognition of their work. They hope to publish the website later this year to showcase the excellent work of the students.
