College of Law and Governance organizes a conference on Peace and Conflict.

College of Law and Governance at Hawassa University in collaboration with British Council Ethiopia Enabling University peace Education /EUPE/ project has organized a  two day's national research conference on the theme ”Conflict and  Peace Building” at Rori Hotel, Hawassa.

Dr. Debrework Debebe, Dean of the college and EUPE project coordinator, welcomed all participants and presented a brief overview of the project activities and achievements over the past two years.

Dr. Samuel Jilo, V/president for Administration and Development at HU, officially opened the conference where he stressed the importance of using indigenous knowledges, strengthening shared values, embracing diversity and cultures of dialogue in conflict management and peace building. He also advised the society especially the youth to have an optimistic view on the long lived indigenous knowledges and their significant role in maintaining peaceful coexistence practiced all over the country.

Mr. Stephen Forbes, Country Director of British council Sudan and responsible person for the EUPE project, also delivered a message where he pointed out that the very establishment of the British council 90 years back was to maintain peace and prevent violence and conflict around the world.

Dr. Yonas Adaye, Commissioner for the National Dialogue Commission of Ethiopia delivered a key note speech on the role of higher education institutions in peace building and he said that Ethiopian HEIs can lay the foundation for peace building by playing more active roles in the process. He suggested that inclusion of peace education in the HEI curricula in the Ethiopian context can give space for the culture of dialogue over violent conflicts.

A total of ten research papers, two from Coventry University of UK, are presented at the conference followed by academic discussion, questions, comments and suggestions from participants to be continued tomorrow.