{"id":19187,"date":"2014-02-06T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T05:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=19187"},"modified":"2014-02-20T14:36:57","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T19:36:57","slug":"first-graduates-of-emus-womens-peacebuilding-leadership-program-recognized-in-somaliland-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/first-graduates-of-emus-womens-peacebuilding-leadership-program-recognized-in-somaliland-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"First graduates of EMU’s Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program recognized in Somaliland ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

As she boarded the first flight of her globe-circling journey, Jayne Docherty<\/a>, PhD, program director at EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP)<\/a>, carried a clutch of certificates she would present to the inaugural cohort of graduates in an innovative peace-training program.<\/p>\n

All women, all Muslim, all university-educated, and straining the bonds of their conservative societies, these nine graduates of the Women\u2019s Peacebuilding Leadership Program (WPLP)<\/a> all live in Somali-speaking regions of east Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit for the creation of this program belongs to another strong and committed Somali-speaking woman, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi<\/a>,\u201d Docherty said in her remarks at the WPLP graduation ceremony in a hall of University of Hargeisa, Somaliland. Abdi visited Eastern Mennonite University in June 2010 for a gathering of women peacebuilders.<\/p>\n

At that gathering Abdi asked these provocative questions: \u201cAre we women innocent victims, or are we part of the problem and perpetrators? And if we contribute to war, then how do we organize ourselves to contribute to peace?\u201d The ideas from that gathering \u2013 educating women to lead their societies away from violence and towards just relationships necessary for peace \u2013 are central to EMU\u2019s new program.<\/p>\n

18 months of study and practice<\/h3>\n

WPLP consists of cohorts of carefully chosen women \u2013 strongly recommended by organizations with a stake in peacebuilding<\/a> in a particular region \u2013 who undertake coursework for 18 months, partly at EMU\u2019s main campus in Harrisonburg, Va., and partly in their home region.<\/p>\n

\"Jayne<\/a>
Amal Ibrahim displays her graduate certificate standing beside Dr. Jayne Docherty, CJP program director<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWPLP was designed by women for women\u2019s life situation and learning needs,\u201d says CJP\u2019s executive director Daryl Byler<\/a>, JD. \u201cThe cohort model creates space for the students to support one another during their course of study, as well as during in-country implementation of peacebuilding practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first group received their graduate certificates from the program at the end of 2013 in a ceremony attended by six of the nine Somali-region cohort women. \u201cThe program they have completed was academically rigorous. They completed the same courses taken by our master\u2019s degree students \u2013 and they did it largely at a distance, while meeting the demands of work and family obligations,\u201d said Docherty.<\/p>\n

In attendance and speaking at the graduation ceremony were the president of the University of Hargeisa, several political party leaders, and three women leaders of cabinet-level departments in Somaliland. The university facilitated this ceremony as a courtesy to EMU since the WPLP graduates would have had difficulty obtaining travel visas for the spring 2014 graduation at EMU.<\/p>\n

“Strong, resilient women”<\/h3>\n

Graduate Asli Mohamoud spoke at the ceremony and praised her cohort\u2019s \u201cgroup of strong, resilient women\u2026 All the women you see in front of you are used to carrying weights and burdens… We are happy and thankful that now we have the tools and knowledge to guide our experience. We hope to work together as a team to enhance peace and stability in our respective communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working together as a team is a major component of WPLP\u2019s approach. Drawing women who share a common language, ethnic identity and similar experiences of conflict, the cohort-based program requires a \u201cvery different form of teaching, a revamping of the curriculum, tailored around their problems and their region,\u201d notes Docherty. Their real-life case studies, drawn into an academic framework, provide material for their courses.<\/p>\n

The collaborative teamwork fostered during their coursework, practicum and mentored projects will hopefully continue as they implement what they have learned. \u201cEach group of graduates builds out the peacebuilder network,\u201d says Docherty. \u201cOur graduates, wherever they work around the world, have an uncanny knack for finding and supporting each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mohamoud, WPLP was more than an academic exercise. It was \u201ca journey of healing and understanding and acceptance of our situation as women affected by conflict, and who are looked up to as the leaders of change in our locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

On journey of healing, pushing for answers<\/h3>\n

Her supervisor at CARE International<\/a> confirms that Mohamoud \u201cpushes us hard now, asking very tough questions and causing all of us to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

For graduate Hibo Kheyre, being part of WPLP enabled her to recognize that she had been doing peacebuilding work for a long time. \u201cNow with the courses and skills I have had, I know that I can continue peacebuilding in a much better way. I have changed my world view into a bigger one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleagues now express amazement that she is serving in \u201cthe role of traditional elder,\u201d who would typically be a man, she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining gives these women the power to step up and lead,\u201d said WPLP director Jan Jenner<\/a> from Nairobi, Kenya, where she was interviewing the 2014 group of eight women candidates from that country. Two women from Sudan and two from South Sudan will complete the incoming group.<\/p>\n

The Somalia-region group of graduates included women who live and work in Somaliland, Somalia, Kenya and Puntland. While enrolled in WPLP, many were promoted or found more challenging jobs that use their expanded skills. Their work includes aid relief, gender advisor, peace educator, migration issues advisor, HIV educator, job trainer and electoral reform policymaker. Their WPLP participation was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.<\/p>\n

Mohamoud summarizes the interconnected issues these graduates will face. \u201cI am now in a position to link peacebuilding work with gender, human rights, and environmental protection \u2013 all crucial to building lasting peace in Somalia and in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other first graduates from Liberia, Fiji, Solomon Islands<\/h3>\n

In addition to the nine women of the Somali-region, the first class of WPLP graduates includes two women from Liberia, two from Fiji and one from the Solomon Islands. Some of these graduates plan to participate in EMU\u2019s April 27 commencement weekend.<\/p>\n

Docherty described her journey around the globe to participate in the first WPLP graduation ceremony in Hargeisa, Somaliland: \u201cI had already scheduled a trip to Burma\/Myanmar, so I continued west from there. I stopped in Dubai, took a flight down to Hargeisa, was there four days, back to Dubai and then home. Total time on airplanes, coach class seats, was more than 48 hours. But it was important for someone from here to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Docherty\u2019s second visit to Hargeisa. In September 2012, she, Jan Jenner, and Gloria Rhodes<\/a>, PhD, traveled there to teach a two-week course to eight WPLP students denied travel visas for Summer Peacebuilding Institute<\/a> training. Of that experience, Docherty noted in her graduation remarks, \u201cSpending time here in Hargeisa was immensely helpful as we learned more about the rich culture of the Somali-speaking peoples and more about the potential for peace in this region.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As she boarded the first flight of her globe-circling journey, Jayne Docherty, PhD, program director at EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP), carried a clutch of certificates she would ... read more about First graduates of EMU’s Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program recognized in Somaliland ceremony<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":19192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,266,12503,264],"tags":[13805,11374,9992,6003],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-19187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-cjp","category-graduate-programs","tag-dekha-ibrahim-abdi","tag-gloria-rhodes","tag-jan-jenner","tag-jayne-docherty"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst graduates of EMU's Women's Peacebuilding Leadership Program recognized in Somaliland ceremony - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/first-graduates-of-emus-womens-peacebuilding-leadership-program-recognized-in-somaliland-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First graduates of EMU's Women's Peacebuilding Leadership Program recognized in Somaliland ceremony - 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