Support to PIASS Peace Club
The PIASS Peace Club (PPC) conducted a study trip to Burundi in September 2019, with support from CRASPD, to meet peace organizations IPB, THARS, and MIPAREC and the members of a student club in the Great Lakes University in Bujumbura and to learn and exchange about their work in the field of peacebuilding.
PIASS Peace Club – new Committee elected
A general assembly of the PIASS Peace Club (PPC) conducted an election of a new committee on July 14.. On July 28, a session was held with members of the outgoing and the incoming committees to prepare the handover process. The official handover will occur in the next General Assembly on August 18, 2019. Among the activities that the outgoing committee will pass to the incoming one are workshops on ‘peace related concepts’ — for members of the peace clubs in the Buhimba Secondary School and in the PIASS campus in Karongi — and a study trip to Burundi.
Student Trauma First Aid Training Project
Ahead of the PIASS Commemoration of lecturers and students killed on PIASS campus during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, CRASPD, in collaboration with the PIASS PEace Club, conducted a Trauma First Aid Refresher Training on April 29 to 30, 2019, with an aim to refresh and update the knowledge and skills of the student Mental Health Advisors who had been trained in 2017 and 2018. These skills are acquired to be able to help people with emotional crises during genocide commemoration events. The trainer, Therese Uwitonze, a clinical psychologist at Mental Health Dignity Foundation (MHDF, http://mhdf-rwanda.website2.me/) reviewed some basic concepts with the participants and gave them many opportunities to practice approaches and techniques to support people who are in emotional turmoil. Towards the end of the training, the participants, in collaboration with the trainer and members of the PIASS Red Cross Club, formed support teams who would be on duty with different tasks during the commemoration event at PIASS. More about the Student Trauma First Aid Training project can be found in an article that is in press and will soon be published as part of a Colloquium documentation.
BA in Peace Building and Development
The Honors Bachelor Degree Course in Peace Building and Development is the first academic program offered by the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at PIASS.
We offer short certificate courses for peace and development practitioners, community and religious leaders, and others concerned with sustainable peace and development.
Workshop on Peace Related Concept for Peace Club Committees
Upon request of the PIASS Peace Club, CRASPD held a workshop on peace related concepts with 14 members of Peace Clubs at Buhimba Secondary School, PIASS Karongi Campus, and the ‘mother’ PIASS (Huye) Peace Club, on the weekend June 29-31, 2018 at the Huye Campus. It was facilitated by the CRASPD Peace Officer, Floriane Niyungeko, and Assistant Coordinator, Muvunyi Serge. In conclusion, all three peace clubs drafted a tentative activity plan which they will now develop further in communication with the members of each club.
