Full-time Course in Peace and Conflict Work 2026

Course goals, approaches and methods

The aim of this course is for you to acquire the appropriate skills and knowledge needed to work on the diverse and multi-faceted field of peace and conflict work. You will deepen your understanding of conflict dynamics, and their non-violent transformation, including but not limited to: clarifying the key concepts of civil conflict transformation, analyzing conflicts, designing peace projects, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of your role and attitude as a peace worker in this field.

The consolidation of your sense of self, awareness of own patterns, attitudes, behaviors, biases, needs and limits, as well as your understanding of group dynamics and the importance of communication, are core issues to the course, and are not only worked on through a theoretical input, but are consistently brought to the focus through self-reflection and group sharing.

The course utilizes the elicitive training model, where the learning journey is aimed at discovery and creation using your own experiences and knowledge as the main resource, and where the trainers are catalysts and facilitators rather than experts. Your learning also continues after the official sessions as you will be living together with the other participants throughout the whole course.

At the end of the intensive full-time course, the participants will have:

• Examined their own motivations, attitudes and perspectives on peace work;
• Practice the selected conflict transformations skills and identify ways and ideas how could they be implemented in their work settings;
• Examined their own conflict settings as well as their own projects through the use of different lenses and frameworks offered in each module;
• Developed project ideas or improve existing projects derived from the results of the conflict analysis
• Identified approaches, frameworks, methods and tools they can realistically apply or adapt and identify ideas for its successful implementation

Who is this training course intended for?

Our full-time course is intended for people who work in or plan to enter the field of civil conflict transformation, peacebuilding or conflict-sensitive development cooperation and humanitarian work, who have already relevant work experience.

What one of our participants says

Course structure

The 10-module course starts with an introduction week and ends with a wrap up week which will be facilitated by the course educational advisors.

The main modules are divided into three learning blocks with each block conveying a cluster of related knowledge and skills.

There will be two course breaks of 4 days each in between the different blocks. During these breaks there will be no sessions, therefore, the participants must cover their own accommodation and food. We therefore encourage all participants to leave the venue to gain some distance and process what has been learned so far. It also offers the perfect opportunity to visit some places or persons around Germany or Europe.

Participants

The course ideally comprises 10 participants who go through the course jointly and learn and grow with each other. However, modules 2 to 9 are open to other practitioners who wish to participate in individual weeks. So if you don't have the time or resources for the full course, please feel free to register for the individual modules.

Application process

When selecting our participants, we attach particular importance to learning about your motivation, qualifications and work experience in the field of peace and conflict work. We are reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Requirements for the full-time course

• Completed professional/vocational training
• Minimum of two years of work experience
• Experience working in groups with diverse perspectives and backgrounds
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Willingness to reflect on your own preconceptions and behaviour
• Willingness to engage in groups and learning processes

Visa

Applicants from outside the EU will need a visa to enter Germany. We can generally support the visa process with a formal invitation letter from our side. Be advised that it takes a significant amount of time to get the visa processed, so be sure to start the process at the latest 6 weeks before the course start. Please make sure you are eligible and check the specific requirements and usual timeline for processing with your local German embassy. The responsibility for obtaining the visa lies with each of the participants themselves.

If you will need a visa to enter Germany, please advise us of this in your application letter and include a scanned passport copy in your CV when you upload it – we need this in order to support you with an invitation letter.