Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
26 November 2018 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Barend Nagel
Book Launch read more
Peace Leadership: Self-Transformation to Peace is about a kind of leadership that puts peace first.

A young democracy such as South Africa is defined by a desire for better relationships, interconnectedness, inclusivity, cohesion, justice and a shared understanding. 
Peace Leadership: Self-Transformation to Peace offers a practical framework for all leaders, as well as for the average person on the street, on how to achieve this aspiration. 

A desire for peace

“It is every human’s desire to experience peace and to facilitate that peacefulness we need peace leaders.” The book offers strategies which leaders can apply to maintain and restore peace in conflict-ridden regions such as Bosnia, according to Martha Harunavamwe of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Industrial Psychology, who contributed two chapters to the book. The text also offers peace strategies to communities outside conflict-ridden regions. 

The written work explores ways in which the 21st century leader has the power to influence a nation towards or away from peace, the possibilities of restoring relationships, as well as how social systems can be tailored in the best interest of citizens for the purpose of conflict resolution.

The building blocks

Peace Leadership: Self-Transformation to Peace is built upon a three-phase foundation. “Moving through different phases, leading self, leading with others and leading your community will enhance self-transformation to the creation of peace.” 

Through cycles of action, reflection, learning and adaptation, peace leaders will improve on efforts to obtain peace,” said one of the editors and author of seven chapters, Prof Ebben Van Zyl. These building blocks model a more civilised and flourishing world in which the financial, political, health and education, human security, and legal needs of the community are served, thus creating a peaceful society.

Prof Van Zyl who is also from the Department of Industrial Psychology, edited the book, with Dr Andrew Campbell of the International Peace and Leadership Institute in the US.

Leaders are in the eye of the beholder

Two chapters of the book were written from a governance perspective. In her contribution, Prof Liezel Lues of the UFS Department of Public Administration states that there are large communities of peace leaders, considering they encompass all those who contribute towards nation-building, be they politicians, singers, actors, or business owners.

The importance of peace leaders should never be underestimated. If anything, scholar-practitioners, educators, academics, researchers, leadership development fraternities, peace organisations, negotiators, think-tanks, the diplomatic corps, government institutions, non-governmental organisations, consultants or advisors, security companies, the private sector and trade unions, should strive to become fluent in the concepts advocated for in Peace Leadership: Self-Transformation to Peace.

News Archive

UFS hosts the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme
2012-11-26

The University of the Free State is to host the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP) from 1 December 2012 to 28 February 2013. 

This will form part of an annual three-month education, academic training and research capacity-building programme jointly organised by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), based in Austria.
 
The NRF, as the National Member Organisation (NMO), in collaboration with DST, has developed a novel and innovative initiative with IIASA to establish the SA-YSSP. This programme was officially launched by the Minister of Science and Technology during November 2011.
 
IIASA is an international research organisation that conducts policy-oriented scientific research in the three global problem areas of energy and climate change, food and water and poverty and equity (www.iiasa.ac.at). South Africa’s engagements with IIASA, and specifically with regard to the SA-YSSP, relate primarily to the DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan.
 
Aligned with the YSSP model that is presented by IIASA in Austria annually, the SA-YSSP offers scientific seminars covering themes in both the social and natural sciences. These seminars often have policy dimensions and aim to broaden the participants’ perspectives and strengthen their analytical and modelling skills, further enriching a demanding academic and research programme (www.ufs.ac.za/sa-yssp).
 
Keynote lectures are to be delivered by national and international leaders in their respective research fields, partly drawn from IIASA’s widespread network of alumni and collaborators, as well as from the NRF’s extensive international networks of excellence.
 
The programme is to be enhanced with specific field trips and cultural and heritage excursions that will involve networking with locally based research programmes. Supervisory teams of both IIASA and South African experts will guide a cohort of competitively selected South African and international advanced Ph.D candidates.
 
The programme will be opened on 2 December 2012 at the Centenary Complex by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, the Director/CEO of IIASA, Prof Pavel Kabat and the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen. They will be joined by a number of Nobel Prize Laureates and luminaries representing the government, the diplomatic sector and Higher Education.
 
The programme is directed by a multidisciplinary team at the UFS that includes:
Prof Aldo Stroebel and Prof Neil Roos (Co-Directors)
Prof André Roodt (Dean of SA-YSSP)
Prof Martin Ntwaeaborwa and Dr Henriëtte van den Berg (Deputy-Deans of SA-YSSP)
Dr Priscilla Mensah and Dr Sonja Loots (Strategic Managers)

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept