07.10.2024 The first regional conference of SAUP took place in Phnom Penh

The first activity of the DAAD funded SDG Partnership Project “Southeast Asian University Partnership for Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation (SAUP)” took place from August 12th – 19th in Phnom Penh Cambodia. The Regional Conference, which was attended by participants from Germany, Timor-Leste, the Philippines and Cambodia, was co-organised with the GIZ Civil Peace Service.

Five staff members from the Center for Conflict Studies attended the event and contributed workshops on “Everyday Peace: Developing and Comparing Initial Indicators” and “Do No Harm: A Brief Introduction to the approach of the Local Capacities for Peace Project”. In addition, the conference agenda offered a range of workshops on Faith-based Transitional Justice and Trauma-informed pedagogies, as well as field visits to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the ‘Killing Fields,’ allowing participants to directly engage with Cambodia’s post-conflict landscape.  

The SAUP project was established in collaboration with the GIZ Civil Peace Service in 2019 and aims to support support and strengthen universities in Cambodia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste in the conceptualization and implementation of curricula on peace and conflict studies. Central to the project is the mutual learning experience for all partners involved, where every organization is conceived of as an expert, sharing and gaining knowledge from each other. Since 2024, the project has receives funding for activities by the German Academic Exchance Service (DAAD) within their SDG partnership framework.