The Peace Frequency

Our guests on today's episode are Diego Benitez, a Program Officer at USIP's Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research, and Lili Cole, an expert on reconciliation process and practice.  We will be discussing a USIP project called IMPACT Colombia, which combines support for reconciliation projects in Colombia with USIP's own brand of monitoring and evaluation.

Our guest on today's episode is Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Fellow, Kerry Ann Carter Persen, a Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, and a Global Religion Doctoral Dissertation Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. Together, we talk about the obstacles to countering violent extremism and the impact of transnational extremism on political behavior in the Islamic World.  

Our guest on today's episode is USIP Research Fellow, Zinaida Besirevic, a Ph.D. candidate in human development and cognition at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation compares children and adults in their reasoning about violations of Human Rights and infringements on human dignity.  Together we discuss if moral reasoning changes with development, and whether and why we become more likely to tolerate harm.

Our guest on today's episode is USIP Peace Scholar, Meshack Simati, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Georgia State University. His dissertation is titled, “The False Promise of the Judiciary in Reducing Election Violence among African Countries.” Together we explore the history of election violence in Kenya and other countries around the world. What is election violence? How does it impact the voting process and the outcome? What are the implication for the future? How do we prevent it?

 In this podcast, INPROL Director Lelia Mooney and Senior Program Assistant Chelsea Dreher speak with Alison Evans, who walks listeners through the steps of making a new or revised law take shape in everyday life. Alison is Legislation Practice Lead for Senscia, a Brussels-based consulting firm. She’s worked as a legislative drafter for both the Isle of Man and Australia, and has experience with policy development in the latter jurisdiction. Most recently Alison has been assisting the Commonwealth Secretariat in developing policy frameworks and legislation to combat cybercrime. Having worked at the intersections of legal drafting and implementation, she is able to offer insights on shepherding a law from inception to realization. Listen in for her tips on navigating complex environments and setting up reform processes for success.

In this podcast, INPROL Director Lelia Mooney  and Senior Program Assistant Chelsea Dreher get expert insights on overcoming obstacles to rule of law research and sharing your research to maximize its impact. Their guest is Kristina Simion, INPROL’s Research Facilitator and a desk officer for the Folke Bernadotte Academy’s rule of law program. She is currently working towards her PhD at the Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance. In this podcast, Kristina provides helpful tips to practitioners who are looking to share their knowledge and research, and walks listeners through processes for overcoming major challenges to conducting sensitive research in conflict-affected environments. Tune in for ideas on how to tackle language barriers, process mass amounts of data, and more!

In this podcast, INPROL Director Lelia Mooney  and Senior Program Assistant Chelsea Dreher walk through quantitative and qualitative research processes with their colleague, Kristina Simion. Kristina is INPROL’s Research Facilitator, and a desk officer for the Folke Bernadotte Academy’s rule of law program. She is also working towards her PhD at the Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance. In 2016, Kristina leveraged her skills from working as a rule of law practitioner in the field and her knowledge acquired through rigorous academic study to author a Practitioner’s Guide: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Rule of Law Research. This INPROL publication offers step-by-step guidance to conducting appropriate, high quality research to inform holistic rule of law programming. In this interview, Kristina delves further into the topic – defining key terms and highlighting helpful research tools and tips for practitioners that want to establish a strong foundation for initiatives in conflict-affected and developing countries.

In this podcast INPROL Director Lelia Mooney and Senior Program Assistant Chelsea Dreher discuss data collection technologies with Derek Caelin, Senior Specialist for Peace Tech Lab. Derek works on the Lab’s PeaceTech Exchange program, an initiative to connect peacebuilders in conflict zones to media, technology, and data for them help them achieve their objectives. Working with local partners, Derek and the PeaceTech Exchange team have put on workshops in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to address issues such as Transparency & Accountability, Countering Violent Extremism and Gender Based Violence. Recognizing that sound research sets a foundation for successful rule of law initiatives, we use this episode to reflect on how PeaceTech can enhance practitioners’ assessments and analysis in challenging contexts. Derek introduces and explains a number of low cost technologies that rule of law professionals can use to collect critical data when funds are tight, and internet access is unreliable.

In this episode we speak with Colette Rausch, Associate Vice President for Global Practice and Innovation at the United States Institute of Peace. For over twenty years, Colette has used her legal expertise to advance human rights and the rule of law in conflict-affected communities. From Libya to Peru, Burma to Afghanistan and many other countries around the world, she has been at the forefront of addressing the most serious of crimes, crimes that keep countries embroiled in violence. Colette is coming out with her new book, "Fighting Serious Crimes: Strategies and Tactics for Conflict Affected States" and we spend some time on the show talking about what she and the other contributors to the book have learned through their many years of experiencing addressing crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, and organized crime. We also take a close look at Colette's personal story - how a young federal prosecutor in Reno, Nevada going after telemarketers wound up in Bosnia and began transforming herself into an international peacebuilder with a growing appreciation for the rule of law.