Deadline: 25-Jul-23
The Silencing the Guns Unit of the AU Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department, of the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), will from 14 to 18 August 2023, hold the first series of virtual trainings for African artists on ‘leveraging Arts for Peace’, guided by the outcomes of the Accra meeting.
The main objective of the training is to equip African artists with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to advance lasting peace and security through artistic expression.
The training is being held in the run-up to the Africa Amnesty Month (which is observed each September) to mobilize African citizens to surrender illegally held small arms and light weapons to government authorities. It targets 25 artists, five artists from each AU region. The trainees will spread messages of silencing the guns, peace and reconciliation through their work, in their respective communities.
The training will cover topics on the role of artists in advancing peace advocacy through arts, introduction to silencing the guns, including AU’s work in advancing conflict prevention; and support to post conflict reconstruction, as well as principles for effective advocacy and outreach, among others.
Objective
- It targets African artists from all the regions of Africa (North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa). The training will sensitize the artists against the use of the art to incite violence, promote hate speech, hate crimes or other forms of conflict.
- Specifically, the training aims to enable the artists to;
- Heighten public awareness and consciousness about silencing the guns;
- Mobilize African citizens and other stakeholders to rally behind the silencing the guns continental campaign, in order to achieve a conflict free Africa and create favorable conditions for the continent’s socio-economic transformation;
- Heighten awareness on the proliferation of illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, the negative impact such weapons have on the continent of Africa;
- Encourage African citizens in possession of illicit arms to surrender them to designated authorities in exchange for Amnesty.
Eligibility Criteria
- An African Artist with demonstrated commitment and significant contribution to the promotion of sustainable peace and security. Applications from established artists, including young women artists, displaced persons and persons with disabilities who meet the following selection criteria are particularly encouraged:
- Be a citizen of an AU member state
- Have at least secondary school qualifications
- Be an established artist;
- Have experience in promoting, advancing and supporting peace processes, especially, community engagement experience through art
- Have a strong track record with the local community/area where he/she works
- Be proficient in either French or English languages
- Preferably able to attend from a computer for the duration of the training
- Availability and willingness to take part in the online training (5 days and 2 and half hours of training per day and 2 hours of homework daily).
For more information, visit African Union.