Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR)

Contact Information

  • Where – Romania (Europe)
  • Website – www.patrir.ro
  • Contact Person – Kai Brand Jacobsen
  • Email – info@patrir.ro
  • Address – 30 Ion Ghica Street, postal code 400306, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj
  • Other – training@patrir.ro (International Training Centre IPDTC), alexandra.craciun@patrir.ro, benedikt.hielscher@patrir.ro, jacobsen@patrir.ro, rafael.silva@patrir.ro, claire.payne@patrir.ro (all Council of Directors)
  • Other – Facebook

Areas of Expertise

Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR) has expertise in a range of areas, including:

Main Aims and Objectives

PATRIR is committed to a world in which conflicts are transformed constructively, through peaceful means in which individuals, communities, countries and local, national, regional and international organisations and actors are empowered to address conflicts effectively, and work together to do so.

PATRIR works for a world in which the human rights, freedoms and the dignity of all people are protected, celebrated, and realised, in which state and social, economic, legal and political systems respect both the individual and the community, in which men and women have equal opportunity and rights, and in which all generations, cultures and peoples are respected and valued as vital.

PATRIR is dedicated to a world in which effective infrastructure and capacities for democratic participation and civic engagement, peacebuilding, violence prevention, and reconciliation and healing after violence are strengthened at every level and in which ownership for peace, democracy and human rights lies with in each of our communities, while being a common global commitment.

PATRIR’s vision is of a world in which peace becomes the norm, democracy the foundation of healthy societies, respect for human dignity and celebration of multiculturalism and diversity the basis of our interactions, and all people and citizens are active in being the change we want to see in the world.

The vision which guides PATRIR’s is of a world which has transcended war and violence. A world in which resources are used and invested to deal with conflicts effectively and to meet people’s needs. A world in which innovation, creativity and wellbeing are nurtured, and where governments, organisations and communities work to ensure that peacebuilding and effective engagement with and transformation of conflicts are integrated into all spaces of social, economic, political, cultural and human interaction.

Mission

To transform the way the world deals with conflicts, working from the local to the global levels in partnership with communities, countries, and national and international organisations to make peacebuilding and the constructive transformation of conflicts the basis for sustainable peace.

To use the full spectrum of PATRIR’s operational capabilities from research to training, direct engagement, peace operations, awareness raising, mobilization, and building of multistakeholder partnerships and alliances to prevent violence, build collaborative spaces and initiatives to address conflicts constructively, and strengthen the development of effective, sustainable and standing infrastructure and capabilities for peace within each community and country and at the regional and global levels.

To mobilize and engage citizens, governments, and national and international organisations to work actively individually and together to overcome all forms of direct, structural and cultural violence, and to join together to build direct, structural and cultural peace.

Upholding the Principles of Conflict Transformation

PATRIR promotes a culture of peace and conflict transformation by peaceful means through all its activities. PATRIR’s view, one that can be observed in its peace operations, trainings, capacity building programmes, publications and country engagements is oriented towards dealing with the root cause of the issues, towards distinguishing conflict from violence and accepting that conflict is not necessarily a negative aspect, but rather a force that can lead to change in a society. Conflict may exist at every level of a society and may be seen in all the phases of violence: pre-violence or pre-war, violence or war, post-violence or post-war.

The work methodology and core principles laying the foundation of all PATRIR engagements are seldom found at any organisation (international, national or local) that works in or on conflict affected areas, be that through consultancies, programming in the various phases of a conflict life-cycle or capacity building programmes. Thus, while there is an easily identifiable need in the field for projects and programmes promoting:

  • systemic engagement with conflict root causes and their structural and cultural enablers,
  • a parallel engagement in primary, operational and structural violence prevention efforts to obtain sustainable peace,
  • cumulative impact generation by bringing together similar efforts of international, national and local actors engaged in peacebuilding and conflict transformation efforts, and
  • the creation of a national ownership over prevention and peacebuilding strategies/programme, which may lead to heightened national resilience in face of emerging/existing conflict issues and decreased dependency on foreign actors and capacities,

The programmes implemented world-wide under the “peacebuilding” principle rarely answer to these demands, driving project assessment, planning and programming more from an internal, supply based mentality. PATRIR’s work methodology recognizes these needs and acts upon their fulfilment.

Where and with Whom

PATRIR has been working worldwide with UN agencies (UNDP Lebanon, UNIFIL, UNDP Nepal, UNAMA, UNMIL, UN BCPR, UNICEF, UN Women etc), the Commonwealth Secretariat, ministries and government departments, universities, military actors, INGOs, grassroots NGOs, organizations facilitating mediation and peace processes.

Some of the networks PATRIR is part of include: the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, Global Alliance for Armed Violence Prevention, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO), Global Partnership to Support Children & Youth Participation in Peacebuilding, Global Initiative for Infrastructure for Peace (I4P).

Some of our partners include: Save the Children Norway, GIZ, OSCE Offices, NOVACT, Search for Common Ground, Swiss Peace, USIP, Academy for Peace and Development, Peace Operations Training Institute, World Mediation Center, Conciliation Resources, International Alert, Crisis Management Initiative, ACCORD, ForumZFD, FolkeBernadotte Academy, Nonviolent Peaceforce

Countries in which PATRIR has provided support: Austria, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel-Palestine, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Romania, Somalia, Southern Thailand, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, UK, Ukraine, US, Lebanon, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Costa Rica.

Main Activities in the Field of Conflict Transformation

Some of the main activities of PATRIR in the field of conflict transformation include:

  • Policy seminars, dialogue round-tables, research, publications, expert visits, country-case study visits (eg: PATRIR’s Crimea policy Dialogues);
  • Research and Publications: publication of Searching for Peace in Iraq, Improving Civil Society Peacebuilding in Israel-Palestine; publications on I4P and preventing electoral violence;
  • Peace Support Operations: Crimea Policy Dialogues, Northern Ireland, Lebanon etc.;
  • Policy Advocacy: Geneva, New York, London, Oslo, Amman with UN, APPG, SfP;
  • Facilitation of Strategic Planning Processes & Partnerships/Alliances Meetings: Global Alliance for Armed Violence Prevention, Global Partnership to Support Children, Youth and Peacebuilding;
  • Global capacity building for peacebuilding and conflict transformation;
  • Activating PATRIR as an early warning agent in well-defined geographical areas through participatory and comparative research, publication generation, conferences and multi-track meetings;
  • Capacitating international and national actors for primary, operational and structural violence prevention;
  • Support and active engagement for theoretical development of the concept of Infrastructures for Peace;
  • Development and strengthening national and local work with youth embedded in the principles of peacebuilding and conflict transformation;
  • Organisational development consultancies linked with peacebuilding and prevention capacities.

Most of our engagements are based upon request and involve in-depth work with partners to assess their needs through:

  • Joint planning;
  • Pre-Training/Pre-Mission Needs Assessments;
  • Contact with partners to assess needs in the context;
  • Review of major publications, strategic conflict analysis, country needs assessments.

For the international country engagements the mandate is given by the local/national informal/formal invitation based on which PATRIR acts and/or the organisational contract which rests at the base of a consultancy, training programme, etc. In all cases, but especially in the latter, PATRIR is engaging through the extrapolated original mandate of the contracting organisation, transforming itself into a tool/mechanism/avenue/actor through which the contracting organisation may implement its own mandate and mission.

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