The Graduate Certificate Program in Conflict Transformation at the School for
International Training (SIT) is specifically designed for working professionals
who want to enhance their knowledge and skills in conflict transformation but do
not wish to enroll in a full-time graduate program or master’s degree. Participants include professional mediators, social workers, psychologists, educators, non-profit and non-governmental organization administrators and staff, and human rights workers from the United States and around the world.

This 14-credit graduate program combines short-term meetings with online learning to minimize time away from jobs and families while maintaining face-to-face contact and experiential learning. Participants may specialize in the psychosocial foundations of peacebuilding or civil society initiatives in peacebuilding.

Program Components and Courses
The program starts with a three-week Summer Institute in June– an intensive experiential learning program with practitioners in the field of conflict transformation from around the world. Participants in the Graduate Certificate
Program attend the Summer Institute and stay an extra four days beyond the regular course to meet the certificate faculty and prepare for the online portion of the program. From September until May they participate in weekly online discussions of the reading assignments with their colleagues and faculty.

They meet again face-to-face as a group for a week in January (this year in
Rwanda, previous years have been held in Cyprus and Bosnia) to see how specific
theories are implemented on the ground. Each participant also engages in a practicum experience in which the participant creates and implements a project from start to finish under the direction of a faculty member and with the support and advice of classmates. Practicums are frequently part of the student’s regular job. These learning experiences are synthesized in a final paper.

Participants who would like skills in training, organizational behavior, project
management, evaluation, proposal writing and other management and technical skills can apply the credits earned in the Graduate Certificate Program to a Master’s Degree in either Conflict Transformation or Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management at the School for International Training. The Master’s Degree requires approximately 8 months on campus, an additional practicum experience, and an original research project.