The Auschwitz Institute’s Online Education Initiative offers online training and capacity building in atrocity and conflict prevention policy to government officials and policymakers in the regions of East Africa and Latin America. To date, hundreds of public officials from over 75 UN member states have attended AIPG’s annual Raphael Lemkin Seminar for Genocide Prevention. Participants continually praise the structure and organization of the seminars, along with the knowledge and skills gained during their week in Poland, yet they consistently express a desire for their colleagues at home to benefit from the same training.
Of course, only a limited number of representatives from each country can attend the Lemkin seminars in person, and, as they are only held once or twice annually, the line for those waiting to attend continues to grow. Additionally, although alumni of the program benefit from the continued technical assistance of AIPG in implementing programs in their home countries, they often communicate a need for further education and training opportunities, specifically on issues that are directly pertinent to their home regions.
Given this reality and in response to this need, the Auschwitz Institute has created an online education program on atrocity prevention for government officials, with an initial regional focus on East Africa and Latin America. AIPG’s virtual platform allows a vastly greater number of policymakers to receive training on the foundational concepts and practices of atrocity prevention. It also provides the opportunity for alumni of other AIPG programs to expand their capacities for prevention with online modules that specifically reflect the realities of these regions.
The Auschwitz Institute is dedicated to developing online courses with high degrees of interactivity and collaborative exercises. AIPG strives to engage an array of learning styles by providing written, audiovisual, and creative learning exercises. The courses focus on direct participant engagement and the development of practical skills. Enrollment for each course is kept low so that each participant can receive individual attention from the expert instructors and so they can interact with and learn from each other. Consequently, AIPG’s Online Education Initiative is serving as another way to grow the community of individuals all over the world working actively for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities.
The Online Education teaching and development staff includes experts from each region, all of whom are at the forefront of atrocity prevention research and policy in their respective fields. As AIPG’s online education initiative grows, courses are planned to expand into other regions, making the tools of online education available to all our partner states.
If you are interested in learning more about AIPG’s Online Education program, or if you would like to apply for an upcoming online course, please write Kerry Whigham at kerry.whigham@auschwitzinstitute.org.