Peacebuilding Simulations

[Rex Brynen]

Gary Milante and I have recently started a blog—PaxSims (http://paxsims.wordpress.com)—on the use of peace and conflict simulations for training and education purposes. Gary runs the World Bank's Carana simulation, which is used to train staff on development programming in fragile and war-affected countries (and which he briefly describes on the site). I run a major simulation each year in my undergraduate and graduate courses on peacebuilding at McGill.

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[Surferbeetle]

Rex,

Thanks for the link, it has some interesting additional links (http://www.brynania.net/) as well. What would be the feasibility of running a demo game here at SWJ some weekend?

Regards,

Steve

[Rex Brynen]

Rex,

Thanks for the link, it has some interesting additional links (http://www.brynania.net/) as well. What would be the feasibility of running a demo game here at SWJ some weekend?

Regards,

Steve

Fun as that would be, it is a major (bordering on slightly insane) investment of time. However, when I run it in class again next year I'll provide links so that folks can follow the action.

[J Wolfsberger]

I'm glad to see you took an approach that reflected the situation as a Wicked Problem, and tackled it using live/virtual technique. I plan to invest some time in the near future digging in deeper.

[Rex Brynen]

It is interesting to see how much play "Carana"--the fictional country set up by the UN for peacekeeping simulation training exercises--is now getting.

In addition to the major World Bank variant (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/carana/) used for training of staff on issues arising in fragile and conflict-afflicted countries, it is also used by the Norwegians for their DDR planning course (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/carana-ddr-simulation-norwegian-edition/), and by the AU for strategic leadership training (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/amani-africa-eurorecamp-does-carana/) in connection with the proposed African Stand-by Force.

Each variant is somewhat different, although many retain key elements of geography, history, and politics.

Has anyone out there seen or used the Carana setting in another simulation context? If so, PM me.

[Rex Brynen]

I noticed today that the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reductions (http://www.unisdr.org/) has produced a very nicely-designed online education game about disaster mitigation strategies called Stop Disasters! (http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html) It is packed with information, links to further resources--and, unlike the WFP's (very successful) Food Force (http://ff.fighthunger.org/) game--is very, very playable. Its primarily designed for K-12 (especially high school) education.

I've written a longer review of it elsewhere (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/stop-disaster/), but I'm flagging it here because it does seem to be that a very similar approach could be used to build a COIN/stabilization simulation that, while still very "game-like" could be targeted for secondary or even post-secondary education, ROTC, or even basic training. The point is not that the simulation is hyper-realistic--it is not, and used properly those very shortcomings can even be used to spin off some "teachable moments"--but it is a rather addictive way of getting people to access information and understand relationships (in the case of Stop Disasters!, between development planning and disaster vulnerability). Certainly teens and young adults will easily adapt to its very SimCity approach and interface.

http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/imgs/screens/flood_buying_defences.jpg