Dr Baharul Islam's Page

What motivated you to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

Since 1999, as a part of various UN assignments abroad, I served in different conflict prone regions in Asia and Africa. I worked on reconstruction and humanitarian recovery programmes in Cambodia, Post-Genocide Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. I have led special conflict resolution works for the displaced people in the Northeast Region of India in the context of Tibetan refugees in the bordering states. In those assignments I saw the human cost of conflicts and the role of peace in development. Gradually, I started to strongly believe that participating in the meaningful interaction on peace and conflict resolution will allow me to learn from others and share my experiences in conflict resolution, peace-building, reconciliation and peace-keeping efforts by focusing specifically on community driven peace initiatives.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself (no more than 3 paragraphs)

I am a trained master trainer on Emergency Recovery & reconstruction for the UNICEF-INEEE. I have already served in conflict management assignments on reconstruction and humanitarian recovery programmes in Cambodia, Post-Genocide Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. I have led special conflict resolution works for the displaced people in the Northeast Region of India in the context of Tibetan refugees in the bordering states. I am working in the area human development, peace and conflict resolution issues, poverty reduction, teaching and researching information society and emerging knowledge economy for more than a decade. My areas of legal specializations are Information Technology Law, Cyber Crimes, and Human Rights. Presently I am a diplomatic assignment with South Asian Regional Development Gateway as its Chairman and CEO. I was earlier working as a specialist on ICT policy and e-Government with the UN Commission for Africa (UNECA) and UN Economic Commission for Asia (ESCAP). I have MA, LLB, B.ED, PhD, Post-Doctoral degrees. He also did his LLM (IT & Telecom Law) from the University of Strathclyde (UK). I taught for more than 12 years in various universities in Asia and Africa and last held a position of an Associate Professor at the University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).

I have been working in the Conflict Resolution and Development sector for more than twelve years. Starting my career as a university faculty, I have latter taken keen interest in widening the reach of socio-economic development through various community based initiatives. Specifically working on poverty reduction, I have led development of national I policies for accelerated economic development for countries like The Gambia and Sierra Leone. I have developed regional strategic frameworks for development and e-governance for economic communities like COMESA and East African Community (EAC). Through my works I was able to learn from others and share my experiences in conflict resolution, peace-building, reconciliation and peace-keeping efforts by focusing specifically on community driven peace initiatives that will add on to the strategies and approaches that could be adapted to different contexts and successfully applied.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you have direct and significant expertise

South Asia
Africa
India
Cambodia
Thailand
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Uganda
Kenya
Tanzania

What is your current country of residence?

India

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

CEO, South Asia Development Gateway

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.sardeg.org

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.theoneworldfoundation.org

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.peacejusticestudies.org

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise?

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Mainstreaming, Development, Humanitarian Relief, Gender, Youth, Education, Civil Society

Which are your primary skills areas?

Training, Evaluation, Program Design, Program Administration, Advocacy, Intervention, Research

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

Conflict Resolution and Anti-Insurgency Operations
Education for Inter-faith confidence building and networking

If appropriate feel free to list several of your publications

1. Woman Rights Education Literacy Online Journal, Pennsylvania
http://www.literacyonline.org/products/ili/webdocs/baharul.html
2. ICT for Poverty Reduction: The African Perspective Encyclopaedia of Digital Governance, 2006. Idea Group Inc., Hershey, PA 17033 USA
3. National Information & Communication Policy for Poverty Reduction- Emerging Issues in Africa. Communication and Development. World Conference Proceedings, FAO, WB, 2006, Rome.
4. ICT for Socio-Economic Development: ACTION Model. In African E-Markets. Eds Aida Opoku-Mensah & M. Salih. International Books & UN, The Netherlands, 2007
5. The African Renaissance -Book Review published in The Ethiopian Review, Oct 2003 Issue.
6. Problems, prospects and future of education for minorities in India: a case study of Madrassa education in Assam. In Management of School Education in India (Ed. Neelam Sood) New Delhi, A.P.H., 2003.
7. e-Governance: The Indian Experience. In ICT Focus, Vol:2 Issue:3, Nov/03; Addis Ababa
8. Access & Equity Issues in Crossing the Digital Divide through Open & Distance Learning. In AAOU XV Conference Volume, 2002, IGNOU: New Delhi. Visit www.ignou.ac.in
9. ICT for Education in Ethiopia. In Ethiopian Herald, June 2003
Making of an Outer Circle in Language: TEFL as an avenue for Gender Sensitisations ILS Proceedings, 15thAnnual Conference, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa; 2003
10. Computer Networks as Mass Media: Exploring Possibilities of Computer Initiatives in TEFL in Ethiopia (Co-auth: Demisse T.) ILS Proceedings, 15thAnnual Conference, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa; 2003
11. Towards ESP In Ethiopia: A 3D English Language Needs Survey. In Proceedings of 2ndInterdisciplinary Conference English Language Teaching, Unity University, Addis Ababa; April 2003.
12. Cultural Content and Foreign Language Acquisition: A Case for Paradigm Shift in Ethiopia. In Annual OSSREA Conference, Organization for Social Sciences Research in Easter and Southern Africa; Addis Ababa June, 2003.