History

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) is a teaching and research center at the University of Hargeisa, Somaliland. It was established in 2008 by the University of Hargeisa and Eastern Mennonite University in the United States of America to provide a multidisciplinary approach to understand and address conflict and violence in the Horn of Africa. The Institute, was the first Institute of its kind to engage in teaching and research in the areas of peace and conflict studies, and remains the only one in the Somali-speaking region in the Horn of Africa. The IPCS provides interested scholars, institute members, and students with the opportunity to engage in intensive interdisciplinary study and research on Somaliland and Somali-inhabited regions in the Horn of Africa.

Within the context of this broad mission, the Institute envisages three interrelated divisions of its work: academic teaching, research, and outreach and development. Outreach activities take place both at a local and a community level in order to enhance the IPCS impact on stability at home and at the regional and international level. This engagement also acts to support the creation of extensive collaboration and mutual learning networks for peace and conflict research with the world’s leading universities.