Mainstreaming Peace Studies in African Higher Learning Institutions: Lessons from Tanzania

The ‘Peace Studies for Sustainable Development in Africa’ project by ACUHIAM is an example of the current trend in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Africa to implement peace studies in their academic programmes. Until now, peace studies is still limited and accessible to few institutions while remaining a specialized field of study. Thus, the main aim of the project is to mainstream peace studies across Africa. However, instead of only contributing to this trend, this project aims at strengthening universities’ social responsibility within society to address social challenges, and to promote active citizenship and civil participation. In order to enable inclusive social exchange and dialogue about peace, various interests and needs have to be taken into account. In this research, we analyzed the perceptions of 100 respondents of St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) about the relevance of peace studies, their interests and needs, already existing programmes, and local and traditional African approaches. We argue that adequate peace education has to include various local interests and needs of respondents. In order to be considered as relevant and appropriate, and to be able to contribute to sustainable learning that strengthens peace infrastructures, peace education needs meaningful content, which includes social exchange and dialogue.