Overview and Goals

The UN Dialogue with the Global South project aims to build stronger, more dynamic relationships between the United Nations and universities located in developing countries. The project has been generously funded by the United Nations Foundation/UN Fund for International Partnerships. Its primary goals are:

• To create an active network of Partner Universities located in developing countries to work with the United Nations on peace, security and humanitarian issues as well as the Millennium Development Goals;
• To provide opportunities for UN fellows and scholars from Partner Universities to contribute insights and innovative thinking to UN policy discussions on issues of international peace and security;
• To generate greater awareness of the views and perspectives of the Global South for United Nations activities in political, peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs.

The University Partners are: American University in Cairo, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, the National University of Mexico, the National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The UN partner departments in the project are: Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Political Affairs (DPA), and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Background
Since its creation, the UN has collaborated with a variety of universities and research institutions around the world. The Organization has benefited from many of the new ideas that have emerged from scholarly discussions at such institutions. There has been increasing recognition, however, that a majority of these universities and research institutes have been located in the developed world. As a result, there has been a growing desire within the UN to engage the academic community on a more systematic and global basis and to encourage greater diversity of views and perspectives for consideration in senior UN policy discussions. In focusing on the creation of on-going working relationships with universities in the developing world, UN Dialogue with the Global South is designed to fulfil both of these needs.

Project Activities

The project has three core activities:

1. Out-posting of 3-4 UN Fellows (UN Staff members on special assignment) to Partner Universities for 3-4 months per year, providing unique opportunities for discussion of UN policy and practice in an academic environment. UN Fellows are responsible for outreach within the university and with neighboring research institutions. They lecture, carry out research and/or design joint projects with local academic and civil society counterparts.
2. Participation of academic counterparts in policy dialogue/collaborative projects in order to become more familiar with the United Nations and its work at Headquarters and in the field.
3. Periodic meetings and publications contribute to communication and collaboration among UN Fellows, the United Nations and University Partners.

A. Activities of UN Fellows

UN staff members have held fellowships at Partner Universities located in
Beijing, Delhi, Johannesburg, and Mexico City for up to four months (approximately one academic semester). Their responsibilities have included:

1. Developing links with researchers, academics and research institutions in the region in order to discuss and research issues of common interest such as plans for the establishment of an African Stand-by Force, the role and status of political parties in Latin America today, UN electoral assistance in Africa, and the rationale/perceptions involved in decisions by troop contributing countries to participate in UN peacekeeping.
2. Providing guest lectures and briefings based on actual experience in UN peacekeeping, conflict prevention and mediation or humanitarian affairs for university students and faculty, NGO and governmental fora as well as academic conferences and roundtables; writing op-ed pieces for local newspapers, book reviews and journal articles.
3. Designing collaborative projects for further work by the sponsoring UN office and appropriate local counterparts.

B. Academic Partners

Representatives of the Partner Universities met on 26-27 May 2005 at the
University of the Witwatersrand to discuss the “Regional Dynamics of Human Security”. The two day consultation and workshop, supported by the UN Trust Fund for Human Security, and including participants from the University and neighboring research institutions, led to a decision of the partners to collaborate on a larger comparative study of human security. Follow-up meetings were held at UN Headquarters in New York in November 2005 and at the American University in Cairo in December 2006. A publication of the regional papers is planned for late 2007.

Academic partners are being drawn upon and consulted in identifying resource people for collaborative projects and for participation in UN workshops and symposia such as the 2006 UN/African-American Institute Symposium on “Africa’s Response to Terrorism”. The UN Dialogue project has also offered Partner Universities an opportunity to develop South-South university collaboration through a variety of activities including shared curricula and hosting and participating in conferences and symposia.