The Auschwitz Institute’s Online Education Program offers online training and capacity building in atrocity and conflict prevention policy to government officials and policymakers all over the world. Originally developed as a response to requests by alumni from Latin America and the Great Lakes Region of Africa for further training opportunities in atrocity prevention for themselves and their colleagues, we have since expanded our reach to almost every global region. From when we first began offering courses in 2017, the Online Education Program has continued to expand our course offerings and global reach to meet existing and emerging thematic needs.
The Online Education Program offers atrocity prevention training to government officials and civil society stakeholders around the world. We offer courses in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, German, Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), and Thai in thirteen different thematic areas. AIPG’s virtual platform allows a vastly greater number of policymakers to receive training on the foundational concepts, practices, and tools of atrocity prevention. It also provides the opportunity for alumni of other AIPG programs to expand their capacities for prevention with online modules that specifically reflect the realities of these regions. As of February 2022, the Online Education Program has more than 1600 alumni from over 80 countries around the world.
In addition to our global programming, the Online Education Program also offers domestic programming to prevent atrocities in the United States. Redefining Policing to Affirm and Instill Human Rights (REPAIR) is an online training program for law enforcement personnel that uses lessons from the atrocity-prevention field to help build capacity in US law enforcement; this training is a virtual version of the effective and highly-regarded National Law Enforcement Seminar that AIPG and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights has offered in person at The Center since 2017.
The urgent need for this work has been highlighted by recent national protests over racial injustice and police brutality, as well as the commitment of many police departments around the country to develop more community-based approaches to policing and their role to protect and serve. The atrocity-prevention field, in addition to civil and human rights frameworks, provides key lessons about how to identify risk factors for violence and institute programs and practices that create productive relationships between law enforcement and citizens. Due to the specialized expertise of both organizations, REPAIR is the only program to offer such a comprehensive course.
REPAIR offers training to leadership in police departments across the nation and equips leaders to then become trainers themselves and pass on their knowledge, tools, and resources to their rank-and-file officers. If your department is interested in learning more about the REPAIR program, please write Jenna Fagan at [jenna.fagan@aushwitzinstitute.org](mailto:jenna.fagan@aushwitzinstitute.org)
The Auschwitz Institute is dedicated to developing online courses with high degrees of interactivity and collaborative exercises. AIPG strives to engage an array of learning styles by providing written, audiovisual, and creative learning exercises. The courses focus on direct participant engagement and the development of practical skills. Enrollment for each course is kept low so that each participant can receive individual attention from the expert instructors and so they can interact with and learn from each other. As a result, our completion rates average 80-90%, which is much higher than other online courses. AIPG’s Online Education Program is serving as another way to grow the community of individuals all over the world working actively for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities.
Our courses are designed for participants to complete alongside their professional and personal obligations. All of our courses are online and asynchronous, meaning participants complete the material on their own time as long as the assignments are submitted by the weekly deadline on Saturday. Past participants have reported that each week’s material takes about four hours to complete.
Course requirements include:
- Completing all of the course material (online text, videos, outside reading) each week;
- Responding to all discussion board posts by the end of Saturday each week;
- Writing at least one reply to a colleague’s responses on each discussion board post by the end of Monday each week (for the previous week); and
- Remaining in contact with the course instructor, responding to their messages and feedback.
All of our instructors are experts in the region where the course is offered and are at the forefront of atrocity prevention research and policy in their respective fields. As AIPG’s online education program grows, we are continually updating our courses, increasing the languages in which we offer courses, and developing new curricula with the goal of making atrocity prevention tools available to all of our partner states.
Everyone who successfully completes a course receives a certificate of completion and becomes a part of AIPG’s alumni network. Beyond the course, we offer virtual continuing education opportunities in the form of seminars, Q&As with leading experts in the field, and technical assistance and capacity building.
If you are interested in learning more about AIPG’s Online Education Program, or if you would like to apply for an upcoming online course, please write Kerry Whigham at [kerry.whigham@auschwitzinstitute.org](mailto:kerry.whigham@auschwitzinstitute.org).
https://player.vimeo.com/video/232079356
