PHILOSOPHY

The Center for Media, Democracy, Peace and Security-Rongo University is an independent directorate that advances research and knowledge dissemination in media, democracy, peace, and security focusing on hosting visiting fellows, training workshops and seminars, writing policy briefs, curriculum development, academic programs in Media and Security, supporting local governance programs, Countering Violent and Political Extremism, crime and violence training, social media literacy programs, digital peacebuilding and youth empowerment in collaboration with local and international partners.

The Center explores how media technologies can be used for peacebuilding through representation to transform humanity for self-preservation of the latter as Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes prominent in Virtual Reality (VR) characterized by the looming danger of VR replacing sensory reality. In this context, there is a dire need for revisiting epistemology and its representation in African ecologies in mediation. The latter has more recently embraced technology often at the expense of peace and security witnessed in the never-ending conflicts in Africa and elsewhere from natural resource conflict, ethnic and racial conflicts, electoral conflict, and violent extremism to ordinary urban crime and violence coupled with crises such as forced displacement refugees and pandemics.

The center champions positive peace (Godly peace) as opposed to negative peace which merely translates to the absence of conflict. It focuses on post-graduate research, policy, and practice on peace and security informed through Africanism and African philosophies of Utu/Ubuntu/Ujamaa (humanity), Umoja (Unity), and Harambee (collective responsibility) for the benefit of humanity (Man-Kind). The center also strives to harness the power of data science and AI in the service of humanity acting as a policy think-tank in Media and Security

CMDPS MISSION

To conduct research, policy advocacy, and public education and offer academic programs geared toward enhancing the generation and dissemination of public information to promote democracy, peace, and security in Africa and beyond.

CMDPS VISION

To be a global center of excellence in media, democracy, peace, and security research and practice.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the CMPDS are centered on peace-building in East Africa and Africa. They include the following:

• To do continuous research on issues related to the media, democracy, peace, and security;
• To publish research findings and policy briefs;
• To foster the development of the MA degree and the Certificate programs in Media,   Democracy, and Peace Studies at RU;
• To support Master’s and doctoral students in the areas of media, peace, and democracy studies at RU
• To organize journalism institutes with a focus on both traditional journalism and new/social media citizens journalism;
• To organize academic and policy workshops for Governors, Members of County Assembly, clergies, civil society, practicing journalists, media publishers, village chiefs, security officers, and public communication officers;
• To build collaboration with domestic and international NGOs, government agencies, security agencies, universities, grassroots            community leaders, etc.; especially Kenya and its region (East Africa) and globally
• To maintain information resources and provide free public access, including an up-to-date web page; please visit our webpage at https://cmdps.rongovarsity.ac.ke/
• To host visiting scholars, exchange students, journalists, and policy advocates;
• To exploit Virtual reality positively by harnessing the power of data science and AI in the service of humanity