Guest Speaker Mr. Josep Coll
Under the supervision of Faculty Ms. Karoline
Knowing Mr. Josep Garcia Coll’s extensive knowledge about the Middle Eastern region and the role of civil societies, he was invited as a guest speaker in Introduction to Political Science class to talk about the role of Civil Societies in building peace.
Mr. Coll is originally from Valencia, Spain. He has a Master’s degree in Peace, Conflicts and
Development that was preceded by a BA in English Philology. His initial training and experience
were as a high school teacher, although through his professional career, he has combined work in
formal and non-formal education settings. In the summer of 2011, he worked with the
organization Windows-Channels for Communication designing peace-building workshops for
Jewish and Palestinian youth. After this, he spent a year at the Corrymeela Community in
Northern Ireland, where he designed, coordinated and facilitated Conflict Transformation and
inter-religious dialogue workshops with youth, members of the civil society, security forces and
paramilitary groups. Afterward, he spent a year in Burundi working with Search for Common
Ground (SFCG) supporting the design and evaluation of dialogue workshops for the prevention
of political-ethnic violence. He was subsequently contracted by SFCG as a trainer in Conflict
Transformation and Human Rights for community leaders and paramilitary groups in Central
African Republic.
He lived in Lebanon for a year, where he worked as Communications and Project Officer for
SFCG. Here he coordinated a Conflict Resolution project for Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese
youth and facilitated some training sessions with university students and youth.
He is currently studying a Master’s Degree studies in Research on Behavior and Cognition at the
University of Barcelona, focusing on violence risk assessment systems.
The questions that were discussed:
1. What is a civil Society?
2. What are NGOs?
3. What is the role of Civil Societies?
4. What are the means to achieve the goal of civil societies?
5. Examples from around the world!
It was a fruitful class discussions where Mr. Coll shared his expertise on the topic with the
students.. I believe that his contribution to this field is unparalleled and a discussion on this topic
was of great benefit to the students.
The presentation took place on November 18, 2019 . A certificate was awarded.
Below are some of the pictures taken during the session and sample student reports.
Massa shebli – 191410033
Report about the lecture
(Guest speaker)
Mr.Coll discussed what is the meaning of civil society and their roles. The meaning of civil society is a community of citizens linked by common interests and collective activity. They make important contributions to civil society. The meaning of NGOs and examples of them were also explained. NGO is a non governmental organization. And it is made for a goal, he M.r Coll stated the example of helping African poverty and how it is very helpful. And then some examples of NGO in UAE were stated. And he also explained the ways to achieve the goal of civil societies. In the lecture the steps to form an NGO strategic planning was stated. Firstly, the definition is formed then why it is formed or it will form. Secondly, the motto is formed, which is a sentence that summarize the concept. Then the focus, which is where it work. Then the mission and vision, the mission is the goal on the short run, but the vision is a big and long goal. Eventually, the sustainability plan is made and at the end the formalization of the NGO. This lecture was very helpful and we learned more about NGO and examples of them from all around the world.
Haneen Baoom – 201310006
In the beginning Mr. Coll started talking about what is civil society what they’re doing, and he started by talking about the sectors of the general society which are:
Public: which is rolling by the government
private: means business
civil society: as Mr. Coll explain its neither privet or public because it’s included facilities that works for the society benefits but they don’t get any profits or political earnings
And as what I understand from Mr. Coll, we can define civil society as: an independent individual or it can be organization from the government, and they exercised their rights of freedom speak and ossification such as: NGOs, foundation etc.
And it can be guided by religious beliefs or particular cause
What is the role of civil society?
As Mr. Coll mention civil society is very important at this period of time, all is civil society is working for is the humanities, it’s their first goal, such as Red Cross or habitat, they are here for helping people.
What do we mean by NGOs?
First of all, NGOs it came under the name of civil society organizations, and it stands for none- governmental organizations which means an independent facility cares about human needs and causes
And NGOs is relying on donations and from individuals because it’s not supported by the government so there is no profit of it.
He explained how is NGOs can get money from many recourses, and how can we make between NGOs and IGOs
How NGOs cares about human cause and their main goal to maintain peace in world
