All this week, "In A Flash" will feature images from the Kent State University group's trip to Rwanda.
Kent State University students, faculty and staff met with representatives of the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to learn about their unique Community Policing Model. Founded in 2000, RNP is committed to ensuring all Rwandans are safe, involved and reassured, with justice and respect at the center of all they do.
Students from Kent State University’s Kigali Summer Institute also visited Rwanda’s Ministry of Civic Engagement and National Unity. The Ministry's core mission is to preserve historical memory, reinforce national unity and promote citizenship education. Students spoke with officials there and learned about the Rwandan model for unity, which is inspired by positive cultural values to create a shared sense of "Rwandanness."
The Kigali Summer Institute is another component of Kent State’s growing relationship with the University of Rwanda. In May 2022, Kent State’s Board of Trustees approved Kent State opening a base of operations at the University of Rwanda for creating collaborative educational exchanges and to serve as a base of operations for Kent State’s recruitment throughout Africa. These students also attended Peace Education in an Era of Crisis, a global, peace education academic conference and interactive skills workshop for educators and practitioners which took place July 11-13 in Rwanda.
This conference was sponsored by Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State’s Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, the University of Rwanda and the Aegis Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending genocide and other global atrocities.