PAXsims

Conflict simulation, peacebuilding, and development

Tag Archives: peacebuilding

CEASEFIRE!

Comments Off on CEASEFIRE! Posted by on 24/02/2026

Posted on behalf of Rebecca Sutton (University of Glasgow).

Are you an educator or trainer who is interested in using the CEASEFIRE! negotiation skills video game in your course/training? Look no further… The CEASEFIRE! Toolkit for Trainers and Educators is here.

Free to download on the CEASEFIRE! Peace Game Project Website, the Toolkit makes it effortless for you to integrate the CEASEFIRE! Peace Game into existing curricula.

Select a bespoke Learning Journey tailored to the needs of your participants, with sessions lasting 1 hour, 2 hours, or 1/2 day. You can choose to deepen learning on one (or more) of three key themes:

  • protecting Education from Attack under hashtag#IHL
  • human emotions and negotiation
  • ceasefire negotiation stories

Interested in designing your own peace games or simply wanting to understand how the game was made? Part 2 of the Toolkit provides a visual guide of how ‘peace gamers’ and ceasefire experts co-designed the game.

See the full Toolkit here.

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Position: Gaming stabilization

Leave a comment Posted by on 12/12/2022

A contractor (Tuvli) is currently adverstising for a position working with the US State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabalization Operations (CSO). The position is limited to US citizens and requires a Secret clearance. Full details here

The Planning and Gaming Specialist will work within the Office of Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DME) to support CSO’s Planning Advisor in designing and executing strategic planning processes, including tabletop exercises and other forms of strategic gaming, in both Washington and the field.  Examples of this include:  using tabletop exercises to integrate host country and civil society perspectives into long-term stabilization strategies or leverage their partnership on strategy implementation; preparing atrocityprevention contingency plans; developing plans requested by Department leadership for low-probability, high-impact scenarios; and strengthening Defense Department operational and campaign plans to support stabilization efforts. 

…

Essential Functions: 

• Support CSO’s Planning Advisor in designing and executing strategic planning processes, including tabletop exercises and other forms of strategic gaming.
• Update CSO’s planning framework and templates and develop new tools as needed.
• Work with CSO’s Learning and Training Specialist and Planning Advisor to identify external training resources, and, as needed, develop, and execute in-house supplemental training on strategic planning and gaming.
• Support the Planning Advisor in launching and sustaining a strategic planning and gaming community of practice.

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World Bank: Gaming for peace

Leave a comment Posted by on 16/06/2019

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The World Bank blog features a new article by Laura Bailey on how games can be used to explore the challenges of peacebuilding, stabilization, and reconstruction. Part of the piece discusses the Carana simulation used by the Bank to teach staff about fragile and conflicted countries.

The Carana simulation was a central element in the World Bank Group’s original Core Course on Fragility and Conflict for its staff around the world.  It did not only embed experiential – more engaging and interactive – learning as the core pillar of the Bank’s deepening focus on staff learning on fragile and conflict situations (FCS); it also took the accumulated wisdom of then-cutting-edge analytics on FCS and built those principles into the rules of the Carana game.

We’ve discussed Carana here at PAXsims too.

The second part of the article looks at the iOS game Rebel, Inc.

Enter mobile technology, with a deceptively simple proposition by a gaming studio called Ndemic Creations: make commercially successful games about wicked world problems – such as contagious disease and war – that can be played on your smartphone or tablet.  If the game is good enough, players around the world – as many as millions of them – can learn how to solve pressing development challenges while they’re busy having fun. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control were so interested in Ndemic’s first game Plague Inc. that they invited Ndemic founder and lead designer James Vaughn to chat with their scientists.

In May 2019, at the annual Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, I moderated a deluge of questions from a packed room in a conversation with James about Rebel Inc., a simulation game launched in December 2018 that is engaging over four million players worldwide on the issue of post-conflict stabilization.

It’s an excellent game too, as you can read in our PAXsims review.

 

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Workshop on “simulated peacebuilding”

Leave a comment Posted by on 09/08/2017

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I’m happy to announce that I’ll be conducting a small workshop on “simulated peacebuilding: an introduction to serious games for education, training, and policy analysis” in London (UK) on 4 September 2017. The event is being organized by Peace Direct.

Peace Direct is delighted to host a workshop on “simulated peacebuilding”, with Professor Rex Brynen on 4 September 2017.

Rex Brynen is Professor of Political Science at McGill University, specializing in peacebuilding, strategic analysis, and Middle East politics. He is also senior editor of the conflict simulation/peacebuilding website PAXsims (http://www.paxsims.org), and designer of AFTERSHOCK: A Humanitarian Crisis Game.

“Simulated Peacebuilding” – presentation and discussion: 16.00 – 17.00.

There will be a one-hour presentation and discussion on the role of games in peacebuilding education, training, and policy analysis (16.00 – 17.00).

AFTERSHOCK demonstration: 17.00 – 19.30

After the presentation and discussion, Rex will lead a demonstration of AFTERSHOCK: A Humanitarian Crisis Game. AFTERSHOCK is a boardgame that explores the interagency cooperation needed to address the emergency and early recovery phase of a complex humanitarian crisis.

Spaces are strictly limited so registration is required. Please email Ruairi Nolan if you are interested in attending: [email protected]

Please confirm if you wish to attend the presentation only, or both the presentation and demonstration. (Spaces for the demonstration are limited to a maximum of 12 people).

The workshop will take place at Peace Direct’s office in London.

Full details can be found here.

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Peace Direct, First Floor, 1 King Edward’s Road, London, E9 7SF

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