By Moses Onyango

The Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IPPIA) in conjunction with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi, held a Public Lecture titled ‘Developing Peace: The Evolution of Peacekeeping Operations and North-South Bilateral Cooperation’ at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS).

The delegation from the Royal Norwegian Embassy were received and hosted by the Deputy Vice Chancellor - Finance and Operations, Prof. Elizabeth Kalunda and discussed potential future collaboration in areas of research and capacity building.

The event was graced by Ambassador Gunnar Andreas Holm, the Norwegian Ambassador to Kenya and Professor Stig Jarle Jansen from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). The lecture also brought together several experts and academicians in the fields of diplomacy, peace and security.

The Ambassador's paper analyzed the historical evolution of peacekeeping operations, focusing on their inception, development, and current trends and discussed the significance Norway and the North-South bilateral cooperation in the context of peacekeeping missions, with a special emphasis on recent developments and discussions surrounding the deployment of Kenyan police forces to Haiti, while Professor Stig Hansen's paper focused on the historical and current situational analysis of Haiti in the context of peacekeeping.

The main aim of the lecture was to foster dialogue among experts from academia, government, diplomatic communities, and international organizations regarding the challenges and opportunities in contemporary peacekeeping operations.