In July, the Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) inducted 90 youths into its Niger Delta Peace Champions Program. Spanning all nine states of the Niger Delta, the program empowers 18 to 35-year-olds to join PIND’s network of peace actors in peacebuilding, conflict early warning and early response (EWER), and carrying out interventions where they live and work. The inductees included 51 men, 39 women, and five PWDs.
According to PIND’s Peacebuilding Program Manager, David Udofia, the Peace Champion program is part of PIND’s peacebuilding strategy of contributing to preventing, mitigating, and resolving violent conflicts in the Niger Delta.
“Members are young people passionate about making a difference in their communities through peacebuilding,” he said. “They were selected for their passion for supporting existing peacebuilding structures and implementing solutions to conflicts.”
The induction was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from July 7-8 for Peace Champions from Imo and Rivers States; in Warri, Delta State, from July 13-14 for those from Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo States; in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State from July 13-14 for others in Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River States, and in Akure, Ondo state from July 20-21. The process combined in-person and virtual training. The youth learned how to use PIND’s EWER system, designed to report conflicts and respond to those threats quickly. They were also shown how to send text messages through PIND’s Integrated Peace and Development Unit (IPDU) SMS-based platform.
Speaking on some benefits of the program to the youth, PIND’s Peacebuilding Capacity Building Coordinator, Chukwudi Njoku, said it was an opportunity for the participants to gain new knowledge, share ideas, and contribute to peace and development in their communities and the Niger Delta at large. Other benefits also included training in leadership, volunteerism, conflict management, analysis, peacebuilding advocacy, community engagement, and election monitoring/reporting. The young people also learned the applicability of innovations such as geographic information systems (GIS) for peacebuilding processes.
The newly inducted Niger Delta Peace Champions will now voluntarily carry out peacebuilding interventions based on their training.
