The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) held a capacity-building training for key youth stakeholders of Abiteye and Utonana both in Warri, Delta State from January 31 to February 1, 2022.
The training was in line with the implementation of an intervention aimed at curbing an impending inter-communal crisis threatening the peaceful coexistence between the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities of Abiteye and Utonana. It was facilitated PIND representatives:Dr. David Udofia, Chief Africas Lawal and Dr. Chukwudi Njoku, co-facilitated by Sheriff Mulade and Wilikie Jeffrey of the Warri Multi-Stakeholders Platform (MSP), had 20 (13 men, 7 women) participants from the two communities in attendance.
The goals were to mitigate and prevent the potential conflict situation from escalating, proactively identify and eliminate the triggers of such conflicts in a manner that prevents future reoccurrence, and ensure that sustainable peace returns within the shortest possible time.PIND leveraged the unique opportunities provided by the Warri MSP to build the capacity of the stakeholders and brainstorm on veritable strategies that will significantly mitigate the conflict.
The core of the capacity building program was the peacebuilding training which exposed the participants to further understanding of the concept of peace and conflict, the causes of conflict, conflict management styles and a hands-on conflict analysis session. During the practical session, the participants identified conflicts in their communities, analyzed the conflicts, suggested action plans to mitigate and remediate and proposed an implementation plan.
The participants were also trained on volunteerism: the need to volunteer, approaches to volunteerism and how to volunteer for peace in the Niger Delta, and leadership: skills required for leadership, the qualities of a good leader, and how leaders get things done plus the challenges they face.
Finally, the participants were shown how to properly report conflict using PIND’s Integrated Peace and Development Unit (IPDU) SMS-based conflict Early Warning and Early Response(EWER) system: the incident reporting format, things to consider when reporting and the types of incidents to report.
At the end of the event, all the participants averred that the training had positively influenced their perception towards managing conflicts, making them more willing to take peacebuilding actions when necessary. Thanks to this PIND and Warri MSP peacebuilding training, twenty new peace actors will go forth into their communities and become peace ambassadors through the Warri MSP platform.
