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| Members of Cross River State Prevent Team, Partners for Peace in the Niger Delta |
CALABAR – The Foundation For Partnership Initiatives In the Niger Delta,(PIND) has in a two day capacity strengthening and recalibration training Workshop trained over 50 persons in Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Delta States on conflict management, mediation, peace building and EWER reporting system.
The training our reporter learnt is part of the network’s efforts in building the capacity of Prevent Teams Members of the Partners For Peace (P4P) in these States to respond to crisis and conflicts as they occur in their various communities.
Dr. Chukwudi Njoku, the Capacity Building Coordinator of PIND Foundation’s Peace building Program said the event was aimed at restructuring and training members of prevent committees on various skills and approaches to reduce the spate of violence as well as prevent conflicts from escalating.
“This event is a capacity building training for members of prevent team committees, who are already volunteering with Partners for Peace in the Niger Delta, these are people from across all works of life, and members of this committees are nominated from the partners of peace network based on their commitment, and volunteerism in peace building in the different Niger Delta States.
While advising them to work hard with renewed vigor based on their new knowledge to restore peace in communities affected with cummunal crisis, Njoku noted that the set of persons trained are one of the first responders to conflicts as identified by PIND’s conflict tracker and as such their capacity needed to be strengthened so they can effectively respond to the various conflicts bedeviling their communities.
“The essence of the event is to strengthen their capacity in peace building because already they are peace builders based on their membership of the partners for peace network they have been involved in peace building for many years but we trying to strengthen their capacity in modules like conflict sensitivity, as well as introduce them to PIND’s early warning and early response platform, such that they can carry out interventions in communities where conflicts may arise.”
Speaking also at the event, one of the trainers, Amb. Otu Ubi Denise, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators said PIND has done a great job in training the participants that has empowered P4P members with skills to deal with conflict which is on the burner.
He also advised the beneficiaries of the training to ensure the skills learnt are not dormant but step out and add value to the society through the deployment of their skills
In his appreciation speech, the State Coordinator of Partners for Peace in the Niger Delta, Cross River state Chapter, Mr. Ukorebi Esien said the training will make the peace building work of the P4P in the various states much easier for members as they now know the various tools and skills to deploy in managing conflicts, adding that the training is timely and a step in the right direction.
The chairman of the prevent team, Mr. Cletus Bassey said the training was an eye opener while pledging to translate what was taught them to action with the increase capacity they now have. He also appealed for a joint prevent team meeting from the 9 states where ideas could be crossbreed for effectiveness.
The Foundation for Partnerships Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) is a Nigerian non-profit organization which works to promote peace, and equitable economic growth in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region by forging multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder partnerships at the regional, national and international levels.
Pictures from the event:
This story was exclusively reported by;
Asuquo Cletus Felix