The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP-Nigeria), a Non Governmental Organization implementing the Research and Action for Peace (RECAP) Project, has successfully trained stakeholders in Kwara State on peacebuilding and conflict management.
The 3-day capacity-building workshop, held in Ilorin, aimed to equip participants with skills and strategies to resolve conflicts peacefully.
Organized in partnership with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the training focused on conflict prevention, violent extremism, crisis management, and peacebuilding. The project is funded by the European Union (EU) and seeks to strengthen the peacebuilding capacity of organizations and practitioners in Nigeria.
Speaking at the end of the training, NAWEP National Coordinator, Dr Bridget Osakwe said the workshop was to build the capacity of stakeholders on the research and action for peace.
Osakwe who spoke through the NAWEP Nigeria Head of Programme , Patience Ikpeh Obaulo, said the training was aimed at equipping stakeholders with skills to monitor indicators of extremism and radicalisation in order to ensure successful implementation of Kwara State Action Plans.
Obaulo explained further that the WANEP seeks to strengthen the peace building capacity of organizations and practitioners to actively engage in the prevention of violet in the country.
She said the participants working on peace building, women’s rights and good governance were carefully selected in order to equip them with capacity building for them to work with relevant state actors to ensure that peace is sustained in the state.
“At the end of the training, we expect to have a crop of competent civil society actors that can partner with key state actors to ensure that we have a peaceful Kwara where young persons are able to use active techniques to end their grievances”, she said.
She said NAWEP is a network of over 150 civil society organizations in Nigeria working in collaboration with partners across the country in five thematic areas including active non-violence adjudication programme, conflict prevention, women in peace building programme, democracy and good governance as well as research and documentation programme.
In his presentation on conflicts strategies,, the organization Monitor, Evaluation and Learning Specialist, Emmanuel Ami – Okhani said the actors need to know the root causes of any conflict before wading in to resolve it.
The WANEP-, state Coordinator, Tosin Apiriola Ajayi appreciated the organizer of the training saying the the training will go a long way to address escalation of violent conflicts in the state.
According to her, WANEP is working immensely to minimize conflicts in the country through capacity building and awareness creation using Non Violence strategies.
Professor Bashir Adeniyi of Ansar- Ud- Deen Youth Association (ADYAN) was of the opinion that the training has equipped the participants with the needed skills in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
Also in her remarks, the state Chairperson of Federalism of Female Lawyer Association (FIDA ) Barr Funke Balogun appreciated WANEP for impactIng useful knowledge that will assist in managing conflicts in the state.
End
