Plateau Community Women in Peacebuilding and Security have been trained in Mediation and Dialogue to enhance their ability to collaborate in tackling societal issues and project their peacebuilding potential.
The women were drawn from Bassa and Jos North Communities in Plateau State and held a one-day training at the Conference Hall of JPRM-POCC Lamingo Road Jos On Monday 7th November 2022 organized by The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, (KAICIID) supported by Women Initiative For Positive Peace Building Initiative (WOPPI), Women Peace Builders Network in Nigeria (WOPENN) and National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations(NACOMYO).
Lead Facilitator, Sani Suleman, International Fellow on Inter-Religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue with KAICIID, speaking with the Theme; An Empowered Woman means an Empowered Society further stated that mediation.
He stated that the central message was supporting the women to recognize their place not as victims of conflict but as active stakeholders that can contribute to resolving the disputes in the community and by providing them with tools, techniques, and skills.
And how to use mediation and dialogue in helping their communities to address their conflict is a major way of creating that awareness in them and also enabling them to go back to their communities and actively apply these tools in supporting their communities to address conflicting issues.
“Women have been victims of conflicts because as mothers and wives, they are central to the cohesion of society and it was time for them to move from just being victims to active stakeholders in the process of building Peace in their communities” Sani Suleman, further stated.
In her remarks, The Executive Director For Justice Peace and Reconciliation Movement, KAICCID Fellow, and Founder of Women Peace Network In Nigeria. Elder Amb, Mrs. Justina Mike Ngwobia, said that it was critical for community women to get actively involved in peace mediation as such training them as mediators to be a voice for solving conflicts was a good start.
Elder Amb, Mrs. Justina further stated that Women who are key security and peacebuilding actors create a platform for sharing of experiences on the different roles they played in peace and security-building as participants can learn from each other and explore current conflict dynamics in their individual communities ranging from community conflicts, domestic violence sexual abuse, banditry, and other sensitive issues.
Some of the participants including Halima Salihu, Mrs Mary John, Rashida Usman Yahaya, Habibah Abdulahi and Weke Moses who spoke shortly after the training were grateful for the training as it will assist them to build their dialogue and mediation abilities especially in removing issues within their various communities.
