Pastoral Resolve (PARE), a non-governmental organisation, working on community initiatives to promote peace (CIPP) project, says it has trained 25 farmers and pastoralists on peacebuilding in Kogi.

The PARE’s team lead and facilitator, Israel Okpe, said this on Wednesday during the training of some community leaders in Ajaka, Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Okpe said that the three-day interest-based negotiation and mediation training was designed to promote synergy among various stakeholders in addressing the lingering conflicts among the different communities.

Mr Okpe, who is also the senior programme officer, said that the pastoral resolve programme also aims to further improve the impact of CIPP and promote sustainability of negotiation and mediation skills among CIPP participants.

The training, he said, featured: pencil simulation, the crocodile and the elephant game, negotiation and mediation, role of mediators, mediation process and meaning of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Others are characteristics of ADR, introduction to the seven elements and circle of value, mediation role play, ladder of understanding and community actions plan.

Also, Mercy corps programme specialist, Emmanuel Shall, charged the communities to always apply mediation in resolving their disputes because of its potential to help parties improve their relationships.

“Mediation is largely our future focus because we believe that leaders should always think outside the box in handling sensitive disputes that might be difficult to resolve.

“Leaders should ask the right questions to understand the dynamics of the conflict instead of dwelling on assumptions.

“This is largely because mediators should be neutral as neutrality helps parties in a conflict to build trust and confidence in them,” Mr Shall said.

One of the trainees, Buhari Abubakar, a pastoral leader, commended CIPP for providing the needed support for the embattled communities.

“We shall put to use the tools acquired from this training in our daily activities because we believe in peace and development in our communities,” Mr Abubakar said.

Also, Tahirudeen Abdullahi, a community leader from Ajaka, thanked CIPP for its efforts and, particularly, for providing the opportunity.

Mr Abdullahi said that with the training, the communities could now resolve their disputes without resorting to jungle justice.

He gave assurance that the communities would no longer take laws into their hands or report disputes to the police as the leaders now have the capacity to resolve disputes amongst the communities.

(NAN)