As part of its efforts to promote peace and stability in communities, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Global Peace Development (GPD), with support from International Alert (IA), has trained the Kaduna Women Peace Mediation Platform (WOPEMP) on promoting stability, access to justice, and accountability in the northwest region of Nigeria.
The country director of International Alert, Dr Paul Nyulaku, during the meeting on Tuesday in Kaduna with the theme; “Training of Women Mediation Platform (WOPEMP) Members for Sustainability,” said, “This is a sustainability training for the network for the marginalised, which was set up in Chikun local government area of Kaduna to be able to bring people who are marginalised together to see how their voices are incorporated into the decision making processes as it concerns peace and security”.
Nyulaku, represented by Sunday Momoh Jimoh, the project manager of IA, noted that women have vital roles in promoting peace, stability, and social cohesion in their various communities.
However, he explained that the training’s objective was to enhance participants’ knowledge and skills on effective governance of the Women Peace Mediation Platform for a healthy and secure society.
“At the end of the training, the participants will be equipped with various skills to boost their efforts and capacity to collaborate with the government and other agencies for further community development.
“And also, most of them have started getting into decision-making processes such as dispute resolution in their communities; this training will help them even as individuals to be able to do more towards strengthening community social cohesion and contributing to peace,” he said.
According to him, with this training, women have conquered some of the community’s social and cultural norms that impede access to justice and SGBV in their various communities.
He, therefore, tasked the participants to take sustainability to another level to ensure peaceful co-existence in their communities.
GPD’s project officer, Yusuf Yashioh Baba, explained that they are building women’s capacity for mediation and dialogue within their project community and extending the network to other communities.
However, he noted that women play vital roles in peace-building, saying they drive societal peace.
The council secretary of Chikun LGA, Jummai Dorcas Victor, commended International Alert and Global Peace Development for providing training that promotes peaceful coexistence in the LG.
The training equipped participants with various skills to achieve peace in their communities.
