PMDC, TRICentre To Strengthen Community-based Justice System

Plateau MultiDoor Courthouse (PMDC) and the Tattaaunawa Roundtable Initiative (TRICentre) in a concerted effort to strengthen community-based justice system and promote sustainable peace, have convened a three-day capacity-building workshop on Collaborative and Alternative Dispute Resolution (CDR/ADR) in the state.

The project with the support of the Government of Sweden to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
aimed to improve access to Women’s Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights through legislative actions and strengthening institutional capacity with the theme “Empowering Traditional Leaders for Sustainable Peace and Community Justice.’’

LEADERSHIP reports that the workshop brought together traditional rulers from six local government areas across the state, reaffirming the pivotal role of traditional institutions in justice delivery, mediation, grassroots and peacebuilding.

The chairperson of the Plateau MultiDoor Courthouse, Hon. Justice Nafisah Lawal, while speaking at the occasion held in Jos, the Plateau State capital, emphasised the MultiDoor Courthouse’s critical function in advancing access to justice and reducing the burden on formal judicial systems.

She highlighted the importance of equipping traditional leaders with knowledge and skills that complement indigenous justice with modern ADR principles.

Also speaking on behalf of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) the programme manager Jos Office Mr. Ephraim Hellandendu underscored the need for communities to embrace ADR as a complementary and often more accessible path to justice.

He reiterated NRC’s commitment to supporting interventions that empower local actors and enhance social cohesion.

“This workshop is one step in a much longer and impactful partnership between NRC and the Plateau MultiDoor Courthouse,” he added.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Plateau Peace Practitioners Network PPPN Bali Namank, in his goodwill message, encouraged the traditional leaders to maximize the learning opportunity by deepening their understanding of local justice practices and their alignment with modern dispute resolution tools.

For his part, faculty-led and council member of the PMDC Dr. Charles Dickson, in his address, charged participants to fully engage in the sessions and take actionable knowledge back to their communities.

“This is more than training,” he remarked, “It’s a call to become peace architects in their domains.”

According to him, the workshop represents a significant milestone in the collaboration between civil society, government institutions, and traditional structures toward fostering a more accessible, restorative, and culturally resonant justice system in Plateau State and beyond.

Participants in the three-day event engaged in an immersive curriculum covering the foundations and frameworks of ADR/CDR, the ADR spectrum, and understanding negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, and conflict analysis tools for traditional justice systems, among many others.