Practice Makes Perfect

A Recap of the Conflict Transformation Training-of-Trainers May 21-25, 2012

When was the last time that you let someone lead you around a room with your eyes closed?  It may have been a while, but if you’re a peace practitioner, you’ve likely participated in a similar exercise meant to encourage trust-building and show the importance of good communication and leadership.
 
This is one of the exercises that the 24 participants gathered for the Conflict Transformation Training of Trainers (ToT) enjoyed most.
 
These role-plays allowed participants to practice new skills and tackle real issues that exist in the communities in the Niger Delta.  For example, in a role-play with two co-mediators and two parties, each with six constituents, participants acted out an intra-community conflict in which Party A of the community was composed of people who have been living there for generations, while Party B had been given land in the community by the indigenes fifty years ago.  The issue was that oil had been discovered in the area of the community that Party B had moved on to, and the other community members wanted to now reclaim the land. 
 
Training focused on analysing positions, interests and needs, conflict analysis tools, concepts and techniques in mediation and negotiation, active communication, rumour management, and a facilitated conflict mapping exercise aimed at helping the community leaders develop a shared analysis of local conflicts, their causes, and possible solutions.
 
These trainers will in turn train 1080 people in 7 different communities located in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa states.  After 5 days of conflict transformation training and with the new SFCG Conflict Transformation Trainer’s Manual in hand, participants are enthusiastic and ready to begin to affect change in their communities.