USAID S2S Holds Conflict Mitigation Training For Councilors, Conflict Managers In Ebonyi

By Celestine Okeh

Participants at a two day capacity training workshop on Conflict mitigation, organized by USAID State2State for Local Government Ward Counselors, have identified structural and cultural violence as the root cause of physical violence in the state.

The facilitator and the S2S conflict specialist, Mr Mathias Yake  explained to the participants what is Conflict,  dimensions of Conflict,

Causes of Conflict, types of violence among other areas covered.

He posited that for Conflict to be permanently resolved, the root cause, the interested parties, must be identified.

"It is expected that at the end of the two day workshop, participants would among others, be able to know what Conflict is, the violence and consequences and above how to mitigate conflicts before it gets to violent state.

"It is also importance to know that if Conflict is carefully resolved, it will lead to crises. So, as award counselor, it behoves on you seek for peace at all times", he said.

The specialist who emphasized that the training was part of State2State mission in Conflict Mitigation and achieving enduring peace in the state, stressing that Ward Counselors are key players in peace building in the society.

The participants in the two days training held at muchel hotel, Abakaliki on Monday, 20th and Tuesday, 21st March, 2021, were made up of selected Ward Counselors from the 171 electoral wards in the state and some Conflict resolution managers from the ministry of internal security, border peace and Conflict resolution.

In her presentations, GESI specialist, Ejiro Okotie,  unveil to the participants, the core GESI mainstreaming principles in conflict mitigation, Why GESI mainstreaming is important in conflict mitigation, how to mainstream GESI in conflict mitigation and understand the need incorporate women, youth PWDs in conflict management cycle among others.

Earlier, the USAID Local Government manager,  Mrs Victoria Eze exposed to the participants, the core mandate of USAID State 2State of Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness of State2State activity and urged participants to make good use of the training as it will help them in Conflict mitigation in their various wards.

There were group work at the end of each training which exposed participants in the core causes of Conflict and ways of possible resolution mechanism for such conflicts.