BY JULIET EKWENUGO, Kaduna
Forty-five Christian and Muslim women and girls aged between 16 and 55 have been trained in peacebuilding, mediation and community dialogue in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The one-day training was organised by Interfaith Women Kasuwan Magani, with support from the Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC), Kaduna, to strengthen the role of women in preventing violence and promoting peaceful coexistence in communities affected by inter-communal conflict.
Speaking during the programme, the organiser, Mr Jonathan Peter, said the training was designed to equip women with practical skills for promoting peace, resolving disputes and strengthening community dialogue.
Peter said women had an important role to play in identifying tensions at the grassroots and preventing disagreements from escalating into violent conflicts.
He said the initiative was designed in response to Kasuwan Magani’s history of inter-communal tensions, as well as climate-related pressures affecting livelihoods and access to natural resources.
The training brought together women and girls, including widows, young people and survivors of conflict, with the aim of helping them move from being victims of violence to becoming active peacebuilders and first responders in their communities.
Participants were trained on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), mediation techniques, women’s and girls’ rights, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and survivor support.
They also received training on community-based Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms, as well as the relationship between climate change, competition over resources and conflict.
The participants took part in interactive lectures, role-playing exercises and practical simulations designed to strengthen their ability to respond to disputes and emerging threats within their communities.
According to the organisers, assessments conducted before and after the training showed an 85 per cent improvement in participants’ mediation knowledge and performance during mock conflict-resolution exercises.
A major outcome of the programme was the establishment of the Kasuwan Magani Women Peace Ambassadors Network, comprising the 45 participants.
The network is expected to help manage rumours, mediate disputes, identify early signs of conflict and support survivors through appropriate GBV referral pathways.
One of the participants said the training had changed the way many women viewed their role in preventing conflict.
She said women who previously waited for men to intervene in community disputes now felt better equipped to mediate neighbourhood disagreements and take early action to prevent violence from escalating.
The organisers said empowering women with peacebuilding skills could strengthen community resilience, noting that women were often among the first to witness tensions within families and neighbourhoods.
They recommended regular follow-up mentoring for members of the Women Peace Ambassadors Network, stronger links with security agencies and the Kajuru Local Government Peace Committee, as well as the expansion of similar training programmes to other conflict-prone communities.
The organisers also called for continued collaboration among women leaders, religious institutions, traditional authorities, civil society organisations and government agencies to ensure sustained participation of women in peacebuilding, early warning and community dialogue.
