From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The World Bank and an international peace-building group, Search for Common Ground (SCG) have initiated a series of training programmes for communities across the north to identify early warning signals of conflicts in order to address the issues involved, in collaboration with other stakeholders.
“Our locally-rooted global peace-building organization is working in 33 countries including Nigeria to assist communities, agencies and adversaries learn to trust each other, create avenues for collaboration and generate breakthroughs for peace,’’ the group’s Lead Coordinator for Northern states, Habiba Abdullahi, said in Katsina on Monday.
She spoke at the opening of a three-day training workshop for staff of Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) from the seven states in the North-West.
“We are in Katsina State and part of the training is in conflict monitoring and reporting as well as stakeholders-mapping training for the staff to identify early warning indicators before conflicts escalate into violence.
“They will be able to address them, identify the relevant stakeholders for them to address them as well.
“The training is important to them because we realise that they work in environments prone to various conflicts.
“With skills, we hope that when they return to their communities they will be able to implement the measures towards addressing conflicts head-on.
“We have developed a toolbox containing locally adapted approaches that can prevent violence and build collaborations across divides.”
Reports describe ACReSAL as a World Bank-financed project designed to tackle pressing issues of land degradation and climate change in the 19 states of Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The region is characterized by an environment of fragility, degradation of natural resources, poor agricultural productivity, climate risks, desertification, poor penetration of modern technology, and weak institutional capacity.
It is also plagued by conflict and violence, high poverty rates and low literacy, according to reports.
The Federal Ministry of Environment is the lead implementing agency, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.