Institute builds capacity of social workers in Edo

From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin

The International Peace Training Institute (IPTI) West Africa in collaboration with Mediators Beyond Borders International and Rotary International have enhanced the skills of some social workers in Edo State on the need to build peace through proper conflict analysis and assessment.

Speaking at a day training in Benin City, Barr. Agatha Osieke, state Coordinator, Partners For Peace (P4P) Edo State, said one crucial way to build peace is to get to the root cause of the conflicts.

Osieke, a facilitator at the training, who delivered a lecture on conflict assessment and conflict analysis, identified poor communication, lack of compromise, desire for power, making assumptions, lack of empathy and many more as causes of conflict.

She maintained that perception and communication are key to handling conflicts which can impact the way people react to issues and might lead to conflict escalation and de-escalation or peace.

The facilitator listed some conflict handling styles to include avoidance, confrontation, compromise, accommodating and joint problem solving method.

According to her, as a mediator, you need to look at the issue critically to get a true picture because it will significantly help in making verdict.

“Conflict is neutral when it doesn’t lead to loss of life but conflicts can become negative when there is loss of lives and destruction of property which should not be advocated for. However, there are conflicts that will make you achieve your desired goals.

“Handling of conflict depends on the way conflict is perceived. Education and experience are key in conflict issues,” she added.

Flora Bossey on her part, while presenting a lecture on communication tools, stressed that active listening is key to decoding a message and will go a long way to impacting communication.

Bossey, an alumna of the institute, mentioned three Ps namely People, Place and Process as key aspects of conflict analysis and assessment.