Extending Conflict Resolution Skills
to Local and NGO Communities in Bosnia
he U.S. Institute of Peace's Education and Training Program conducted two International Conflict Resolution Skills Training (ICREST) sessions recently in Bihac, Bosnia-Herzegovina, to prepare participants to become trainers in conflict resolution. The back-to-back training sessions July 31-August 4 built on previous training sessions held in Sarajevo in May for representatives of local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
According to Eileen Babbitt, director of the program, "We anticipate that the new trainees will now train their colleagues and people in the communities where they work, thus spreading conflict resolution skills more broadly into both the local Bosnian and the NGO communities." Altogether 26 NGO staff attended the training, conducted on contract to the Institute by Dudley Weeks, a conflict resolution training specialist and director of the Partnership Life Skills Center in Washington. The training was held in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services, Mercy International USA, and Mercy Corps International/SEA, all with offices in Sarajevo.
Weeks says that participants in the training work daily on the entire range of problems caused by the upheaval of war. This includes helping refugees unable to return to their homes, youths grappling with the stresses of the war's aftermath, and discharged soldiers trying to resettle in the community. Babbitt notes that "training trainers increases geometrically the number of persons who can be helped, at a time when the need in Bosnia is great, while resources there remain scarce." © 1996 United States Institute of Peace
| LEAD STORY |
AFRICA |
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE |
SOUTH CHINA SEA |
|
Book: Preventing Violent Conflicts |
Early Intervention & Power Sharing |
|
Can Religion Heal Bosnia? |
Alexander George Hailed |
Short Takes |
Grant-Supported Books |
|
Unsolicited Grants Approved |
Peace Scholar in Residence |
Institute People |
