Professional Training Program Officers Jacqueline Wilson and Jonathan Morgenstein completed two highly successful workshops on Conflict Resolution and Customary Law in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan.
Professional Training Program Officers Jacqueline Wilson and Jonathan Morgenstein completed two highly successful workshops on Conflict Resolution and Customary Law in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan. The first workshop was March 13-15, 2006, with senior tribal leaders from South Darfur. The second workshop, held April 25-27, 2006, was with participants drawn from the senior tribal leadership of all three states in Darfur. In addition, local religious leaders, women, and civil society groups participated in both workshops. These workshops were held in partnership with Great Family Organization, a local NGO active in local peacebuilding efforts.
The primary focus of the workshops was training in skills useful for the peaceful resolution of conflict. There was considerable discussion of the customary techniques used in Darfur for the peaceful resolution of conflicts and for conflict prevention. The workshops also provided training in other complementary skills including communication skills, negotiation processes and techniques, personal tendencies when facing conflict situations as well as working with a third party. It also included a conflict analysis and a problem-solving framework that was applied through working groups.
The participants were clearly committed to getting the most out of these training workshops. They all contributed actively to the discussions and participated admirably in the role-plays and discussion groups. They seemed genuinely interested in discussing amongst themselves their traditional mechanisms for resolving conflict as well as learning some new and different skills that will help them to resolve their conflicts peacefully. One of the participants said "…… the lectures presented were 100%, and we aspire to more and to cover all centers in the Southern Darfur State, ...we want all societies or people in Darfur to be educated and learn the bases of negotiation, i.e. instead of carrying weapons."
