By Daniel Karlmax
The Kaduna Multi-Door Courthouse (KDMDC) also known as Alternative Dispute resolution, ADR has commenced an intermediate training programme for more than 50 selected participants on restorative justice, conflict resolution and mediation, with a view to strengthening effective dispute resolution and promoting peaceful coexistence for socioeconomic development.
The programme brought together stakeholders from various sectors, including academics, religious and traditional leaders, lawyers, teachers, media practitioners, and representatives of government and human rights institutions, among others.
Speaking at the programme, the Director of the KDMDC/ADR Centre, Dorcas Levy Daniel, said the training was designed to build participants’ capacity in modern techniques and fundamental principles of conflict resolution, community healing and mediation.
According to her, participants were taken through a series of presentations covering conflict analysis, personality types, mediation and various approaches to resolving disputes, noting that conflict was inevitable in everyday human interactions.
Daniel identified resource management, differences in values, ethnic and cultural diversity, the quest for political power and positions, as well as interests among others, as some of the major factors responsible for conflicts in society.
She explained that the ADR mechanisms available through the Multi-Door Courthouse include mediation, arbitration, conciliation, expert determination, hybrid processes and restorative justice, as well as counselling and trauma healing.
“Today, we are having our intermediate training. We have the foundation training, the intermediate training and the professional training,” she said.
Daniel added that the current training had attracted participants from the IMC as well as people from different sectors of society, stressing that the first paper focused on conflict analysis.
Also speaking, a lawyer and mediator at the ADR Centre, Khadijah Kabir Shehu, said the training was designed to deepen participants’ understanding of mediation and familiarise them with the various dispute-resolution mechanisms available through the Multi-Door Courthouse.
She emphasised that mediation was not restricted to lawyers, saying any responsible and capable individual could play a role in helping people resolve disputes peacefully within their communities.
She said the training was necessary because conflicts were inevitable in society and participants needed to acquire the knowledge and skills required to resolve disputes amicably without necessarily resorting to litigation.
She urged participants to make use of other dispute-resolution centres, including sexual assault Referral Centre (SARC), where appropriate.
The Co-Director of the Interfaith Mediation Centre, Kaduna, Mr. Samson Auta, said the training was aimed at equipping more people with the skills required to support the Centre’s efforts towards building a safer and more productive society.
Auta said the programme would provide participants with the requisite knowledge and capacity to mediate disputes in their respective communities, particularly under reported issues affecting women and young people.
“We know it is difficult to know how to go about such issues, but availing themselves of the training will give them the opportunity to interact and also have access to government hotlines to enable them to safeguard themselves and ensure that they are protected from injustice or human rights violations,” he said.
According to Auta, the programme, organised by IMC with the support of the German Embassy, Abuja, is also targeted at strengthening women’s leadership in interfaith engagement, human rights and transitional justice, while promoting their participation in democratic processes.
He stressed the importance of empowering women to take up leadership roles, saying greater inclusion of women in leadership and community service would contribute significantly to addressing some of the challenges confronting societies.
Editing By Godwin Duru
