To meet the increased demand for training civilian peacekeepers, ACCORD, through its Peacekeeping Unit, recently hosted a Train-the-Trainer course in conflict management for UN peacekeeping missions with a civil affairs component. The event took place from 15-19 March 2010, in Durban.
The Train-the-Trainer course responds to the increasing demand for conflict management training by UN field missions in Africa. The course hosted twenty participants from the Civil Affairs and Training sections of six United Nations operations, namely, Liberia (UNMIL), Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), Sudan (UNMIS), Darfur (UNAMID) and Ivory Coast (UNOCI).
The training was facilitated by Cedric de Coning (Senior Advisor to ACCORD), Ian Henderson and Kemi Ogunsanyo. The content gave the peacekeepers a consolidated understanding of the theoretical and practical dynamics for the constructive management of conflict, through the use of analysis, negotiation and mediation skills. Also, the training served to build the capacity of missions to design and implement their own in-house conflict management training and increased the pool of trained peacekeepers available to deliver training in the field. The course was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which focuses on the civilian components of peacekeeping, conflict management and civil military co-ordination. Participants left feeling confident about the skills they had learnt and full of praise for the trainers and the ACCORD Team.
Ms Maria Icaro from MINURCAT facilitates a teachback session during a group activity titled Different Styles in Dealing with Conflict.
For Ms Maria Icaro from MINURCAT, “The trainers know their subject and know how to handle responses. I can definitely take these skills home to benefit my mandate”.
The Peacekeeping Unit at ACCORD is pleased with the positive feedback from the event. “In the past eighteen years, ACCORD has trained more than fifteen thousand people in conflict resolution skills. We have worked with people across political divides, and in collaboration with United Nation and the African Union”, says Gustavo de Carvalho, a Peacekeeping Analyst from ACCORD.
Apart from the serious business of Peacekeeping, the participants were treated to a tour of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, one of the stadiums built specifically for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. It was a proud moment, a metaphor of African Unity with the world cup steadily approaching South African shores.
UN participants from MINURCAT, MONUC, UNOCI, UNMIS, UNAMID and UNMIL pose with the Deputy Mayor of Durban, Logi Naidoo, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Thursday 18 March 2010.
