ACCORD, in collaboration with Angel’s Nest Southern Africa, recently hosted a Social Cohesion and Conflict Management Training for community leaders from Gauteng, South Africa. The training, which took place in Pretoria from 16 to 18 April 2024, was facilitated by Ms Sabina Taderera, a graduate of the ACCORD Training of Trainers Programme and Executive Director of Angel’s Nest Southern Africa; alongside Mr Philip Visser.
The workshop focused on creating networks, understanding conflict, and strengthening skills in dialogue facilitation, negotiation and mediation, to foster social cohesion and create spaces to address collective challenges. The participants were asked to reflect on political and communal dialogue as a multifaceted process, capable of reshaping conflicts and fostering collective shared identities. By means of a case study specifically shaped for this training, participants were able to explore potential negotiated solutions to problems encompassing various contemporary problems.
As the administrative capital of South Africa, Pretoria can in many ways, be seen as a microcosm of the country, with associated challenges including high youth unemployment, interrupted service delivery, and high rates of gender-based violence with several informal settlements surrounding the city. ACCORD has identified these rapidly growing cities as areas of increased concern with regards to peace and security. Such areas often see population growth that outstrips the efforts of city planners and other municipal services, creating a complex nexus of potential conflict triggers. As such, care must be taken to prevent local grievances being exploited by violent actors, or escalating into civil unrest. Fostering social cohesion and building conflict management capacities in such areas can provide resilience to the triggers of violent conflict, while simultaneously creating avenues for local residents to air grievances in a constructive manner.
ACCORD has hosted a number of activities aimed at building social cohesion and conflict management skills in South Africa. ACCORD has also prioritised enhancing the roles of multidimensional stakeholders, such as community leaders, in its five-year strategic plan, and as such will continue to build the capacity of local and community leaders across the continent.
