By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
Allamin Foundation for Peace and Development in collaboration with King’s College London and Youths Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse, have organized a training session for stakeholders on how to protect unarmed civilians in conflicts prone areas.
The Executive Director, Allamin Foundation for Peace and Development, Hajiya Hamsatu Allamin, said the stakeholders were drawn from all the strata of the communities in Borno State to participate in the research project, which forms part of a UK research council (Arts and Humanities Research Council/AHRC).
She said: “You (the participants) are either government officials involved in community security initiatives with a focus on protection of civilians or you are an NGO staff, or members or civil society organisation (CSI) members, implementing civilian focused peace building programmes (including for youths abd women)”.
“You are adults (18 years and over), and have the experiences of conflicts or are currently involved with community security initiatives in Maiduguri. So, What will happen if I take part? If you choose to take participate in the project , you will be asked to take part in these two days workshop in Maiduguri organised by Allamin Foundation for Peace and Development, ” Hamsatu said.
The facilitator, Ibrahim Jidda, who is also the the Executive Director, Africa Mental Health Awareness and Care Initiative (AMHACI) a peace building and development expert, said the term UCO means Unarmed Civilian Protection and was drawn from Unarmed civilian protection for collective impact: Learning from the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace (JSCP) for enhanced civilian protection in Maiduguri, North-eastern, Nigeria.
Jidda stressed that, the project is about civilian agency and civilian self-protection in the context of communal conflict and local experiences of UCP for building protection and infrastructures to sustain safe spaces.
He said the training became necessary following the successful implementation of the project in Jos city, Plateau State during and after the Jos crisis. Hence, the significant need for the transfer of the project to Maiduguri and build the capacity of stakeholders with the specific aims and objectives of conducting advocacy, capacity building and knowledge transfer amongst Borno stakeholder..
The facilitator, therefore, advised participants to discuss the purpose of the project with other which is in three-fold; “First to generate original empirical data and a short video documentary around the collective impact model of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) developed by the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace (JSCP) in the area of community security.
Secondly, to encourage inter-regional learning amongst the governmental, civil society and community-based stakeholders in Maiduguri, Nigeria in the area of UCP and community security through capacity building workshops, mobile documentary screening and a policy tool kit.
And thirdly, to learn from existing intergenerational initiatives in Nigeria being applied by youth focused civil society organisations.
He explained further that such a model enables people at the grassroots and those in positions of local power and influence to prevent conflict escalation hence the JSCP offers an ideal case for exploring ‘how’ local efforts modelled on collective impact function can empower civilians in this context of vulnerability to violence.
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