By Sandrine M.

Some members of Civil society organizations have been trained on mediation, communication. This was during a workshop dubbed “dealing with conflicts at community levels” that took place in Kribi from September 21 to 30.

The workshop organized by the Civil peace service (CPS) in collaboration with Bread for the world aimed at empowering these community actors with the necessary skills to help them mediate conflicts in their different communities.

participants at the workshop receiving lessons

Ntui Oben is Coordinator for CPS and tells us more about the workshop.

“The workshop was organised to bring together English speaking partners of the CPS who are working at community levels to gain knowledge on mediation and better improve on what they have been doing.”

Facilitating the workshop was Juliane Westphal who urged the participants to listen carefully in every mediation process.

Juliane Westphal facilitating during the workshop

“Paraphrasing, learning to listen helps to understand why other people think the way they do.”

To Rv Nta Williams, National Peace Coordinator at the PCC Peace office, the lessons gained will expand his knowledge on the application of mediation at different levels.

Rv Nta Williams, National Peace Coordinator, PCC

“My background is a strength in practicing meditation because many people see a kind of moral authority in spiritual leaders. But I am not just here as a spiritual leader but as a professional and practicing mediation means it has it ways to go about it and this professional touch will be respected.”

To Chambie Julie of COMINSUD, the training has reinforced her skills in carrying out mediation in her community.

Chambie Julie, boardchair, COMINSUD

“This workshop was a very important one for me. Most often in the field we have been working and in most of the work we did trying to reconcile people in the community, I knew I was practicing mediation but I came to learn in this workshop that there is a difference between mediation and counselling and theres a difference between arbitration and mediation. It will be very useful for me especially coming from the restive North West Region.”

Queen Bisseng of REDHAC (Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network) was equally one of the participants and talked of the benefits of the training.

Queen Bisseng of REDHAC receiving certificate at the end of the training

“This workshop was very impactful because I could achieve some skills in mediation. With these new skills we are going to reorganize the methods we have been using to mediate and to organise dialogue for peace and reconciliation.”

participants brainstorming during group exercises

The participants who were each awarded certificates at the end of the training hope to use the knowledge gained in mitigating conflicts in their various communities.