Activists train as peacekeepers<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A peacekeeping force does not necessarily carry guns, wear
\nbulletproof vests and ride in tanks or armored cars. They simply
\nneed to understand the root of the conflict they are to help
\nresolve.<\/p>\n
That was all that crossed the minds of Ichsan Malik and his
\ncolleagues from the Peace Building Institute (ITP) when they
\ninitiated training for community-based facilitators to prevent
\nand manage conflicts.<\/p>\n
The institute has selected 24 non-governmental organization
\nworkers from seven conflict-prone provinces for training, which
\nbegan on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"We want to form some sort of civilian peacekeeping forces
\nthat are available to build peace at any time,\" Ichsan of the
\nUniversity of Indonesia said.<\/p>\n
Learning from the way the government dealt with communal
\nconflicts in some areas in past years, the institute believes
\npeace would likely last with the help of facilitators at the
\ncommunity level.<\/p>\n
\"The government always acts like a fire brigade, which takes
\naction after a conflict breaks out. It never thinks of searching
\nfor the root of the conflict in order to prevent it from
\nrecurring,\" said Ichsan.<\/p>\n
The peace process in Maluku and Poso in Central Sulawesi
\nbetween 1999 and 2002, which between them left some 7,000 people
\ndead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, bore fruit
\nonly after numerous attempts that included peace agreements
\nbetween leaders of the warring groups.<\/p>\n
Ichsan said the initial reconciliatory attempts failed because
\nthey did not involve the community, where the source of the
\nconflict usually lies.<\/p>\n
The 24 trainees were selected from the provinces of Papua,
\nMaluku, North Maluku, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, East Nusa
\nTenggara and West Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
The training, held in cooperation with the New Zealand Agency
\nfor International Development, will consist of three two-week
\nclasses, with two field training sessions at the participants'
\nareas of origin in between. The whole training covers eight
\nmonths.<\/p>\n
\"(The participants) will be supervised by our team under a
\nmonitoring system that allows us to observe their programs based
\non the lessons given in class,\" said Ichsan.<\/p>\n
Some of the issues to be addressed in the training include
\nanalysis of conflicts and sources of conflicts, building capacity
\nas peace facilitators, organizing the local community, as well as
\nunderstanding basic values of humanity, nonviolence and
\npluralism.<\/p>\n
\"Besides that, we'll try to provide them with knowledge on
\nadvocacy methods and peace campaigns,\" Ichsan added.<\/p>\n
\"In the end, we expect the participants to possess good
\nanalytical skills to find possible sources of conflicts and to
\ncome up with a proper diagnosis should a conflict occur,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The institute plans to hold two more lots of training with 40
\nmore participants from areas considered hotbeds of conflict in
\nthe coming years.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/activists-train-as-peacekeepers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}