Published Date: Feb 5, 2013
SDPI Press Release (February 5, 2013)
Local leaders hailing from various districts across Azad
Jammu & Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab vowed to prevent violence
and promote peace in their communities through collaborative, solution-oriented
approaches during a five-day training workshop on peace building jointly
organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Search for
Common Ground|Pakistan (SFCG).
Conducted
as part of SFCG|Pakistan’s national “Pakistan Peace Initiative”, a project
supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the training
aimed to enhance the capacity of Pakistan’s local leaders to explore issues
affecting them through a constructive approach that is geared towards
reconciliation and peacebuilding.
Held on February 1-5, the workshop was attended by 16 participants comprising
local political leaders, tribal elders, religious scholars, Jirga members,
district government officials, representatives from civil society organizations
and the private sector.
These
trained leaders for peace will also participate in forthcoming district-level
dialogue forums where they will engage in constructive discussions on
peacebuilding and democratization processes.
“We
are standing at a poin in Pakistan’s history when there is an urgent need to
localize the concepts of peace and security,” said SFCG|Pakistan Country
Director, Ammara Durrani while addressing the workshop’s concluding session.
“Our local communities have indigenous solutions and a genuine social will
to resolve conflicts through creative collaborations. We need to explore and
harness this tremendous social capital.”
Executive
Director SDPI, Dr. Abid Suleri stated that: “Conflict transformation implies
finding a common ground between conflicting parties, which essentially creates
a win-win situation for all.”
During
the workshop, participants learned successful negotiation skills including
establishing common goals, focusing on interests not positions, separation of
people from the problem, inventing options for mutual gain, and openness to
third-party assistance.
At
its conclusion, Country Director SFCG|Pakistan and Executive Director SDPI
distributed certificates amongst the participants.