Women and Youth Empowerment Training in Peacebuilding and Social Cohesion (Baidoa)
Empowering women and youth with practical peacebuilding, mediation and negotiation skills to strengthen social cohesion in their communities.
Project Information
HURMA Consulting supported peacebuilding and social cohesion efforts aimed at empowering women and youth as active contributors to community peacebuilding. The initiative built on foundational training in peacebuilding and Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) and strengthened participants' ability to apply these skills in their communities.
The programme brought together 40 youth and women who had previously completed foundational peacebuilding and P/CVE training. A reflection meeting provided participants with an opportunity to share their experiences, assess the application of their skills, discuss challenges, and identify lessons for sustaining peacebuilding efforts.
Advanced Peacebuilding Training
The advanced training focused on strengthening practical mediation and negotiation skills for addressing more complex conflicts. Key areas included active listening, conflict de-escalation, structured negotiation, empathy, open-ended questioning, and non-verbal communication. Participants also used role-playing, practical exercises, peer learning, and real-life case studies to strengthen their skills.
Community-Level Application
Participants reported applying their peacebuilding skills to a range of community disputes, including disagreements between neighbours, disputes over shared resources and property boundaries, conflicts among market vendors, and family disputes. Youth participants also used sports activities to bring rival groups together and build trust and cooperation.
The training also enabled participants to examine real-life cases from Baidoa, including disputes over market stall locations and longstanding grievances relating to property boundaries. These exercises helped participants identify effective approaches, address gaps, and refine their mediation and negotiation strategies.
Key Outcomes
- Strengthened the capacity of women and youth to contribute to community peacebuilding.
- Improved practical mediation and negotiation skills.
- Strengthened participants' ability to use active listening and de-escalation techniques.
- Promoted peer learning and experience-sharing among community peacebuilders.
- Supported women and youth to take more active roles in resolving community disputes.
- Strengthened networks of local peace advocates and community mediators.
Participants nevertheless identified challenges including resistance from some community members, particularly toward women and youth acting as mediators, limited logistical and financial resources, and the complexity of some disputes such as land-related conflicts.
Lessons & Sustainability
The experience highlighted the importance of continued mentoring, follow-up support, refresher training, resource mobilization, community awareness, and monitoring of peacebuilding activities. The report also emphasized the value of peer learning and practical case studies in strengthening participants' confidence and ability to address complex conflicts.
HURMA's Contribution
HURMA Consulting's contribution is reflected in its broader portfolio of work on peacebuilding, reconciliation, social cohesion, community engagement, and capacity strengthening. This assignment demonstrates HURMA's ability to support locally led peacebuilding by strengthening the practical skills and confidence of women and youth to contribute to conflict prevention, mediation, and community cohesion.