Wednesday, 14 May 2014

PEACE ON THE PLATEAU!!!



Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal

Plateau State, situated between the predominantly Muslim North and the predominantly Christian South, has experienced outbreaks of ethno-political and religious violence beginning since 1994 with repeated violent conflicts in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011 leading to death and displacement of thousands and destruction of property worth billions of Naira. ...... read more


These violent conflicts have resulted to untold hardship for women and children as well as the youths who form the bulk of the foot soldiers, mental trauma, physical damage to houses and looting of property, leaving a lot of communities in Jos seriously scarred by the experience. Many previously mixed neighbourhoods, towns and villages are now either exclusively Christian or Muslim; a segregation that has further heightened the Suspicion and fear among the groups with each suspecting the other to be preparing to launch an attack.

Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace (DREP) Centre, a dream and initiative of the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, His Grace, Most Rev. Ignatius A. Kaigama in collaboration with other Christian, Muslim, Communities and Opinion leaders, is a non – profit and non-governmental peace building and conflict transformation organization founded since 2011 to proactively respond to the incessant destruction of lives and property, the polarization of Christian and Muslims settlements in Jos and environs, the “revenge” mentality among youths, and the gap created by prejudice and ignorance of religions. We engage stakeholders in continuous dialogue and reconciliation processes through trainings, facilitated dialogue, psycho-social support services and other engagement with children and youths are the areas that see us contributing to the peace process

PROGRAMS

We bring stakeholders together to listen to each other, to live alongside each other for a short time within the learning and retreating environment, and by themselves provide alternatives to violence.

DREP Centre is a home for all: youths, women, men, traditional and community leaders, religious leaders, politicians and special groups such as trade unions, and civil society/peace organizations needing physical space to engage in training, mediations and other facilitated interventions. It is ideal for conflicting parties needing psychological safe space to tell their stories and to listen to one another.

v  Training: DREP Centre provides training of trainers in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, Advanced Mediation and Dialogue facilitation Skills. We also provide basic trainings and workshop for community and religious leaders, youth and women in peace building, conflict transformation, etc.

v  Facilitated Dialogue Sessions: We creates a rallying point for organized dialogue between different stakeholders in peace building as well as in initiate reconciliation and peace building programs within the various warring communities, engaging communities in continues dialogue and reconciliation processes.

v  Psycho-social support services: DREP Centre provides psycho-social support services, trauma healing and cancelling, and Alternative to Violence (AVP).

v  Sports and Arts for peace: We engage students and youths in Sports and Arts for Peace which is geared towards transforming possible pain and anger into creativity. This includes annual Peace Essays, football tournaments, Spelling Competitions, drama and other cultural presentations.

v  Remedial classes for students in Jos: The Centre holds remedial classes for youths who have either dropped out of school or do not have the resources to pursue academics. This is based on our belief that the wide spread illiteracy among youths is a major conflict driver.

Thematic Areas

ü  Peacebuilding and Reconciliation

ü  Women and youth empowerment

ü  Advocacy and Lobbying

ü  Research and Documentation
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @drepcentre

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