Seminar highlights role of communityengagement in peace building

ISLAMABAD: A three-day training programme was held here in the federal capital to sensitize the youth on community engagement in order to build peace in the society and eradicate violence, extremism and terrorism.

The three-day training session was organized by the Paigham-e-Pakistan Center for Peace and Reconciliation, Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad, in collaboration with Bashar. Initially, a bunch of 30 selected youth from reputed universities and institutions were imparted a three-day certified training, which is to be followed by tasking in their areas of interest for a period of eight to 12 months and the second cycle of comprehensive training of three to four weeks besides grant of scholarship on ‘Community Mobilization for Peacebuilding’.

The project has been launched from Islamabad and will be extended to Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan in the second stage.Several sessions on diverse subjects were held during the three days of engagement which culminated on Wednesday. Several prominent intellectuals and distinguished personalities addressed the participants on the occasion. Prominent among those were IRI Director General Dr Ziaul Haq who spoke on ‘Peace Narrative of Pakistan’. Dr Aftab Ahmed spoke on ‘Ethics of Disagreement’ and Nimrah Ishfaq on ‘Anger and Stress Management’, followed by Dr Fouzia Saeed who delivered her lecture on ‘Countering Social Taboos and Promoting Peace Through Culture’.

Sabahat Javed spoke on ‘Community Mobilization for Perception Management and Peacebuilding’. Dr Asma threw light on ‘Tools of Conflict Resolution’ and Deedar Mengal briefed the participants on ‘Social Entrepreneur Skills and Informal Economy’.