By Jessica John Bakari
The conflict specialist, Mr. Mathias Yake, emphasized that a lack of awareness and citizen sensitization regarding programs and services can catalyze conflict.
This assertion was made during the Adamawa conflict prevention and mitigation dialogue workshop for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2024, organized by USAID’s State2State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness activity in Adamawa.
The event, which convened participants from various governmental and non-governmental entities, took place at the Madugu Rockview Hotel.
Mr. Mathias Yake, an active participant in the multi-stakeholder approach to preventing and mitigating conflict drivers in Adamawa, defined conflict as a situation in which two or more parties perceive that they possess mutually incompatible goals.
He further delineated the objectives of the dialogue, which included the sharing of stakeholders’ experiences in addressing conflict drivers in Adamawa State, providing progress updates on the implementation of the previous quarters’ action plan, and enhancing stakeholders’ knowledge, understanding, and skills in utilizing diverse approaches to conflict mitigation and prevention.
Mr. Yake also highlighted the adverse impact of excluding stakeholders from project initiation and execution, emphasizing that this exclusion could lead to grievances against the government. He urged the participants to advocate for the implementation of the initiatives outlined in the budget.
Respondents from various sectors lauded the conflict dialogue as pertinent and reaffirmed their commitment to disseminating the knowledge acquired to their respective offices. They commended State2State for its support.