Last month, START Executive Director Amy Pate traveled to Nigeria for a train-the-trainer session for civil society leaders on coalition building for violence prevention, which was supported by the U.S. Embassy of Nigeria in Abuja.
START, in partnership with the West African Network for Peacebuilding-Nigeria (WANEP-Nigeria), developed the “Coalition Building for Violence Prevention” course to provide community-focused, multidisciplinary, and research-informed training on violence prevention in a Nigerian context.
This course was designed to empower civil society organizations to develop multisectoral and multidisciplinary partnerships to prevent violence, including through facilitating the sharing of lessons learned to improve existing programs and build capacity.
Pate, who is also START’s Research Director, has conducted fieldwork in conflict zones in Africa, and has extensive experience working with researchers in developing countries.
The course promotes the idea that violence prevention and intervention efforts are best undertaken through a community partnership approach that makes use of existing local capacities, and builds on local community strengths to mitigate and prevent violence.