 Recent graduate Aryan Rashed recounts her experience of Alert’s Peaceworkers training and how it shaped her understanding of peacebuilding.
International Alert’s Peaceworkers courses offer practical training for people who are interested in, or already working in, the field of peacebuilding. As a participant of the recent ‘Core skills for working in conflict’ course, Aryan Rashed recounts how the training changed her view on peacebuilding and how it will benefit her future law career:
"While my academic background had provided me with a theoretical understanding of conflict, this course offered practical skills and lessons from the ground that I now consider a requisite in understanding how peace can be achieved and sustained. Throughout the week we covered topics such as conflict mapping, communication skills, gender awareness and conflict transformation techniques.
I found the module on cultural sensitivity particularly insightful. Zuhra Bahman, founder of the Afghan Youth Fund, discussed how international intervention can as much agitate as well as provide relief to local populations. Her dual perspective as both an NGO worker and a local citizen helped shed light on how to appropriately channel funds and provide assistance that is both long-term and geared towards community building.
The week-long training culminated in a simulation comprised of various actors from media to refugees to representatives from international and local NGOs. We were placed in teams and shadowed by an observer who assessed us on the skills we had been taught during the week. The experience of the simulation and the feedback I received from the observer was very useful. For instance, the simulation demonstrated the importance of developing rapport and trust between actors as part of any intervention.
The training has provided me with the ability to pursue a professional career in law and justice with a better understanding of how conflict transformation requires the local and international community to be linked in all aspects of decision making and the peace process. It was truly an experience that all my academic work could not match."
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