Mahmoud Nouman, a community leader trained and contracted by International Relief and Development (IRD)/Blumont, successfully used conflict resolution tips endorsed by IRD/Blumont to settle a conflict between two displaced families at Daquq Camp in Kirkuk province.
The two families had come into conflict after a man from the first family accidentally banged the door to a bathroom against a four year old girl from the second family. The incident escalated into a fight and led to further involvement from individuals on both sides. The fighting was put to an end only after police arrested eight people from both sides, but the animosity remained.
Nouman, a 46-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) from Hawija town in the southwest of Kirkuk province, convinced police to release the detainees. He then used two of the IRD/Blumont conflict resolution tips he had learned, “We let the families calm down first,” he said. “Next, in a gathering, we convinced them to make compromises by considering the doctrine of forgiveness,” he added.
Nouman offering a session on conflict resolution to adults in Daquq Camp.
Nouman and 29 other community leaders were trained in July at Daquq Camp as part of the Conflict Resolution and Resilience Building (C2RB) project, which identifies and applies solutions to violence among and between IDPs and their host communities. Successful participants from these “Training of Trainers” (TOT) sessions later become trainers themselves and are capable of demonstrating methods and tips for solving conflicts to IDPs and host community members in sessions sponsored by IRD/Blumont.
At the gathering that Nouman arranged, the families buried the hatchet and apologized to each other. The two families have now been relocated to separate spots in the camp to minimize the possibility of renewed hostilities.
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