The United State Agency for International Development (USAID) has organised a training to empower 100 women and youths with various skills in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau.
The event, held on Friday in Bokkos, was organised in collaboration with the Project office of the Pentecostal Followship of Nigeria (PFN).
The Programme Manager of the PFN-USAID Peace Project, Dr Philip Hayab
said that the exercise was under its project, tagged “Supporting Religious Freedom in Local Communities”.
Hayab said that aside Bokkos in Plateau, the project is currently being implemented in Kaura, Jamaa’a and Kachia local government areas of Kaduna state.
He explained that the project is aimed at developing local solutions towards achieving lasting peace in communities.
He also said that the project is aimed at mitigating violent conflicts in communities.
“USAID has come to understand that over time, the solution to achieving peaceful coexistence in rural communities lies with the people.
“So, the target of this project is to constantly engage stakeholders in local communities to discuss their problems and how or what they can do to ensure we have lasting peace.
“We believe that education, agriculture, economy and what have you cannot thrive in a state of chaos; people can’t freely practice their religion if we don’t tolerate each other.
“This is why we brought these stakeholders together to discuss how to partner, because partnership is one sure way of promoting peace in the society.
“This is simply to promote community initiative that will work towards mitigating violence in communities,” he said.
He said that training would empower and enable youths and women to be self sufficient, thereby reducing conflicts and promoting religious freedom in the society.
He added that the training would do away with the recurring mindset of citizens relying on the government or foreign assistance to survive.
“USAID in supporting religious freedom in local communities in Nigeria is to empower women and youth with entrepreneurial skills, as part of economic activity.
“This training is on financial management with emphasis on how to start up small-scale businesses and to equip the participants with homegrown sustainable savings and loan schemes to become economically viable for their communities.
“So, the emphasis is on the significance of the economic activity, affirming how developing an entrepreneurial skill, especially by women and youth, is one dependable way of getting people in society involved in gainful ventures and paving the way for continued peace in local communities,” he said.
Hyap said that the 100 participants were selected across the ethnic, religious, and other groups in the locality.
He further said the project, which began in December 2020 was designed to run for 12 months.
