The first week saw the trainees, also referred to as peacemakers, taken through:
(a) concepts of gender and non violence, gender and religion;
(b) gender & human rights and their place in active non-violence;
(c) active non-violence & the environment;
(d) applying active non-violence in our communities and;
(e) non-violence theories.
The first week sessions were facilitated by Netsai Mushonga from Zimbabwe and Jane Maina from Kenya. These sessions were not only limited to lectures, the trainees were engaged in group assignments, discussions and brainstorming.
On the 6th day, 20 March, the women peacemakers were taken on an excursion to Soweto, the Hector Pieterson Museum and the Apartheid Museum in Gold Reef City.
A new set of facilitators arrived for the second week sessions and these were Mrs Hillary Gbedemah and Mrs Joana A. Opare, both from Ghana. The topics scheduled for this week were more practical than theoretical and these included:
(a) Leadership Skills;
(b) Facilitative Training Skills;
(c) Fund Raising Skills;
(d) Practical: Program design and action planning;
(e) Practical: Developing individual project proposals;
(f) Presentations before a panel.
After the two week long hard work, a send off party was thrown for the peacemakers, in which they said their good byes and strengthened their network before flying back to their respective countries the following morning. The experience and knowledge gained from the training will be replicated in the local context and used in the advancement of human dignity.
