Rwanda

In the aftermath of the genocide, a Rwandan-Canadian, Richard Batsinduka, who’s family had largely been wiped out in the genocide, approached CICR wanting to do something to create peace and harmony in Rwanda.  After a one-year residency at CICR and having been trained as a trainer, in 1997 Richard embarked on a 3-year program to provide conflict resolution skills to Rwandans.  With funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and assistance in capacity development from Kendel Rust, CICR’s Director of International Programs, the program was launched.

After training some 160 people in CICR’s 5-day Third Party Neutral – Module 1 (TPN- 1), in mixed Hutu-Tutsi groups of 20, seven of the most qualified people were selected to be trainers from different sectors including government, secondary education, university, religious, social and NGOs.  They came to Canada in the fall of 1998 for a 5-week period to complete their TPN training and take the training-of-trainers course.  This was followed by an apprenticeship program in Rwanda as each began training in their own sector.  From 1998 to 2000 CICR and its local partners trained over 700 people from more than 50 organizations at the TPN-1 level.  As of 2006, training sessions continue to be given regularly at the University of Rwanda in Butare.

Among the many examples of how the new skills were used, one particular example related to a problem of people not wanting to move into a new housing development.  Given the level of fear following the genocide, people were afraid that their new neighbours might be of the other ethnic group.  Accordingly conflict resolution training programs were held with groups of potential housing occupiers.  By getting to know their future community through the training, previously held fears dissipated, the housing development was filled, and seeds were sown for a community with skills to resolve conflicts.