The impact of training on the conflict resolution ability of rural women in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of training in conflict resolution on the willingness and potential ability of rural women to resolve conflicts in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. A total of 332 rural women were purposely chosen for the sample of the study. Three sets of instruments were utilized to generate data for the study. Two of them solicited information from trainees on their willingness to utilize the ‘critical core skills’ of co-creative conflict resolution process pre- and post-training in conflict resolution. The other set of instruments comprised observation, verbal debriefings and reports of focus group discussion. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data generated from the study indicated that before training, respondents were willing to utilize only two (trust for opponents and maintaining integrity during interaction with opponents) of the six critical core skills in co-creative conflict resolution process. However, after training there were significant differences in trainees' willingness to utilize all the critical core skills of co-creative conflict resolution process. Furthermore, it was observed that the rural women were highly committed to the conflict resolution process and they expressed satisfaction with the training. In addition, they appeared to be proficient in utilizing a co-creative conflict resolution process. In view of the findings of the study it was recommended that co-creative conflict resolution should be taught in schools and non-formal education centres in response to the need of the particular social milieu where the educational institutions are situated.