THE FAMILY AS A CONFLICT RESOLUTION SYSTEM

Conflict is an inevitable occurrence in our daily existence. It occurs within the individual, in the family and larger society. For meaningful Conflict Resolution and social peace building, it is necessary to focus significantly on the family. This is because the family is the cradle and reflection of the society. The family is a mini society. Infact all individuals belong to a family and change begins where people are.

In our country today, people with unstable homes aspire for public offices, even when it is obvious that such  people  cannot  make any meaningful input to the growth of the society. The same could be said about drunken and irresponsible parents who paint and cut bad role models for their children, and it is not likely that some of these maladjusted parent do occupy key positions in the country.

In addition divorce rate is on the increase in Nigeria and worldwide. The effect of this on the society is becoming increasingly devastating. Broken homes do not support good family values. Therefore the family needs to be strengthened and their roles in the society re-addressed.

Nobody needs change in the society more than families, especially women and the youth .It is usually   the women and children in the families who suffer in conflict and therefore are more amenable to change.

Here at the CCPPA, we have designed and organized programs and workshops to train especially parent and enlighten the family as a conflict resolution system .we have worked with mothers, parents and teachers in conflict resolution programs as a way of sharing with them durable and functional CR skills that will empower them for constructive change in a conflict resolving system.

We are also bringing this program to religious groups and marriage registries as a necessary direction for future relationships between these groups and the center.

This means that, we are collaborating with the religious groups and marriage registries to explore with married and would be married couples those sustainable family values that could help them build successful marriages and make them role models for their children and the larger society. The center now has a full program on family mediation and empowerment.