It all started with a mischievous bid for romance. A 15-year-old boy wrote a love song in a letter and tossed it to a 19-year-old woman walking past—a married woman, it turned out. In their traditional, rural village in Pakistan's Sindh province, that simple act turned ominous immediately, with nearly lethal results for the young woman, the boy and other family members and friends in their wheat- and cotton-growing community of 2,500 people.
Yet, what looked certain last summer to trigger an "honor" killing of the woman by her own husband's family and a revenge killing of the boy—along with likely fighting between the two families and their supporters—was averted after the quick intervention of a Pakistani man who was trained in mediation and managing conflict by specialists from the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). The threat of violence hanging over a Pakistani village was lifted.
Read the full article: "Honor" Killings Averted: How a USIP-Trained Pakistani Helped Save Lives
The identities of the parties to the dispute and the USIP-trained conflict manager are being withheld. But the case shows the potential for practical peacebuilding through a network of conflict managers in volatile but strategically vital Pakistan. Since 2009, USIP has trained 93 people in Pakistan as conflict managers, and they are prepared to train yet others. Similar trainings have been done in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Pakistan, this network of conflict managers, as well as follow-up training and evaluation, is maintained with a local USIP partner: the nonprofit, Islamabad-based Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO).
The USIP-trained conflict manager who helped sway the village dispute toward a peaceful resolution is a middle-aged, college-educated man. Amin, a pseudonym, serves as a social worker with a nongovernmental group.
He and 39 other people met in Karachi in June of last year to receive training from USIP's Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. The instruction ranged from conflict analysis and communication methods to dealing with differences, negotiation and problem-solving.
Just weeks after his USIP training, Amin got a chance to put his new skills to use. He sorted through the particulars of the village conflict and explored ways to launch a mediation effort. Amin arranged for a community leader, working with Amin's support, to directly mediate between the two hostile families. Lasting one month, the talks led to the judgment that no illegitimate relationship had occurred. Crisis resolved, the threat of violence subsided.
"It was the practical implementation of the skills and knowledge I gained during the trainings," says Amin. He is now at work on similar cases.
The Pakistani facilitators have achieved other successes as well—on land conflicts, ethnic confrontations, a dispute between unions, etc. "The multiplier effect of the network is vast," says Sughrue. "This is a really positive U.S.-Pakistani partnership. It helps transform the way some locals think of the United States. We're not just seen as warriors but as peacebuilders working in tandem with them."
