THE Social Conflict and Legal Reform Project (SCLRP), which was launched earlier this year, started a programme in Flankers, Montego Bay last week with 15 community members being trained in conflict resolution and mediation.

Flankers was selected along with Trench Town in Kingston to be the pilot communities for the project, for which the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has provided Ca$7 million in funding.

According to executive director of the Dispute Resolution Foundation, Donna Parchment, the response from the community has been “fabulous”.

“We talk about three ideas, affirmation, communication and co-operation and in doing our work, we try to link those principles in there as well. What has happened is that by just having the programme the members of the community feel affirmed,” Parchment told the Observer at the recent launch.

The 15 Flankers com-munity members will undergo an intensive 40 hours of train-ing and Parchment said that training for the community members in Trench Town would begin in August.

At the end of the five-year period, the project should result in 200 community members in Flankers and Trench Town being trained in conflict resolution and as mediators.

Teachers, parents and students will also be trained in conflict resolution strategies. The aim is also to establish peace and justice centres in the two pilot communities, where persons in dispute will go for mediation. And a curriculum in conflict resolution will be developed through the collaborative effort of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture and teachers’ colleges.

The SCLRP is geared towards helping Jamaicans develop their ability to resolve disputes peacefully. It is also geared towards developing and helping to implement a new court-connected early mediation programme to improve the Supreme Court’s capacity to resolve civil disputes.

Meanwhile, Sandals Montego Bay has pledged its support for the implementation of the five-year Social Conflict and Legal Reform Programme (SCLRP), particularly in the inner-city community of Flankers that is located near the resort.

“It is indeed an honour that Sandals Montego Bay was asked to be a participant in this pilot project at Flankers. It is of course totally fitting, as we are the closest corporate entity to that community, which accounts for over 25 per cent of our workforce,” said general manager of the resort, Horace Peterkin.

He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the resort’s handing over of its statement of support for the project.

“I truly believe this five-year Social Conflict and Legal Reform project will go a far way in developing Jamaica’s ability to handle conflict. It will work because it goes straight to the heart of the communities, it listens to their problems and feelings and it builds the skills block by block among the community members themselves to manage their conflict among themselves,” Peterkin said.

Sandals Montego Bay will contribute to the project by providing the conferencing facility for the training of the 200 community members along with refreshments for the participants. The resort will also provide accommodations for out-of-town trainers at a reduced cost.