PROJECT: Conflict Sensitivity Training for Myanmar Police For
The Myanmar Police Force (MPF) has faced considerable challenges in responding to new priorities and operating realities in Myanmar during the country’s democratic reforms. Communal violence has sadly been a feature of Myanmar’s transition, particularly in 2012 and 2013, when several episodes of spontaneous violence erupted in various parts of the country, causing significant death, destruction of property, and displacement of affected populations. Tensions remain between communities in some parts of the country. The MPF is often at the front line of efforts to manage conflicts before they turn violent, or keep the peace and support justice and reconciliation after tensions boil over. The MPF must support conditions for ‘positive peace’, with justice and mutual tolerance, rather than ‘negative peace’, where the root causes and drivers of conflict are merely suppressed. In support of the MPF’s evolving role in Myanmar and in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme, Adapt provided conflict sensitivity training to senior leaders of the MPF in 2014. Adapt designed and delivered the modules, which were targeted at understanding conflict dynamics, establishing how MPF operations impact upon conflict positively and negatively, and strategic planning for conflict sensitive policies and operations.