Peace building and conflict transformation

To promote sustainable peace SUPKEM Garissa contributes in addressing the "root causes" of violent conflict and supports communities to strengthen their capacities for peace management and conflict resolution.

Capacities for Peace (C4P)

To contribute to sustainable peace, justice and inclusive development in Kenya and Sudan, the programme sees the core building blocks of change as capacities for peace, improved understanding of climate change adaptation and/or environmental degradation reduction, more meaningful engagement between policy actors and civil society on communities, and, ultimately, enhanced and sustainable social cohesion.

Objectives 

Goal: Resilient communities with enhanced social cohesion, improved understanding of climate change adaptation and/or environmental degradation reduction, and more meaningful engagement between policy actors and civil society

Outcome 1 - Increased social cohesion in communities engaged by CSO partners in Sudan and Kenya.

Outcome 2 - Rights-holders and duty-bearers collaborate to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change that drive conflict in their communities.

Outcome 3 – Duty-bearers at local and national levels meaningfully engage with local peacebuilding actors on the needs of communities.

Project activities

- Support institutional development through training in areas such as financial management, Prioritised organisational policy development; procurement, program audit.

- Support training activities in selected technical areas including, M&E, conflict sensitivity, Resource mobilisation, Advocacy and policy engagement.

- Support exchange program for the local implementing partners to enhance their innovations in peacebuilding

- Support community dialogue and intergroup conversations on identified topical issues of concern.

- Convene a workshop with local peace actors to develop key action plans at the local level {36 participants from the 8 focused areas, 3 from the each of the focus areas}. The intergenerational dialogues provide opportunity for the young generation to reflect on the climate changes and its gradual influence in community decision making

- Provide flexible funding for local peace actors to implement identified action plans (Small Grants).

- Undertake a participatory assessment to generate knowledge on climate related drivers of conflict in Garissa {30 stakeholders from community members and policy makers.

- Support county level stakeholder forums to discuss climate related conflict drivers and options to mitigate these drivers (of about 50 participants for 2 days)

- Project inception and Launch meeting

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT

·       15 community dialogues were conducted at the following areas: Bula Punda, Bula ADC, Bula Tawakal, Modika, Jarirot, Ziwani Area, Windsor, Bula Argy reaching a total of 98 female and 132 males/

·       These dialogues, designed as inclusive spaces, offer marginalised groups like women, youth, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) a platform to engage with community elders and leaders, highlighting how specific issues impact them. For instance, in Windsor, tensions exist due to cultural differences between the indigenous Somali community (referred to as "locals") and non-locals. The dialogues provide a platform for both groups to come together and discuss conflict issues, including those related to climate change, on an equal footing.   

·    Following the dialogues at Bourl Argi, the 5 participants were able to conduct an awareness forum to the community on the upcoming floods. Bourl Argi is close to the Tana river and the community do farming along the rivers. The dialogue participants took the initiative to create public awareness and urged the community to start relocating precious equipment, livestock and the farm labourers. Due to the dialogue participants' awareness, most of the farmers were able to relocate their equipment on time before the floods. Secondly the dialogue facilitators engaged the county government to discuss their challenges. Although there was no major contribution from the county government, they took the initiative to engage the duty bearers in addressing community issues of concern. This action of the dialogue participants is linked to outcome 2 where the right holders were able to understand the climate hazards and have attempted to engage both the other right holders and the duty bearers. It also contributes to SMC project goal number 3 where the Rights-holders are empowered to by themselves and in cooperation with others claim their rights and change their living conditions.

·       Youth participation in peacebuilding: In Waberi location, specifically Tawakal village, there is insecurity that involves robbery with violence, where youths in crime target women and non-locals. Most community initiatives to address the issue have failed and SUPKEM has included some of the youth in the dialogues. The youth are leading campaigns to reach out to their fellow youth who are involved in the insecurity.

  • Community policing enhanced: In Ziwani, a dialogue site within the Capacity 4 Peace project, an area with complex social dynamics emerged. The Malakote community, residing in Garissa County but reliant on Tana River County, faces internal challenges with marginalised youth engaging in petty crime, impacting both communities and creating negative stereotypes. Recognising this tension, community leaders utilised the dialogue  platform to address the issue collaboratively with local authorities. While the solution - operationalizing community policing - faces initial hurdles, it demonstrates a crucial outcome of the project. By facilitating dialogue and understanding, the initiative fosters cooperation and empowers communities to address internal issues while navigating complex social landscapes, moving towards a more positive and collaborative environment.
  • Women participation in peacebuilding: Women in Garissa County are mostly the breadwinners of their families whereby they are engaged in small-scale businesses such as milk vending. In most cases, they are neither involved in peacebuilding nor given the opportunity to participate. In Modika women are the largest population and are actively involved in business activities. In order to campaign for inclusivity, SUPKEM included many women in the dialogue sessions. The women appreciated their participation and discussed issues that they thought affected the security of the area besides the heavy presence of security officers.

2022 Project

Promoting dialogue and national identity among community in Garissa County

In partnership with Life and Peace Institute, we conducted a peace building project in Garissa Township and Dujis in Balambala constituency

finl

Project achievement

i. The relationship between the two clans in Dujis has improved.


ii. Re-opening of the only primary that was closed for nearly two years.


iii. Formation of inclusive groups to champion the rights of the community 


iv. Rebuilding of the damaged houses and business premises due to confidence created by the project.


v. Confidence to humanitarian organizations to start livelihood projects e.g Red cross (providing cash transfer, Al-Ihsan and NEYD (provided water and food) and National government ( distributing relief food


vi. Visit by county government and Balambala CDF committee to initiate development projects and finding solutions to the water facility. 

vii. Youth dialogue participants in Garissa discussed tribalism, drug abuse and youth unemployment as factors that affect cohesion among citizens of Garissa. The group conducted peace actions, radio programs and several meetings with different stakeholders to create awareness. 


viii. Men dialogue participants in Garissa had a lot of successes because the participants were already engaged in community activities and it was easy for them to implement the deliberations of their discussion. They had meeting with deputy county commissioner to discuss issues of insecurity. They conducted peace action during international Peace day. They also participated in radio programs aimed at reducing tensions during elections.

The relationship between climate change and conflict in Garissa County

In partnership with Life and Peace Institute, SUPKEM conducted a three-month research to understand the relationship between climate change and conflict. The objective of the project is to promote innovative and participatory approaches to addressing climate-related security risks in conflict-affected areas.

Project achievement

SUPKEM in partnership with life and Peace institute and FES developed a report on Community Decision-making and Behaviour Change linked to Climate-Related Conflict in Garissa County.

last

       Modika is well known for mining of gypsum and other building materials. Due to the mining at the place, many of the youth are employed to protect the mining companies and desert from the schools. Also, the area experienced land conflict and there is a presence of militia that protects the businessmen. The women are actively involved in addressing school drop outs of their children and land accountability to counter land conflict. The land conflict is as a result of illegal land ownership by the livestock drop out due to severe drought in the regions that was experienced over many years. The livestock drops out use their clan to allocate land for themselves and use their clans to defend themselves. This causes inter clan conflicts that disturbs the social cohesion Women participation can contribute to enhance accountability by the duty bearers. The inter clan conflict affects mostly women and children in the community and the participation of women in the peace and security sector will contribute greatly. The participation of women in the community project at Modika will demonstrate to the community leaders the importance of women contribution. Already the women have developed their capacity to discuss the effect of the presence of militia in the area and the high involvement of youth in the mining business who have dropped out of school.  SUPKEM and LPI will continue to provide more support to the women in order to enhance social cohesion.