Building Local Peace through Social Cohesion with Security Actors: Evidence from a Partnership between Self-Defense Militias & Local Conflict Resolution Committees
Peacebuilding presents both practical and social challenges; including building the capacity national security sector institutions effectively and equitably curtail and prevent episodes of violence, and supporting security actors’ efforts to build trust between ethnic communities historically at odds with one another. In partnership with Search for Common Ground Nigeria, this study measured the effect of a “peace architecture” intervention—a peacebuilding program implemented across three levels: district, village, and neighborhood—on conflict resolution and reduction. The complex intervention encompassed a number of mutually reinforcing elements designed to analyze, prevent, and respond to violent conflict. Data suggests treatment communities established sustainable “climates of peace” through a partnership between local conflict resolution committees and civilian self-defense militias, which often shared members. Of particular importance was fostering rapport between community members, who themselves underwent conflict resolution training, and militia security forces which together were able to address low-level conflict before escalation. While these findings are not causally identified, there is sufficient evidence to conclude peace architecture programs can impact peacebuilding outcomes.
Principal Investigator: Jillian J. Foster
Research Team: Imaobong Akpan, Molly Kellogg, Chris Kwaja, Rajendra Mulmi
Location: Plateau and Kaduna states, Nigeria
Partner: Search for Common Ground
Background
Nigeria’s Middle Belt, one of the most diverse regions in the country, divides the predominantly Christian south from the largely Muslim north. The area has experienced two decades of violence rooted in longstanding grievances, religious and ethnic tensions, land disputes, and a deteriorating security sector. The conflict between the Hausa-Fulani Muslims (the largest group in northern Nigeria, often regionally referred to as “settlers”) and the Christian “indigene” ethnic groups (or often regionally “farmers”) is ongoing. Both groups have experienced mass killings as part of an enduring contest for cultural, economic, religious, and political control. The rise of extremist groups like Boko Haram has exacerbated these tensions and added to the region’s fragility.
The peace architecture program—designed and implemented by Search for Common Ground—included conflict resolution training, community peace and security dialogues, and an early warning system as well as a radio program.
Research Design
Using a multi-method research design, novel primary data (339 household surveys, 19 semi-structured interviews, and seven focus group discussions) was collected in a subset of communities in Plateau and Kaduna states. This data was paired with secondary qualitative and quantitative data available via our partnership with Search for Common Ground. The peace architecture program was implemented across 10 Local Government Areas and ran in two phases: July 2013 – January 2015 and July 2015 – June 2017.
Results & Findings
Findings suggest the impact and sustainability of peace architecture interventions lies in the transformation of previously poor social cohesion (interethnic and between communities and security forces) and the uptake of conflict resolution, dialogue, and mediation skills at the most local level.
Individual attitudinal shifts offer promising findings, after intervention: 87.5% of community members were confident that violence can be stopped, all communities reported improved ability to resolve conflicts, and over 75% of survey respondents feel violence is “never justified”. Asked about feelings of safety, 90.3% of men and 83.6% of women confirmed feeling safe in their community. Interestingly, of those that reported feeling unsafe, women were represented at nearly double the frequency of men. The majority of respondents (55.1% men; 64.4% women) had not experienced violence recently, with 42% of total respondents reporting only occasional violence in their community.
Half of all respondents noted great improvement in intergroup relations over the most recent two years. The peace architecture intervention is responsible for increasing communication and information sharing between communities and local security agents, organized largely in civilian self-defense militias. Study participants noted the occurrence of mutual greetings, joint football games, and a faster response to calls for help as evidence of this effect.
The use of a training-of-trainers intervention design was particularly effective. All trained participants went on to complete at least one step-down training during which they trained peers using the curriculum developed for the peace architecture program. Most trainers reported using new conflict resolution skills on a daily basis, especially to address post-election violence and crime related to drug use.
Policy Implications
Peacebuilding requires intervention at the most local level. Addressing both practical constraints—including institutional and individual capacity—and social cohesion between community members and security actors enables target communities to address low-level conflict prior to escalation. Findings suggest multi-dimensional programming with mutually reinforcing elements helps communities analyse, prevent, and respond to violent conflict. Explicit partnership between community members and local security forces, especially when both receive conflict resolution training they are encouraged to share, provides a foundation on which minor conflict can be addressed and social cohesion built. The gendered nature of violence remains an under-addressed area of policy and programming. This includes not only women’s and girl’s unique concerns, but also men’s disproportionate role as perpetrators of violence and the invisibility of male survivors.