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Samburu District Peace Committee
The Samburu District Peace Committee is an umbrella organisation for peace-building and development initiatives in the region. It organises reconciliation meetings between warring tribes, deals with issues of competition over scarce resources, facilitates rapid responses to prevent the escalation of conflict, and advocates for the economic empowerment of women and youth.
Overview
For a long time Samburu District has been ravaged by cyclical conflicts of revenge and counter-revenge. The conflicts often arise over competition for resources (i.e. pastures and water) and are expressed through power politics.
The Government has not been very successful in its interventions, because of its failure to address core issues of the conflict such as grazing patterns and the political leanings of the many tribes living in the district. Also the Government has developed a penchant for use of excessive force when recovering rustled livestock and when intervening during conflicts, something that has enraged many people.
The peace committee was therefore formed to coordinate reconciliation meetings between the warring tribes and to address the thorny issue of competition over resources through peaceful means. The membership of the committee comprises venerable opinion leaders, elders, youth and civil society activists.
The committee also aims to sensitise the communities on the importance of taking their children to school and to work on how best to change aspects of Samburu culture that have been found to be retrogressive; aspects such as tribal animosity and livestock rustling.
As the peace committee works to build peace and to reconcile the warring tribes, it has encouraged people, in particular youth and women, to take advantage of the Government largesse allocated to them in the budget to start self-help projects.
What Services Are Provided?
- Mediation and reconciliation between conflicting communities;
- Facilitating rapid response during conflicts;
- Advocacy (i.e. Economic empowerment of women and youth), and
- Liaison between peace committees and the Government.
Geographical Area of Operation
Samburu District, Kenya
Funding Resources
- Peacenet-Kenya;
- Oxfam
- ITDGI;
- Government; and
- The County Council of Samburu.
What Further Information Would You Like?
- Information on how to run community based organisations;
- Information on how to do fund-raising;
- Information on project proposal writing;
- Information on peace-building and conflict resolution; and
- Information on basic financial accounting.
What New Contacts Would You Like To Make?
- Organisations that support training on peace- building and conflict resolution;
- Organisations that support a rapid response to conflicts; and
- Peace and conflict research institutes.
Associated Organisations
- Peacenet-Kenya (a local NGO);
- Oxfam; and
- Intermediate Technology Development Groups International (ITDGI).