Safer World Foundation, with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Japan, has launched a project to strengthen community response to conflict between Farmers and Herders in North Central Nigeria.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening local response to conflicts between farmer and herder communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states .
In a statement by the National Program Coordinator of Safer World Foundation (SWF), Yonpan Dariem Abdullahi during a meeting with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Traditional leaders, IJN, CAN and traders union in Benue State, said “The primary target group and beneficiaries of this project are the farmer and herder communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States, as the project will aim to contribute to the mitigation of conflict over natural resources.
Specifically, members of farmer and herder communities will benefit from strengthened traditional conflict resolution through early warning and response mechanisms that will be established through this project.”
“Traditional leaders and community response committees will be trained on how to appropriately analyse and respond to these early warning signals. Furthermore, farmer and herder communities will benefit from improved intra and inter-communal perceptions because of improved access to reliable public information and community outreach on conflict resolution,” she assured.
Yonpan explained that “the project will be implemented in one community from each of the selected LGAs from the three identified states of the projects. The selection of the LGAs will ensure that, where necessary, one LGA from each of the State will be the State capital to ensure access to state authorities and other key stakeholders in the State. In all, six communities will be selected for project implementation.”
On his part, Safer World’s Foundation Media and Communications Officer Moses Michael Ogbeche on the partnership with UNDP and The Government of Japan, “We are excited about the partnership. This partnership is a reflection of Safer World’s continuous commitment to Peace building in Nigeria,” he explained
According to Ogbeche, SWF will ensure women’s participation as they play a pivotal role in peace building. Our inclusive approach would also consider the needs and perspectives of other marginalised groups such as people living with disabilities and ethnic minorities. “It is important that members of the community who are more vulnerable to violence are included in peace processes,” he said .
This project will build on the comparative strength of Safer World Foundation to strengthen early warning and response mechanisms in the target project states. SWF’s expertise in community mobilisation will be used to mobilise an early response to address the early warning signals.
To achieve this, SWF will formally establish local response networks. These will include religious leaders, women leaders, youth leaders, school teachers, representatives of the Police, Union representatives, e.g. Nigerian Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW), representatives of community-based organizations, and representatives of farmer and herder associations.
This will ensure a strong link between the identification of early warning signals and the identification and subsequent implementation of an early response action. It is believed that if the early warning signals can’t be addressed at the community level, local response networks will mobilize relevant stakeholders at the local government area or state level to ensure that conflict is mitigated before turning violent.
Safer World Foundation is a non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation that works on environmental, socio-cultural, political, economic, and health issues with the view to reducing violent conflict, minimise the impact of violence on individuals and communities at large, and to build safer communities.
Lateefah Ibrahim
