Angola

Engaging Youth through Conflict Resolution Centers

The Conflict Resolution Centers established by Search For Common Ground (SFCG) with support from British Petroleum (BP) seek to support a peaceful future for Angola through supporting youth as actors in peacebuilding and community engagement.

Launched in 2011, this project builds on gained experience to promote the role of youth in the Angolan society. The project aims to increase the confidence of youth leaders to engage in their communities to foster change. The project also seeks to build the capacity of youth to identify key issues in society and learn how to address them by carrying out concrete activities in response to these key issues.

The project builds on the foundations of another project of SFCG in Angola, the School Parliament, in order to continue promoting youth development while empowering youth to take ownership of community level initiatives. The project's overall goal is to promote greater youth engagement at the community level in determining Angola's future. This project is guided by two specific objectives, namely the reinforcement of skills of Angolan youth in civic education and life skills, including leadership, conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving and advocacy, and the promotion of dialogue between different youth and youth groups.

This project supports a peaceful future for Angola through supporting youth as actors in peace building and community engagement. The project builds on the foundations of the SFCG Angola project School Parliament to continue promoting youth development while empowering youth to take ownership of their community level initiatives. The project has the overall goal of promoting greater youth engagement at the community level in determining Angola's future. This project is guided by two specific objectives, namely the reinforcement of skills of Angolan youth in civic education and life skills, including leadership, conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, and advocacy, and the interaction through dialogue between various youth actors and groups.

Building conflict resolution centers allows for a systematic transfer of knowledge between students. Using the school parliament handbooks and other literature provided to the centers, the initial investment in the project provides the students with resources for the future sustainability of the conflict resolution centers. Building off the relationships made with Parliamentarians, the students are able to keep alive and further strengthen these ties as well as the dialogue between youth and government in general.

The conflict resolution centers act as a platform from which community wide engagement can take place, with youth leaders at the forefront. They also act as a meeting place from which other initiatives can take place. SFCG aims to broaden the involvement and buy-in from the community by extending the lessons and experiences of the project activities to the overall public via radio programming. Using community radio as a vehicle to reach a larger audience, the project generates larger involvement by youth to utilize and refer to the conflict resolution centers.

Program Inspiration - Njango

One of the major inspirations to launch the Conflict Resolution Project came from a traditional Angolan institution, the Njango. The Njango acted as a community meeting place where issues were discussed in the presence of the soba (traditional community leader) and elders, representing a form of traditional parliament. Villages, which were generally extended family units, had their own Njango, whereas larger populations tended to have a Njango in each bairro (suburb or shantytown). Other important functions of the Njango included serving as a place to welcome guests and visitors; a place of socialization for younger members of the community as they listened to the stones of the elders and a traditional court when crimes, misdemeanors and other offences were dealt with and fines or penalties were imposed.

It is difficult to establish how widespread the use of the Njango is in present day Angola. Its decline is intrinsically connected to the marginalization of traditional authority in the country and directly linked to the development era of the country. Many urbanized Angolans, especially youth of today, may never have seen a Njango. Conversely, Angolans from the provinces or those of an older generation speak with affection of the Njango and recount stories of their participation in the past.

In reflecting on the appeals for inclusive dialogues and conflict resolution in a modern Angola, it is important to keep in mind the memory of the Njango as a place where the community met to talk about its problems, review the past and make preparations for the future. Calls for change in Angola are a call for Njango communication, for the creation of a Njango-like space, a common ground platform, where public concerns can be addressed to advance Angola's track to a peaceful and sustainable development.

By building conflict resolution centers, or Njango, the project seeks to invest in a structure that will allow for a systematic transfer of knowledge between students. Using the school parliament handbooks and other literature provided to the centers, the initial investment in the project will provide the students with resources for the future sustainability of the conflict resolution centers. Building off the relationships made with Parliamentarians, the students will be able to keep alive and further strengthen these ties, as well as the dialogue between youth and government in general. SFCG and BP seek to build capacity within local actors and to provide resources that are left at the disposal of the participants to sustain the results of the project. The conflict resolution centers will act as a platform from which inter youth and community wide engagement can take place, with youth leaders at the forefront. Such centers will also act as a meeting place from which other initiatives can take place. SFCG aims to broaden the involvement and buy-in from the community by extending the lessons and experiences of the project activities to the overall public via radio programming. By using community radio as a vehicle to reach a larger audience, the project will generate larger involvement by youth to utilize and refer to the conflict resolution centers.

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SFCG Angola thanks the following donors for their support