Engaging youth for community based change through Conflict Resolution Centers

The Conflict Resolution Centers established by SFCG with support from BP seek to support a peaceful future for Angola through supporting the youth as actors in peacebuilding and community engagement. The project was launched in a public ceremony held at the Hotel Alvalade on August 24, 2011 and the first training of trainers took place from August 29, 2011 to September 2nd, 2011.

The project builds on the foundations of another project of SFCG in Angola, the School Parliament, on order to continue promoting youth development while empowering youth to take ownership of 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 promotion of dialogue between different youth and youth groups.

Building conflict resolution centers, 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.

The conflict resolution centers will act as a platform from which community wide engagement can take place, with youth leaders at the forefront. They 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.

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 (Nunes 1991, page 151). 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 (Robson & Roque 2001, page 84); and a traditional court when crimes, misdemeanors and other offences were dealt with and fines or penalties were imposed (Chikueka 1999, page 393; David 1997; Nunes 1991, page 166-167).

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.