“Advancing Sustainable Peace and Security in Tanzania” was a 24-month project implemented from January 2018 to December 2019 with funding from Acacia Mining. It is a continuation of a successful partnership between Search and Barrick/Acacia Mining which started in 2011.
The project aimed to foster sustainable, positive, and cohesive relationships between community members, decision-makers, Acacia, and other stakeholders in mining communities in three sites: North Mara, Bulyanhulu, and Buzwagi.
The program made a clear contribution in conflict transformation around the three mine sites. Data shows that the Search program is positively associated with an increase in feelings of social cohesion, safety around the mine site, trust with the police, and Acacia security. A Return on Investment calculation showed that Acacia’s investment in peacebuilding through Search was positively correlated to a significant and consistent drop in incidents across all three mine sites, and that this correlation is hugely supported by the quantitative and qualitative data that emerged from this research.
Community felt Acacia and the police had a better understanding of their needs, and that acts of violence and human rights violations from Acacia and the police had decreased significantly. A strong majority of community members felt empowered to participate in peaceful conflict transformation, and they felt that they had the necessary tools and platforms to do this. Finally, the goal of supporting the communities shift towards sustainable alternative livelihoods has also had a notable impact. Nearly half of all households surveyed had participated in one of Acacia’s community programs in the past two years, and 80% intended to initiate an alternative livelihoods in the near future.
