“Building Peace from the Inside: Supporting Insider Mediation for Sustainable Transformation of Conflict” is a two-year international consortium project funded by the EU’s Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP)and implemented by Search for Common Ground, Interpeace, Berghof Foundation, and partners Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre (CENAP) in Burundi and Africa University’s Institute of Peace Leadership and Governance (IPLG) in Zimbabwe. The project’s objective is to support national efforts for peace and stability in Burundi, Zimbabwe, and Niger.
In recent years, insider mediation has emerged as a process to prevent, manage, and resolve conflicts by involving trusted local personalities, such as civic, social, religious, or political leaders, in local, national and international peace efforts. This approach relies on the influence, legitimacy and knowledge of the individuals who are themselves an intrinsic part of the conflict context. As such, they can engage rapidly and directly with disputing parties from across social divides beyond the reach of international and regional mediation actors.
By harnessing this vast potential, including influential youth and women, our consortium leverages their networks and unique understandings of the context to mediate locally generated conflicts and contribute to higher level mediation efforts. To do this we:
- Identify and select well respected local mediators and provide them with additional mediation training and skills.
- Put these trainings into action supporting a variety of activities such as sensibilisation sessions, dialogue and mediation sessions, community solidarity activities, peer-to-peer engagement etc…
- Build networks of practice to connect insider mediators with each other and with other high level mediation actors.
In Burundi , Interpeace and CENAP are working with actors at all levels to address issues related to recurrent socio-political crises the country has been enduring. In addition to mediating conflicts, the 95 insider mediators identified and trained by the project have worked to raise awareness about recurrent types of conflicts (e.g. domestic disputes, workplace conflicts, land management conflicts) and how mediation can be used as an efficient tool for solving these. So far, the insider mediators of Burundi have led 11 awareness raising sessions reaching over 750 members of their communities.
In Niger, the 80 insider mediators trained by Search have led 132 dialogue and mediation sessions in different parts of the country and have helped resolve over 27 conflicts. These conflicts involve a variety of issues including land use, access to resources, and inter-community violence. At the end of a successful mediation between two conflicting groups, the mediators work together with the parties in conflict and other key community stakeholders such as the local mayor, security forces, and traditional leaders to organize a solidarity activity to reinforce the peace and cohesion created between the groups.
In Zimbabwe, Berghof has been working with IPLG to identify and train insider mediators. These insider mediators come from different regions and sectors, including civil society, churches, and government. The training sessions provide participants with basic dialogue, negotiation, and mediation skills and approaches. The project aims to develop a diverse network of actors across different sectors of society who share a common understanding of how to engage constructively in dialogue and conflict transformation.
To learn more about this project, read our interim report here.
Discover more about Search’s mediation work and insider mediation projects here.
