Cord builds peace. Dorcas empowers marginalised communities to flourish. What would happen if we combined our experience and expertise? The answer lies in an exciting pilot project on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya.
Marika is Cord’s Programme Quality Lead. She visited Ethiopia in July to celebrate the project’s achievements and discover what we can learn from this work. She met with colleagues from Dorcas and members of the Moyale Peace Committee. We asked Marika to tell us more:
Cord has been partnering with the Dutch Christian charity, Dorcas, to deliver a project in Moyale – a rural area on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya. From 1907 when the region was under colonial rule, and afterwards when the countries gained independence, the political borders paid little attention to the different ethnic communities who had lived and moved across the area for generations. This makes life complicated and difficult. Ethnic groups live together, but tensions can grow quickly when resources become scarce or when violence from other areas spills over into the region. Drought and changing weather patterns make things worse as families find it harder to grow food and earn a living
Our pilot project combined three vital elements:
- Building peace
- Addressing people’s immediate needs
- Supporting communities to build better lives
Dorcas has been working in this region for some time, establishing the Moyale Peace Committee in 2022. When our pilot project began, Cord mentored the local Dorcas staff in conflict sensitivity. We guided them on how to train the Peace Committee in alternative dispute resolution, conflict mapping (a process that helps simplify complicated situations with visual diagrams) and nonviolent communication. These are practical tools that make local conflict and potential solutions easier to understand. We also advised them on how to accurately record wider changes in their communities.
Reflections from the Peace Committee
Two of the most senior members of the Moyale Peace Committee joined us for the project review; Mr Boru, a dignified elderly Oromo leader, and Mr Ibrahim, his younger, zealous, Somali deputy. For two days, they helped us understand what life is really like in this border region and the changes they’ve seen.
They described a tense environment where a small disagreement or petty crime often led to violence between different groups. Police forces on either side of the border had no effective system for working together. The same land that farmers needed to feed their families was also required for herds of camels and cows. There were huge trucks travelling through the community every day, carrying products that many local families could never afford.
However, despite all these challenges, the Peace Committee emphasised how determined people were to build a peaceful and prosperous future. Following their training, they were better equipped to take action when tensions arose. They are now supporting police forces to collaborate with one another. They are helping communities to find new ways of coming together to explore solutions to their problems.
They are ambitious about the future. One of their ideas is to create a local trading area, so that families can benefit from the busy trade passing through their region. As one committee member explained:
“Most families are in dire need. The weather is changing and many people only have one source of income, which depends on things outside their control, like the weather. They need a second income. We want to learn how to trade and benefit from the traffic through our community.”
One of the most significant things I realised, was just how connected everything is. For example, helping farmers receive seeds that can survive drought sounds simple. But in Moyale, great care needs to be taken when deciding who should receive those seeds. People from different communities need to feel that the process is fair. The seeds need to go to those who need them most. They need to arrive at the right time, before the rains. What might look simple on paper is much more complicated in real life. But by training the farmers when and how to sow the seeds and the Peace Committee members on how to distribute them fairly, tensions between communities are lessened and peace becomes possible.
At the end of our two days together, the walls of the room were covered with posters and notes. We gathered for one final time to share our reflections, thank one another and say goodbye. Then Mr Boru began to speak. He spoke slowly, and after a while Mr Ibrahim, gently put his hand on Mr Boru’s arm and began to translate his words for us.
“Peace is like an egg,” he said. “You need to be careful how you treat it. Once it is broken, what was there before will never come back. You cannot put the yolk back into the shell and make it whole again. So, we need to be very careful with peace.”
He continued to speak about the important role of women and young people in building peace.
“Peace flows from the homes of women. They give life, but they also advise their husbands and sons. Their eyes see more than ours. And the young bring the energy we need to bring change.”
In that quiet moment, after two intense days of conversations, Mr Boru brought together everything we had been learning.
Peace needs to be protected.
Everyone has a part to play.
And we rarely have all the answers by ourselves.
