SHALOM-SCCRR’S TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH TO MANIFEST AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE TAKES ROOT ON THE KENYAN COAST
Eastern Africa

SHALOM-SCCRR’S TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH TO MANIFEST AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE TAKES ROOT ON THE KENYAN COAST

By October 18, 2024 October 22nd, 2024 No Comments

By: Godfrey Okoth MA, 

On the Southern Coast of Mombasa County in Kenya is Likoni; a densely populated slum area and an administrative Sub-County that is residence to slightly above 75,000 people living in an area estimated to be 97 Sq. Km. (KNBS, 2019 Population and Housing Census). Despite being perceived as the ancestral home of the largely Muslim Digo community who dominantly reside in the Southern Coast of Kenya, the economic potential of Likoni and Southern Coast at large has attracted residents from diverse identities across Kenya and even globally. The vast mix of identities in this area ranging from social, religious, economic and even political has over the years created relational fault lines among residents that have at times degenerated into extreme manifest violence and many other manifestations of violent ideological extremism.

Mwalimu Kassim, a Village Elder and a member of Timbwani community Peace group explaining the value of intergroup cohesion among residents during a workshop on conflict transformation

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Indigenous ethnic Identity linked to autochthonous ownership claims over Likoni’s territorial space remains at the root of the violence which dominantly manifests through ethnic hatred, profiling and attacks, religious intolerance, land disputes and public insecurity in the form of street mugging, infliction of injuries and even killing. Additionally, the prevailing local institutional infrastructure that is either too limited, unwilling or lacking in the requisite capacities for preventing, managing and transforming public disorder has given room for the escalation of violent situations as perpetrators have become more and more comfortable committing violence with less fear of a possible eventual accountability.  Ms. Halima emphasized that “for years, we have faced numerous instances of both manifest and structural violence. The persistent insecurity has left us living in fear, and our community has at times been hopeless, with little support from the responsible stakeholders to address the underlying causes of these conflicts.”

Shalom-SCCRR’s Ms. Habiba Abdi, (MA candidate) guiding the participants through the elements of a good action plan during the Conflict transformation action planning workshop held in August 2024

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Armed with this preliminary analysis of the conflict situation in Likoni, Shalom-SCCRR launched a robust conflict intervention in the beginning of the year 2023. Guided by Shalom ethos, the project focused on establishing a comprehensive program that aims to transform extreme violence by strengthening community’s conflict intervention capacities through training on peacebuilding skills and techniques, peace education, and community led problem solving workshops.

Shalom-SCCRR’s Executive Director, Fr. Oliver Noonan MA (PhD. Candidate) conducting a training on the four dimensions of conflict transformation (Personal, Relational, Structural and Cultural)

Due to the relational fragilities and the sensitive conflict dynamics in the target conflict environment, Shalom-SCCRR started off with an extensive yearlong community entry in order to successfully gain community trust and achieve ownership of the project. Furthermore, it was established that the sensitive and complex arena of extreme violence in Likoni requires the active involvement of informed community leaders and key influential opinion shapers with the central aim of investing in human interaction as a pivotal nonviolent strategy towards prevention of the prevailing extreme violence. In our establishment of the project, Shalom was driven by the notion that “the community; with characteristics unique to it provides a prolific ground upon which violence takes deep root”. Consequently, members of the same community are better placed to play the priority role in transforming the personal, relational, cultural, structural and religious factors which, being enmeshed within their society remain critical enablers of extreme violent behavior.

Shalom-SCCRR’s Mr. Godfrey Okoth MA, facilitating a session on the analysis of the conflict issues, impact of religious ideological extremism on the affected local populations, capacities, and possible approaches for addressing the problem

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With the support of the local religious and government leaders, the project team has so far meticulously and successfully navigated the sensitivities around conflict narratives and intergroup mistrust. Evidence to this progress is the successful establishment of an interreligious and interethnic group of 45 community members whom in the past 18 months have been actively engaged directly through 9 different training modules covering paradigms of conflict analysis, conflict transformation, conflict negotiation and action planning.

Shalom-SCCRR’s Ms. Esther Kibe MA, facilitating group discussions with participants to map the best intervention strategies for addressing inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflict in target locations.

Mr. Godfrey Okoth MA, facilitating a group discussion session with the local key opinion leaders on the establishment of conflict prevention and transformation frameworks in their areas.

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The dynamics of group formation was initially characterized by glaring religious and interethnic mistrust that significantly hampered free communication and interaction during training sessions. The persistence of the project team in working towards confidence building has so far paid off since the group is currently significantly interreligious bringing together both Muslims, Christians and traditionalists who despite their differences can tolerate each other’s divergent opinions and sustain very constructive discussions on how to transform conflict issues and conflict parties that were initially regarded as the “untouchable”. Mr. Dismas Omondi the Group Animator underpinned that, “Shalom’s methodology has been crucial in uniting the relevant key opinion leaders. This approach has not only fostered community support for Shalom’s initiatives but also strengthened our collective efforts to address and transform the conflict issues. With this community backing, we are optimistic about collaborating to cultivate a future of peaceful coexistence and reconciliation among our communities.”

Shalom-SCCRR’s Moses Osiro MA, guiding participants in an action planning activity on their intervention strategies for sustaining peace in their project areas

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Through a coordinated arrangement under the leadership of the trained community leaders and involving the local government leadership, under Shalom-SCCRR’s expert guidance, there has been developed a long term conflict transformation action plan which will be implemented from the beginning of the year 2025. The action plan targets to change the key issues ailing intercommunal relationships key among them being religious intolerance, youth involvement in insecurity and drugs, extreme and deep seated interethnic animosities and persistent land disputes. The coordinated approach involving the multiple stakeholders and duty bearers promises a tremendous achievement in restoring healthy relationships among community members and protecting the young generation from being influenced negatively into actions that jeopardize peaceful co-existence.

We appreciate Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine’s expertise for his enormous contribution to the development of this article’s subject matter, as evidenced in the well-articulated articles below. Furthermore, through his skills and extensive experience in deciphering the role of religion in fuelling and healing conflict, he has been a great resource in every step of this project’s implementation.

Author: Mr Godfrey Okoth, MA, (PhD Candidate), Shalom-SCCRR Senior Project Officer

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