The Creating Safer Space network held a three-day Final Regional Event for Africa and the Middle East in Nairobi, Kenya, from 24–26 January 2024. The event was hosted by Strathmore University’s Business School.
The aim of the event was to bring researchers, practitioners, artists, journalists, and policymakers together to share unique research methodologies, research findings, and their implications for violence prevention, protection, and peacebuilding initiatives.
From the many learnings about unarmed civilian protection (UCP) and community self-protection in Africa and the Middle East arising from the presentations and discussions, three overarching learnings stood out:
- UCP is embedded in, and emerges from, traditional and cultural practices. Findings across different projects are thereby fundamentally challenging and changing the literature on “who does UCP” away from international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to local people.
- UCP involves many more activities than had been acknowledged previously. This is because, in protecting people, communities start with what they have, be that signs and symbols, community media, or traditional mechanisms.
- Early Warning is understood and carried out in most places at risk, but Early Response can be further developed so that the community can choose to de-escalate, use relationships, or other mechanisms. There is a need for better support for developing early response and strategic de-escalation.
Other high-level themes arising from the discussions included, among others:
- That lots of communities and grass-roots organisations do UCP, without calling it such or having heard of nonviolent protection;
- The centrality of the collective and of solidarity in UCP/community self-protection;
- The important role of women and youth;
- The positive role the arts and artivism can play in UCP and community self-protection;
- The growing importance of online media in civilian protection;
- The role of UCP with regard to the looming threat of conflicts brought about or acerbated by climate change, which require early intervention to prevent them.
The event brought together over 60 participants from at least eight countries. Distinguished speakers included Prof. Jacqueline McGlade (Professor at Strathmore University and University College London, formerly Chief Scientist of the UN Environment Programme and Executive Director of the European Environment Agency), Ambassador Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga (Ambassador of Burundi; Senior Advisor for the AU Border Program and Regional Security Mechanisms in the Office of the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Peace and Security of the African Union Commission), Dr Caesar Mwangi (Executive Dean of Strathmore University Business School), Ms Rosemary Kabaki (Nonviolent Peaceforce Head of Mission, South Sudan) and Dr Vincent Ogutu (Vice Chancellor of Strathmore University).
Each of the 10 Creating Safer Space projects in Africa and the Middle East sent at least two representatives to the event, which involved detailed presentations and discussions on research findings and synergies between projects:
- Exploring Unarmed Civilian Self-Protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone Conflict (Gordon Crawford and Nancy Annan of Coventry University, UK, and Bernard Sakah of Big Steps Outreach Network, Cameroon)
- Unarmed Civilian Protection Through Collective Impact: Learning from the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace (JSCP) for Enhanced Civilian Protection in Maiduguri, North-Eastern Nigeria (Sukanya Podder of King’s College London and Hamsatu Hajja Allamin of the Allamin Foundation for Peace & Development, Nigeria)
- Gender-Just Landscapes: Gender Based Violence and Community Protection in Land, Natural Resource, and Climate Conflicts (Aliyu Salisu Barau and Zainab Nuhu of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria)
- Strengthening Local Capacities for Unarmed Civilian Protection in Uasin Gishu, Kenya (Clinton Gwako and Emmanuel Birech of Rural Women Peace Link, Kenya)
- Nonviolent Activism Against Police Brutality in Kenya (Martha Okumu and Rachel Akinyi of Peace Tree Network, Kenya, and Elias Opongo of Hekima University College, Kenya)
- Strategies for Safety and Solidarity: Understanding Protection Through Creativity in South Sudan and Colombia (Kara Blackmore of London School of Economics and Political Science, José Fernando Serrano-Amaya of University of Los Andes, Colombia, and Rebecca Lorins, South Sudan)
- Safety and Dignity: Enhancing Unarmed Civilian Protection Amongst Palestinian Communities in the South Hebron Hills (Marwan Darweish of Coventry University and Mahmoud Soliman of Coventry University and Al-Shmoh Cultural Centre, Palestine)
- Visualising Early Warning and Preparedness in Civilian Protection: Investigating Local Vernaculars of Community Adaptations to Insecurity (Diria Vicky Thomas of Community Aid for Relief and Development, South Sudan, and Haji Elias Hillary of Lomore Development Organization, South Sudan)
- Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia (Luke Abbs of University of Winchester, UK, and Moses John and Flora Francis Bringi of Organization for Nonviolence and Development, South Sudan)
The event also involved a Roundtable on Reporting on Civilian Protection. Speakers included Arthur Okwemba and Ruth Omukhango (African Women and Child Feature Service, Kenya), Philip Muhatia (Pamoja FM), Alex Chamwada (ChamsMedia) and Abjata Khalif (Journalist, Northeastern Kenya). They shared experiences of peace reporting in Kenya, through vernacular community media, especially local radio stations, the strong role of women in this alternative media reporting, and how it contributed to unarmed civilian protection and conflict prevention in different settings and situations.
Participants also visited the Creating Safer Space exhibition. The exhibition brings together objects, images, and voices emerging from the network’s projects to show how civilians around the world harness the power of nonviolence to create safer spaces for a dignified life
Recordings of the event are available here:
Keynote Speech, Prof. Jacqueline McGlade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHbWjZbavpw
Livestreaming of Day 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIThcfsg7zg&t=2216s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZfX1ZYdMMk
Livestreaming of Day 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVR3jHedVPg&t=11903s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd8zujysQgA&t=195s
Livestreaming of Day 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHbWjZbavpw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynty4sHKCJk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DL2HyN13eo
This is the first of our three final events. The final event for Asia will take place in Thailand in February, and the final event for Latin America will take place in Colombia in June.