Whenever people act, communicate, interact and deal with a range of activities individually or collectively, the primary things that has to come to the mind of every rational person in the first place is first peace, second peace and even next peace as it is the ultimate cornerstone of stable, productive and pleasing trek in the history of human life. From this, one can deduce that no value is fixed to peace at all since it is tantamount to life itself.
Thus, everyone has to be part of the peace movement introduces and goes over the needs, importance, and implementation of peace edifice skills and wisdom. Yes, there must be a need, in Ethiopia especially these days, to relearn how to live peacefully and promote conflict solving skills among the community and in families. Peace can be spoiled by conflict entrepreneurs and peace-loathing elements whenever public gatherings are observed, wedding and other decisive social cohesion testimonies are exercised, religious and worship prayers are conducted, public holidays such as the upcoming Easter are commemorated.
The best remedy for getting such ill-intended missions aborted is raising public awareness and boosting community engagement. True, community engagement in securing peace is not an end in itself, but it is a means of achieving and promoting increased inclusiveness and resilience in communities that have lived through repeated cycles of violence with limited participation in societal agreement.
Here implementing a broad range of mandated tasks can come to the forefront, including improving situational awareness, protection of civilians, strategies supporting inclusive political processes, monitoring the violation of human rights, strengthening the legitimacy of state institutions and fostering the effective implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration activities, as they are of significantly useful in reaping the bounties of peace and serenity in the country. Unequivocally, there is widespread recognition that the sustainability peaceful solutions to the problems is dependent on the inclusivity and fairness to generate a shared societal agreement about what peace means and what it entails.
The very point that needs to be recognized along this line is that peace and peaceful scenario cannot be simply achieved through top-down approaches, such as through formalizing elite bargains and brokering power-sharing agreements, as these have been proven to be short-lived in the absence of broader buy-in. Therefore, community engagement, understood not as the mere first step of outreach, but as an actual process of inclusion in decision-making, lies very much at the heart of the concept of sustaining peace.
Principally, by applying integrated interventions, community engagement activities have contributed to sustaining peace through a number of interventions. To mention but a few, supporting community-based mechanisms to address threats to civilians that increase community resilience, promoting inclusive processes that can best address the roots of societal grievances, including by supporting the reintegration of former fighter and countering narratives that capitalize on disenfranchisement to breed extremism and radicalization and supporting opportunities and avenues for dialogue between parties in a state of rivalry, and the role the local population play in due course of promoting societal cohesion, fraternity among citizens as well as bolstering institutional responsiveness and accountability.
Yes, contributing to sustaining peace at the grassroots level, strengthening community resilience and local ownership structured and consistent community engagement have been part of effective peace securing strategies to address threats to civilians, be they emanate from armed groups or as a result of inter-tribal violence.
At the same time, reinforcing the role of traditional authorities in communal conflict management, indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms, the ideas of opinion leaders, religious fathers and the society’s entrenched culture of respect, which has, in turn, strengthened the community’s capacity to resolve disagreements and conflicts in the future have to be well capitalized.
Besides, promoting inclusive processes and space for dialogue, strengthening local capacities for conflict resolution and reconciliation is an important step towards sustainable peace, tranquility and long-lasting stability.
All the efforts focusing on sharing good practices to allow for peaceful coexistence, tolerance and non-violent communication and close discussion can bear fruits if properly handled and genuinely held. Interestingly, strengthening capacities and resilience as well as promoting inclusivity are all ultimately intended to create a stronger bond between/among the society, the government and the country at large.
Yes, peace efforts are of paramount importance in bringing communities closer to their neighbors, workmates, and even institutions in conflict affected settings where trust among the community has been eroded and the legitimacy of the latter is often disputed. In order to achieve the mission of building sustainable peace, a community-led approach has proven to be highly effective and critical in achieving long-lasting impact and change. They have to be well consolidated as they are imperative to build confidence among people, be it each other or one another, through direct work with communities and their members in the area. It has additionally proven to be an effective use of resources and local capacity.
Needless to mention, many forms of violence and conflict are escalating due to multiple, often interconnected causes, such as poverty, insufficient development, inequitable resource distribution, competing political ideologies, and religious tensions. These issues have led to complex and prolonged violence. By engaging with communities, researching the causes of conflicts, proposing solutions, and promoting harmony between conflicting parties, everyone peculiarly scholars in the universities can play a crucial role in preventing and resolving conflict by tackling the underlying causes of disputes, contention, incongruity and disagreements. No doubt, scholars and students have spent time interacting with and listening to individuals and community groups to gain a deeper understanding of the causal factors behind conflicts, and various ways of making peace.
Here, their work has to be translated into practical action to help the country make a difference. The issue of ensuring peace should not be left solely to the government and other parties working on the area instead it requires the amalgamated effort of all. For this to happen, every citizen of the nation has to work hard in countering the society’s’ fear about the interference of anti-peace and anti-development rudiments. If that is so, all citizens of the country are expected to build peace by using convening and convincing power to initiate conversations between conflicting parties, offering training opportunities and equipping them with the tools to understand the political and legal aspects of peace that will enable them to engage and negotiate with the government and even with each other.
Citizens have to engage in integrating both traditional and scientific methods of conflict resolution and peace building mechanisms to ensure compatibility with local beliefs while upholding scientific rigor, promoting peaceful coexistence by encouraging acceptance of cultural diversity and emphasizing the richness and intellectual value of different cultures. The primacy of political solutions for local, national, regional, continental and even international peace and security questions has been continually required, indeed! There is also a widespread recognition that the sustainability of political solutions is dependent on their inclusivity as this is required to generate a shared societal agreement about what peace means and what it entails. Besides, sustaining peace should be broadly understood as a goal and a process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring that the needs of all segments of the population are taken into account.
What matters here is the general society has to well comprehend the means how to promote peace, maintain social peace, the importance of peace, how to solve conflict via the basic mechanisms of conflict resolution, and other related and lucrative ways. As the challenges compromising peace and peace journey still exist, all walks of life have to sensitize themselves and other community members about the significance of standing together to ensure peace.
People have to make a culture of uttering, ‘Peace has to begin with me.’ In a world too often plagued by conflict and discord, the pursuit of peace becomes an urgent and vital endeavour.
No doubt, protecting and sustaining peace poses a daunting task for countries emerging from wars and violence like ours. This is often because the underlying causes of the conflicts are not well understood or addressed, leaving room for potential instability. Insecurity, inequality and exclusion are common drivers of conflict that must be dealt with conclusively to prevent recurrent conflicts and support the creation of productive livelihoods and resilient communities. By focusing on education, community engagement, and inclusive development, Ethiopians can promote equal opportunities and build a peaceful future.
We all must remember that investment in prevention is far more cost-effective than allocating resources to deal with the consequences of instability and violence through military interventions, honestly speaking, cconflict prevention, early warning systems, and protective measures are mutually reinforcing strategies that contribute to ensuring the root causes of conflicts are addressed and conflicts prevented from recurring or occurring altogether.
In a nutshell, all citizens of the nation need to adopt appropriate preventive strategies to safeguard peace and security. For instance, the youth are at the heart of prevention as they are the main targets for radicalization and violent extremism. Hence, it is essential to provide platforms and forums that encourage them to be active ambassadors of cohesion, peace and stability in their communities across the nation. In this regard, inclusive dialogue and community participation have proven to be powerful and effective tools for prevention.
Recognizing the threats and taking action to prevent radicalization towards violent extremism, the government of Ethiopia is working towards thriving collaboration and cooperation of all stakeholders at all levels. Timely information about developing local crises is crucial for politicians, security agencies, and community leaders are widely practiced by the government so as to prevent disputes from escalating into large-scale conflicts. Furthermore, empowering diverse local peace actors to engage early and effectively can help prevent conflicts and promote peace among warring communities. This calls for deliberate efforts in empowering community members and building resilient peace defenders.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY MENGESHA AMARE
The Ethiopian Herald April 28/2014
