Women, especially members of the county peace committees and members of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), working in close collaboration with other stakeholders in the space of peace and security have been key and instrumental in ensuring the members of the communities across the cosmopolitan Uasin Gishu County live in peace and unity.
The efforts of the eminent women in peace building has seen the county have a sustainable peace which has fostered rapid development occasioned by urbanization which has enabled it host the country’s fifth city, Eldoret City and earning the title County of Champions, an historic achievement.
In an interview with the Kenya News Agency, Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County, mama Esther Kangogo, a member of the county peace committee and a member of the council of elders, pointed out that, as a peace actor working together with other colleagues, that they embrace various strategies like preaching peace in merry-go-round women groups and churches each and every time they have a chance to attend the social gatherings like public barazas and others.
She added that they employ other strategies and peacemaking activities like holding conflict resolution workshops, dialogue meetings, mediation and others in order to develop and equip people with skills to take part in peace building processes, a move which will play a crucial role in preventing conflict in the society.
The 20 years experienced peace actor explained that her story dates back to 2005 during the Orange and Banana referendum when the political temperatures in the country were high, noting that she perceived that the society is divided which gives a hint to loss of lives as a result of a probable conflict among members of the society.
“We decided to talk as mothers on a family set up, we spread the message of peace through community forums telling them so tusipigane, conflict inaturudisha nyuma,” explained the peace actor. She further mentioned that they normally cultivate an environment that will ensure conflicting groups in the society who rarely speak or meet due to previous history of conflict are connected like introducing a shared resource like a borehole, school and others where they can both interact and establish peaceful ties once more and forget about their past.
Kangogo indicated that working towards changing the attitudes of the members of the society including youth, women and the vulnerable members like the PWDs, towards peace, is imperative, noting that they transform the people’s attitudes through continuous sensitization messages on peace and highlighting the impacts of conflict on societal development.
Additionally, the peace champions strive towards supporting people’s livelihoods through advocating for economic opportunities for the young generation to motivate them to pursue peaceful paths. Noting that peace is a continuous and an everlasting process, she alluded that achieving a peaceful community or society, is a collective responsibility and they work with all classes of people in the society involving politicians, professionals, community leaders and others in the peace processes.
In her remarks, Mama Mary Chepkwony from Rural Women Peace Link, underscored that Women’s contributions to conflict resolution and peacebuilding are generally considered positive. Women bring diverse conflict experiences, represent different interest groups, and have different priorities than men.
She highlighted a variety of strategies women peace builders employ to prevent conflict, including: Community forums where they participate in community forums to promote peace through dialogue at churches, public barazas, and other community events.
Additionally, through Rural Women Peace Link (RPWL) programmes which include Gender Rapid Response Initiative for Social Cohesion and Strengthening Capacities for Peace, women participate in training sessions on the Kenya National Action Plan (KNAP) to identify the root causes of conflict and develop recommendations to address them.
“We have a project “Local Communities Build and Sustain Peace: Strengthening Women and Youth Participation in Building Sustainable Peace in Kenya” which is implemented in Uasin Gishu and Bungoma counties and its main objective is to effectively localize UNSCR1325 and the supporting resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security at the grassroots level,” explained mama Chepkwony.
She underscored that they believe in the theory of change that, if communities are given the opportunity of seeking and establishing conflict resolution mechanisms among youth, women, men, and community leaders then there will be fewer incidences of conflicts escalating.
“For these reasons, RWPL envisaged a project that focused on the listed groups as part of a trained and efficient Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) link to other county mediation teams, local networks, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and government agencies for quick response to mitigate any portended conflict risks,” she added.
On her part, Mary Njoki, a peacebuilder from Uasin Gishu County who has excelled in championing for peace in the region and bringing change to the community hinted at peace champions who are members of the professional class, finding ways in which they position their proficient life towards peace through seeing how their work contributes to peace and justice, and seeking opportunities to make change.
She indicated that the best time to preach peace is when the country is calm and everybody is at peace so that when conflict arises, they will have been effectively taught its importance. “The work of a peacebuilder is entirely voluntary; nobody gets paid to preach peace. We take it as our passion. We therefore volunteer so that we can live peacefully in our homesteads and foster development,” she said.
“As a victim of the 2008 post-election violence in which I lost my parents and brother because of tribal clashes, I made a vow to champion for peace and ensure that no one else goes through the same tragedy,” added Njoki, the Peace Champion.
The peace champion who was acknowledged by the United Nations Women at the Security Council as an example of the many women in society who are celebrated for positively impacting society and at the same time awarded a shujaa honorary award by the President of Kenya Dr. William Ruto, she noted that developing robust and strengthening of existing rule of law systems and rebuilding of social institutions like schools, churches and others, devastated as a result of previous conflicts while at the same time embracing nonviolent resolutions to avert conflicts will play a key role in preventing conflict in the communities and the county at large.