Grassroots - peace actors and traditional mechanisms in the management of farmer-herder conflicts in Tigania East, Kenya

Abstract

The arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya (ASALs) continue to suffer farmer-herder conflicts as one of the most remarkable threats to peace, stability and development. Tigania East is one such example that is worsened by resource-rich areas, cultures, and politics, which promote conflict between groups. Whereas interventions by the government usually focus on providing security responses, the grassroots peace players have come out as important stakeholders in managing conflicts suitably. This paper examines the principles of managing the farmer-herder conflicts in Tigania East through the perspectives of the traditional mechanisms, community dialogue forums, and participatory conflict resolution models by implementing the involvement of the grassroots peace actors. Guided by Conflict Transformation Theory, the research provides insights into the ways in which local actors, whether by action or beliefs, use culturally entrenched practices to mediate, negotiate, reconcile, and transform relationships using the practices. The research adopted the descriptive research design. As this is a qualitative type of study, the target population includes elders, women's section organisations, youth leaders, religious leaders, and local administrators. The snowball sampling method and purposive method were accepted to give birth to 60 respondents to inform the findings. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires, oral interviews, focus group discussions and archival tools. Themes were utilised to study data. The findings also indicate that the grassroots peace-building is holistic because it focuses on solving immediate disagreements as well as structural inequalities by involving everyone in dialogue, creating awareness, community projects, and traditional reconciliation rituals. But issues like limited resources, political influence, low institutional support and socio-economic inequalities defy sustainability. The paper finds that grassroots strategies (when combined with formal institutional frameworks) are potentially potent in reshaping farmer-herder conflicts into spaces of peace-making, coexistence and developmental opportunities. The conclusion is that although the peace actors at the grassroots level are unquestionably essential, their efforts should be sustained by structural adjustments and collaboration on the multi-level basis to guarantee long-term stability. The paper recommends that there is a need for institutional support, encouragement of women and youth inclusion and mixed models of peace through judicious balance between grassroots legitimacy and state institutions.