Description
Indigenous conflict management and resolution mechanisms use local actors and traditional community-based judicial and legal decision-making mechanisms to manage and resolve conflicts within or between communities.
Objectives
Local mechanisms aim to resolve conflicts without resorting to state-run judicial systems, police, or other external structures.
Local negotiations can lead to ad hoc practical agreements which keep broader inter-communal relations positive, creating environments where nomads can graze together, townspeople can live together, and merchants can trade together even if military men remain unreconciled.
Expected outcome or impact
Additional results of local conflict management occur when actors who do not have an political, social or economic stake in continuing violence come together and build a “constituency for peace.” In some cases, this can undermine the perpetrators of violence, leading to the development of momentum toward peace
Local mediation typically incorporates consensus-building based on open discussions to exchange information and clarify issues. Conflicting parties are more likely to accept guidance from these mediators than from other sources because an elder’s decision does not entail any loss of face and is backed by social pressure. The end result is, ideally, a sense of unity, shared involvement and responsibility, and dialogue among groups otherwise in conflict.
Relationship to conflict prevention and mitigation
Local mechanisms intervene to resolve community disputes before they escalate to large-scale violence or to prevent a resumption of violence after a period of calm.
Implementation
Organizers
Generally one or both parties to a dispute request intervention by an elder, the elder council, or other community member. Occasionally, elders unite and take the initiative in forming a local council to represent the community’s interests.
Participants
Community members involved in the conflict participate in the dispute resolution process. These community members can include traditional authorities—elders, chiefs—women’s organizations, local institutions and professional associations.