Infrastructures for Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa

Description

Cultures of violence are characteristic of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and attempts to move towards cultures of peace have often proved difficult and ineffectual. And yet, the wide variations in levels of violence within and between countries show that it is not inevitable; rather, it is the result of choices made at individual, community and societal levels. This book examines the potential of peace infrastructures as vehicles to strengthen and spread progress towards cultures of peace. Peace infrastructures vary hugely in sophistication and level. The examples examined in this book range from tiny structures which help resolve conflicts between individuals and within community organisations, peace committees which serve local communities, peace education and peace club programmes in schools, mediation mechanisms to prevent election violence and to ministries of peace to coordinate government and non-government efforts in peacemaking and peacebuilding. The overall finding is that the development of peace infrastructures at all levels has great potential to build cultures of peace. 1. It is the only book available which documents the experience and potential of nonviolence in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa. 2. It makes a persuasive case for the development of various peace infrastructures in order to make peace sustainable. 3. It explains how strategic planning can be utilised, both to bring about change and to institutionalise it. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Putting a Tape Measure Around Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa (Geoff Harris, Mediel Hove)....Pages 3-24 Gender-Based Violence: A Case Study of Bindura Urban, Zimbabwe (Jeffrey Kurebwa)....Pages 25-34 Front Matter ....Pages 35-35 Violence or Nonviolence? A Comparison of Costs and Effectiveness (Geoff Harris)....Pages 37-51 Why Nonviolent Movements Failed in Zimbabwe: The MDC and its Allies, 2000–2015 (Mediel Hove)....Pages 53-77 Collaborative Conflict Resolution: A Case Study of Conflict Transformation in a Zimbabwean Peri-urban Township (Kudakwashe Shonhiwa)....Pages 79-85 Collaborative Conflict Resolution: A Case Study of Women’s Self-help Groups in North-Western Zimbabwe (Cresencia Nyathi)....Pages 87-99 Front Matter ....Pages 101-101 Building Peace Through Local Peace Committees: African Experiences (Norman Chivasa)....Pages 103-126 Local Peace Committees and Election Violence in Burundi, 2015 (Mulanda Juma)....Pages 127-145 The Necessity of Peace Education in Zimbabwe (Mediel Hove)....Pages 147-163 Peace Clubs in Schools: African Experiences (Mulanda Juma)....Pages 165-183 Mediating Post-electoral Violence in Kenya, 2007–2008 (Lyn Snodgrass, Anne Oyier Achieng)....Pages 185-202 Establishing Ministries of Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa (Geoff Harris)....Pages 203-216 Front Matter ....Pages 217-217 Youth Bulge: A Blessing or Curse to Zimbabwe’s Peace? (Cyprian Muchemwa)....Pages 219-233 The Challenges of Climate Change for Nonviolence (Baruti B. Amisi)....Pages 235-252 Front Matter ....Pages 253-253 Let a Thousand Peace Infrastructures Bloom (Mediel Hove, Geoff Harris)....Pages 255-261 Back Matter ....Pages 263-298