Violent conflicts have become a common thing in Northern Kenya in the recent past, characterized with loss of lives and livelihoods.This informed the need to bring together decision-makers from six counties of Northern Kenya to deliberate together with community representatives on the roadmap towards sustainable peace.

We held peace concert events as build up activities towards the Peace Summit in Leparua, Isiolo County and in Naibor,Laikipia county to discuss the increased conflicts that escalates during migration due to the scarcity of resources in the areas ,we advocated for communities to share the available resources and to resolve their differences in a non-violence manner. We used musicians from different communities who came together and composed songs that promote peace and cultural diversity .

The Peace Summit was attended by many communities from Northern Kenya among them being the Turkana, Pokot,Samburu,Maasai and Borana, who came together with Government officials to discuss conflict drivers and what can be done to reduce conflicts in Northern Kenya.

Some of the main conflict drivers mentioned by several if not all communities were scarcity of resources especially due to the severe drought,Illiteracy,tribalism and the influx of guns in the area.”Women suffer a great deal by carrying the weight of losing their children on a daily basis due to this conflicts and they should be on the forefront of promoting peace.” said MP Sarah Korere of Laikipia North

Some of the resolutions made which are to be implemented by the government and CSOs are the disarmament off all communities,affirmative action for education,policies for job creation,security infrastructures to be put in place and initiating projects like borehole drilling and the mega dam. IMPACT has been working tirelessly by doing peace building through supporting inter-community dialogues and training peace ambassadors ,the morans and community leaders in our efforts to promote peace.

In His speech the County Commissioner of Laikipia County Mr Joseph Kanyiri encouraged communities to work hard to retain the peace that they enjoyed before and abide by the law,he further urged the government and CSOs to support grazing committees and help in managing the available resources to avoid conflicts.

IMPACT together with the County Governments and other CSOs will be working together on the resolutions given by the community delegates in the struggle to promote a peaceful co-existence among all communities of northern Kenya. As communities play their role in being ambassadors of peace and adapting to alternative livelihoods that are viable to avoid conflicts .

A strategy was adopted in 2010 by the Kenyan government to recognize the unique nature of nomad education and propose ways of reconciling the fundamental choices nomadic children face. The problem is recognized by the Kenyan government and by international agencies working in this field. ‘Education for all is more likely to be achieved if boys and girls are not forced to choose between herding and schooling’ writes UNICEF. The Kenyan Ministry of Education’s nomadic education policy framework states: ‘nomadic pastoralists require flexible education delivery modes that take into account their children’s work at home. As a means to counter this, IMPACT in partnership with GRIC developed Manyattta learning centers that do not hinder the learners from practicing their lifestyle but bring education to their doorsteps at the Village level.

The Manyatta learning center has a hive of activities ranging from learning the level-based content, informal learning through storytelling and borrowing of story books to create summaries by the learners. Below is Sheila’s story ….

Sheila putunoi is a grade 5 learner who attends the Saturday sessions in Picha learning center; she was amongst the learner’s lace at the center for the intervention. Sheila was placed at the Aya level during the assessment and the coordinator reports that she has been making gradual advancements and she has moved to the story level. The coordinator also reports that Sheila attends the sessions regularly and is a very active learner. The recent introduction of porridge we did encourages learners like Sheila to continually come to the center unlike before since they face several challenges at home like affording a 3-course meal, Pamela Sintaroi (Picha Mlc coordinator) told the story.