The Advocacy Project is seeking $1,500 to help our partner, Children Peace Initiative Kenya, expand its successful campaign to build peace between warring pastoralists in northwest Kenya, where cattle wars claim lives and threaten children. As well as bringing children together at camps, and transforming the warrior culture in villages, CPIK will show how drought and climate change fuel the violence and propose solutions. This will require building a robust network of support for CPIK in the US.
Pastoralists in northwest Kenya have fought over cattle for decades, with deadly results. The impact on children has been disastrous. They have been attacked, driven from school, and brought up to believe that the other side are enemies. CPIK is working in Baragoi, where they also find that drought fuels the conflict by forcing herders to leave their traditional grazing land and encroach into the pasture of others. There is an urgent need to understand the threat and help the herders respond.
CPIK brings children from opposing tribes together at camps. This builds friendships and eventually transforms the communities. CPIK also identifies resources (pasture, water and services) which can be shared by tribes, thus reducing the incentive to turn to violence. CPIK will continue with this approach in 2021, while exploring the environmental roots of the conflict. One key goal for 2021 is to expand CPIK's network of support in the US, where interest in conflict and climate change is high.
CPIK will continue to work in Baragoi with children from the Samburu and Turkana tribes (seen in the photo with Monica from CPIK). At the same time CPIK will explore the link between climate change and conflict and identify strategies of mitigation (eg herd management) which can be taken up by specialists. CPIK's network extends from warring tribes in Kenya to universities in US. This makes the group ideally suited to spearhead a comprehensive campaign that could transform East Africa.
