When Women Keep Watch: Inside Plateau's Female-Led Vigilantes and Peace Networks

The community networks of women defenders in Piura are organized structures that, since 2018, have provided accompaniment, training, and inter-institutional coordination to victims of gender-based violence, combining psychological support, legal pathways, and economic empowerment. Since their founding, more women have reported violence, coordination between public institutions such as police and prosecutor's offices have improved, and survivors have transformed into leaders who break cycles of violence in their communities. Read this story in Spanish here: https://solu.news/mvw1

A community-led security council in Jimeta combined evidence-based arrests, monthly multi-stakeholder meetings, and a two-year rehabilitation program to reduce Shila Boys gang violence and shift behavior among the gang.

The Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse, or Yiavha, brings together Nigerians from ethnic groups with a history of conflict and violence to help them find common ground through community storytelling. The organization has held more than 60 storytelling sessions in Nigeria’s Plateau state and has trained more than 300 youth to become peace ambassadors tasked with organizing their own storytelling events.

Las redes comunitarias de mujeres defensoras de Piura son estructuras organizadas que, desde 2018, brindan acompañamiento, formación y articulación interinstitucional a víctimas de violencia de género, combinando apoyo psicológico, rutas legales y empoderamiento económico. Han logrado que más mujeres se atrevan a denunciar violencia, han mejorado la coordinación entre instituciones públicas como policía y fiscalías, y han transformado a sobrevivientes en lideresas que rompen ciclos de violencia en sus comunidades. Puedes leer este artículo en inglés aquí: https://solu.news/w0cx

With help from nongovernmental organizations, the people of two communities who clashed violently since 2001 found ways to coexist peacefully since 2019. Violent attacks and reprisals between the Christians of Unguwar Balakazai and Muslims of Mai Damisa claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed homes repeatedly. Elders trained by the Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse told youth stories about peace in Jos in the past. Youth ambassadors trained by the Jos Stakeholders for Peace Centre met and agreed to lay down their weapons.

A small Mexican town called Pijijiapan is embracing the recent migrant crisis with open arms. When they heard that a caravan of migrants was passing through soon, the entire community pitched in to welcome them with fresh food, medicine, clothes, toys, and kindness. Residents say that they are motivated by the Catholic idea of charity and that they understand the circumstances that many migrants are fleeing.

Founded in the midst of ongoing violent conflict, the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation offers education to children and orphans from families fighting on both sides of the war between Boko Haram insurgents and the Nigerian government. With this inclusive approach, the organization has so far averted being targeted by Boko Haram, successfully keeping roughly 2,200 children in school without interruption during the peak of the insurgency.

Shielded by cultural deference to the Catholic church, Colombian clergy venture into conflict zones to document the clashes, provide aid, and mediate disputes between civilians and armed guerrilla groups. Their efforts have helped response organizations access difficult-to-reach areas and drawn renewed attention to the crises.

A series of four football competitions in 2017-18 brought peace to two communities whose land dispute had led to violence. In the absence of a government response, the chief security officer of the Igbesikala-Ama, a minority group, put his peacemaking training to work to recruit teams from eight communities to participate. Included were people from the two communities in conflict and members of the youth "cults" who had done the fighting at their elders' instigation. The competition brought an end to the violence, though a lack of money put an end to the football competitions.

By establishing online platforms to make anonymous reports of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, two Canadian organizations elicited hundreds of stories that help victims to process their experiences. The first platform, Elimin8hate, was the creation of a filmmaker who understands the therapeutic value of storytelling as means of coping with trauma. Her Vancouver group's alliance with a Toronto organization attracted funding to train discussion leaders who will lead anti-racism discussions in government and businesses.