From Vulnerability to Leadership: Promoting Peace in Africa

This manuscript draws on the experience of the project 'Strengthening the role of rural and internally displaced women in peacebuilding', carried out in Mbonjo (Cameroon) by the NGO Growing Together with the support of AFD. In response to the Anglophone crisis (2017) and the influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the project empowered vulnerable women to become community mediators through Participatory Action Research (single-sex focus groups, conflict mapping, interviews). It made UN Resolution 1325 more accessible through 'vernacularisation' (e.g. 'woman pikin for peace table') and established a process of 'patriarchal bargaining' with traditional leaders. Ten female mediators, trained in non-violent communication and land rights, drafted conciliation reports countersigned by the traditional authorities, thereby securing informal agricultural leases. The network was organised as an OHADA cooperative (specialising in cassava processing) to link peace with economic autonomy. Results: a reduction in neighbourhood disputes, recognition of women's leadership, and the inclusion of mediation in municipal plans. The book proposes a replicable model for other crisis contexts.