Women's multi‐faceted roles in peacebuilding initiatives: Insights from pastoral communities in west Pokot County, Kenya

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• Author: Lilian Namuma S. Kong'ani
• Date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21442

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Women's multi-faceted roles in peacebuilding

initiatives: Insights from pastoral communities

in west Pokot County, Kenya

Lilian Namuma S. Kong'ani

Department of Earth and Climate Sciences/Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University

of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

Correspondence

Lilian Namuma S. Kong'ani, Department

of Earth and Climate Sciences/Wangari

Maathai Institute for Peace and

Environmental Studies, University of

Nairobi, P.O Box 30197-00100, Nairobi,

Kenya.

Email: lnamuma@uonbi.ac.ke

Abstract

Women are central custodians of their families. Women

constitute at least half of the population in most coun-

tries worldwide, yet their role in peacebuilding is often

undermined, especially among the pastoral communi-

ties where patriarchal structures dominate. Women are

increasingly being acknowledged as dual agents of con-

flicts and peace but the dearth of knowledge on their

contribution in peacebuilding would jeopardize policy

interventions around women, security, and peace. This

article leveraged qualitative research design. Data was

collected through semi-structured and key informant

interviews, focus groups, and case narrations, with

women in West Pokot County, Kenya, who had been

actively involved in peacebuilding activities to unveil

their roles in peacebuilding in this conflict-stricken

region. Participant observation and archival data were

also employed in the study. Thematic content analysis

denoted an inhospitable region with elusive socio-

economic progress occasioned by protracted intra- and

intercommunity conflicts driving women's fight for

peace. From developing early warning systems and

leveraging their matriarchal influence, social networks,

religious spaces, and integration of cultural perspectives

in peacemaking, Pokot women deterred warriors from

cattle rustling promoting peace in the region. The

Received: 20 August 2023 Revised: 21 February 2024 Accepted: 17 June 2024

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21442

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2024;42:205–222. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 205

transformative peacebuilding efforts of Pokot women

advocate for a paradigm shift in global conflict resolu-

tion strategies emphasizing inclusion, adaptability and

sustainability.

1|INTRODUCTION

Conflicts have existed since antiquity, but their extent and form have expanded with increasing

population and competition for depleting natural resources, escalating violent confrontations,

particularly among the pastoral communities in most sections of the Horn of Africa.

Pastoralism is practiced on approximately half of Africa's land surface area, accounting for

up to 44% of gross domestic product (GDP) (Daghar, 2022; Nyariki & Amwata, 2019). Pastoral-

ism in Kenya supports 25% of the entire human population and about half the total livestock

population, with 95% of the livestock accounting for the family income, while providing

employment to 95% of the population. Pastoral communities, including the Pokot in West Pokot

County, occupy the country's region, which is also marginalized both socially and economically.

These communities rear livestock, including cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, and camels, as their

main sources of livelihood and rely on rain-fed pasture and water for the survival of their

livestock.

The scarcity of land, pasture, water, and other vegetation has often resulted in rivalry for

the same, leading to intra- and inter-ethnic fighting between the Pokots and the neigbouring

communities (Huho, 2012; Tulel, 2013; Von Soest, 2020) like the Sumburu, Marakwet, Turkana,

Sabiny, and Karamojong. Extreme weather events, including prolonged droughts and disease

outbreaks, have worsened conflict occurrences, resulting in massive livestock deaths and fur-

ther impoverishing communities. This scenario is likely to continue if the latest reports of the

global environmental outlook and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the real-

ities of impending climate-related disasters, should global warming continue unabated, are

to go by.

The mass movement of pastoral communities in search of diminishing pasture and water

resources for their livestock and domestic use leads to cross-border conflicts such as those

involving Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. These conflicts have been exacerbated by

the burgeoning of small arms and light weapons into Pokot and other counties like Turkana

(Daghar, 2022; Pavanello & Scott-Villiers, 2013; Tulel, 2013). This heightens livestock raiding

for restocking by the communities, reduces poverty and hunger, and improves the communities'

social status, besides acquiring dowry. In addition, historical disputes over land and ethnic

boundaries, political incitement, and inadequate state security contribute substantially to inse-

curity in West Pokot County and other pastoral areas.

The effects of inter-communal conflicts in West Pokot have been dire. This includes the dis-

placement of the locals from their homes and paralyzed social services such as health and edu-

cation. The conflicts have led to the loss of livestock, plunging the pastoral communities into

further poverty, severe food insecurity, and the loss of human life (Pavanello & Scott-

Villiers, 2013; Schilling et al., 2015; Wafula, 2020), aggravating the communities' vulnerability

to climate change impacts. Increased violence and retaliatory attacks are carried out by commu-

nities to recover their livestock (Schilling et al., 2015), with unthinkable consequences whose

brunt is felt by women and children (Jaggernath, 2014; Tulel, 2013).

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